Saying Goodbye to Oscar

Oscar went to his new home today. With mixed emotions we packed our lambie up in our car and headed 90 minutes northeast of Perth to the town of Toodyay (locally pronounced toojay). Oscar went to join another lamb named Barbie that was born on the same day as him. Oscar having been so sick was probably about 2/3 the size of Barbie. He will be living on about 11 acres, with some Cockatiels, and three dogs, a German Shepherd named Molly, and two Boxers named Dottie and Sebastian. My daughter was beside herself as we left. It is the first time she has had to say goodbye, maybe forever, to someone that she really loved. Fortunately the prospect of going to Albany, Western Australia for a week starting tomorrow lessened her grief. I'm not joking about her grieving either. Poo and Pee aside, we had become very attached to Oscar, but we know giving him up was right. He needed to be with other sheep - even though he is going to be neutered. Poor Guy. I feel ambivalent about that, because I wanted him to be able to make lots of other lambies. Oh well, he is not ours anymore. So that is the end of our time with Oscar the foster lamb. So what have we learned?

1. Farmers Deserve our respect. The work we put in to making one lamb survive makes me wonder how a bloke can get 5000 to survive.

2. There is a difference between cats and dogs and livestock. They may all be domesticated, but cats and Dogs can be trained to go to the door, whine or meow to go out and do their thing, or even go to the sandbox. Sheep just go. Wherever they happen to be, whenever they feel like it.

3. Most importantly, we discovered why Jesus is portrayed as a lamb. When Oscar was washed and clean, he was truly as white as snow. Oscar never cried out in pain. I was trying to catch him one day, and I made a grab for him and I know that I must have hurt him (not intentionally) but he didn't make a sound. The Bible says that "...as a Sheep before its sheerers is dumb (mute), so He opened not his mouth." The absolute humility of Jesus is truly personified in the person of a lamb.

Will we do it again? Maybe. We know what to expect now. We had no idea when Oscar came home that he would travel right to the point where he was within a day or two of being put to sleep; and then to see him turn around like he did, and just start eating like there was no tomorrow. We shall see. Take Care now.

The Mystique of Second Hand Goods

What is it about Garage Sales and Second Hand stores that is so fascinating? I have never actually found a treasure at one. I have heard of guys going to a garage sale and coming away with a mint condition set of Taylor Made Golf Clubs for 25 dollars, because the wife of a recently deceased man didn't know what she had there. But usually, it is nothing like that. Sometimes I think Garage sales are actually travelling shows. They go from house to house and set up with the same junk. Like the commemorative dish of Charles and Diana's visit to Sydney sometime in the 80s. Or spoons...you know the ones with the commemorative picture or something on the handle. Here is a good one. Records....I am talking vinyl here. Thousands. We went to three op shops (what we call second hand stores in Australia) today, looking for a cheapish sewing basket for Becky. I was browsing records. I would say that Tom Jones, Percy Faith, and Mantovani, if they could make a royalty off records given to second hand stores, would make more money than they did the first time around. Do these records breed, perhaps? I am a classical music lover, and I found a set of 10 Reader's Digest records, and a 2 record set of several different composers best known works. Funny, now that I think of it, I don't even own a turntable...at the moment. I am planning on getting one, and conntecting it to Audacity and capturing all my vinyl as MP3s. Then what? An op shop maybe....no. And what is it about Tea and Coffee cups and other glassware that makes people so afraid to throw them away? I mean, I doubt there is more than say, 3 people in the world who are going to walk into a second hand store and say, you know I have been looking far and wide for a set of America's Cup commemorative coffee cups from 1985! Oh look they are here! Somehow, I think not. I mean, have you ever purchased a coffee cup from a garage sale or second hand store? Today I did find a Delonghi Cappachino maker for $12.50. I put it on layby. Meaning we ran out of cash and the store didn't have a debit card machine and it was 3 minutes to 5 and the atm is a kilometre away. So we can go back and get this stuff tomorrow.

Honestly, with kids growing like weeds, the only place where it is worthwhile to get them clothes is the second hand store. That is the one thing that they are good for. One of the ones we went to today DID have some first edition books. But were they Dickens, or Jane Austen or anyone I had ever heard of? Nah. I can't even remember who it was now. But they were first editions, for $50 per book, under glass, right next to the chintzy costume pearls. They do say that one person's trash is another person's treasure, but really you would have to do a lot of digging to unearth a treasure in one of these stores. But still we go there, and we like it. Maybe it's the chance of finding a Reader's Digest condensed book of some famous novel...or maybe it is that decorarive tea towel from Ayer's Rock.

Oscar isn't everything... Some thoughts on Mark 9 38-40

In case you think my life is made up only of Oscar the lamb, rest assured, it isn't. He is just taking center stage at the moment. I wanted to take a minute to talk about something our Lord said in the Gospel of Mark. But let me give some background first.

I was associated with a group of Baptist Churches here in Australia that were cultish, if not a cult in themselves. There were many problems, and after a while, my eyes were opened and we removed ourselves from them. One of the beliefs they held was that, if one was not Baptised, not just in a baptist church, but an independent baptist church, and some even stretched it further to say not in a BBF church, then one's baptism was not valid. Now I am not going to go deeply into that here. In Mark chapter 9:38-40 we read...

"38: And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
39: But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.
40: For he that is not against us is on our part. "

Pay particular attention to verse 40. "He that is not against us is ON OUR PART."

This calls to mind the work of an advocate, or a lawyer. Someone who is acting "on one's part" is acting in one's best interests. And Jesus certainly knew the heart of the man who the disciples saw casting out devils in His Own Name, being Omniscient and everything. So if Jesus said to his (for instance) Baptist Apostle John (not John the Baptist), don't stop the Calvary Chapel guy over there because he is acting on our part, then what business does an earthly pastor have trying to tell his congregation that theirs is the only right church? There are lots of churches around today that are doing things a little differently than we used to do. Is that wrong? Ritchie Miller, the youth pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida while I was a student at the college there, and now is the founding Pastor of The Avalon Church, in Atlanta, Georgia, told us in class that a church could and should be culturally relevant (I think that was his favourite phrase actually). Today's culture is different from the 90s, the 80s the 70s (praise the Lord for that) and especially different from the 50s and 60s. I am not saying to not preach against the world, the flesh and the Devil, but it has to be done in a way that gets the attention of the people who live today, playing their xboxes, listening to their Ipods and posting their facebook statuses every two seconds. Another church that has done things differently is the Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I haven't been there, but I have read their statement of Faith and it doesn't seem any different to what I believe. Granted, the video church service might not be everybodies cuppa tea, but there is no denying the fact that thousands of people each week are hearing the preaching of God's word at Mars Hill. In possibly one of the strongest bastions of politcal leftism in the country, outside of say, San Francisco or Los Angeles.

So what am I saying? Basically I am saying that all Christians should be more concerned with how they are worshipping our creator, not how other people or churches are doing it. Of course there are false religions. Mormonism, Islam, Seventh Day Adventists...the list is long and Walter Martin has covered most of it already, and I am not advocating alignment with these...and I am not advocating tolerance of sin either. But gluttony and greed are no different than homosexuality and stealing. There are no degrees of sin. There is no sin which is worse than another. And they ALL will be forgiven with just a word to God in repentence.

So walk with God the way you feel he would have you walk with Him. As Christians, we are our own priests. We come directly to God in prayer. We do not go through an intermediary. Confession may be good for the soul but only if you confess to God himself, not to a priest in a confessional. God Bless everyone, and I will talk to you later.

Jonathan

Oscar

Well, it has been 8 days since my last update on Oscar the Foster. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Oscar is thriving. He drinks a 250 ml (1 Cup) baby bottle in about 30 seconds. Then he drinks another. First thing in the morning he drinks another half bottle. He is gaining weight exponentially and shows no sign of stopping. He had two doses of anti-biotics, and although at the start of the weekend things were looking grim, it seems that God wants our little lambie to hang around for just a little longer.

Now the bad news. All this food has to go somewhere. Unfortunately a good deal of it ends up on our floors. Fortunately they are cork tiles and very easy to clean. The trade off from this gorgeous little lost lamb not dying is that he has turned into a pooping and weeing machine. In fact he is peeing right now...Fortunately it is on a tarp. That I just brought in to make his bed on. I am sitting in another room and I could hear this pulsating noise. I thought my wife was giving him another bottle. No...he is having a slash. So I just cleaned that up...interestingly, as long as it took him to go there was only about a six inch puddle on the tarp. I just gave him two bottles. He guzzled one that was 250 ml in about 1:30. Amazing. I have posted a video of this last feeding session. Pay particular attention to his tail.

Update on the Oscar Update Update....good neighbours...or not.

Well, Oscar is sick. He has pneumonia, and we are concerned. He has been to the vet and gotten a long acting Penicilin injection, a B12 shot, and an anti inflammatory. He perked up by mid afternoon, drank almost half a litre of milk/formula, and was skipping around and having fun. He woke up Sunday flat again though, and has been again throughout today. He will probably go to the vet again tomorrow. It seems the road from lamb to Ram is only travelled by about 80% of newborns that don't get neutered in their first week of life. Most newborns do get that done right away. Otherwise, Oscar is loving life at home. He has adopted the old leather couch in our sitting room (we call it "the Nook"), because it is a foyer like room that comes in from our garage that is too small to be a living room or dining room, (although I think it was built as a dining room) but has a sofa and a coffee table in it. It is nice and cozy for visiting with friends or sitting quietly in the morning with a book or laptop and a coffee...or with a baby lamb snuggled next to you. Which is the most amazingly warm thing.

An elderly neighbour lady came over this evening and told us (didn't ask, lol) that she was going to take baby lamby and bring him through. She grew up on farms and with animals, so we have accepted her "offer". She is a lovely old thing and she and her husband would give you their last cup of flour or egg, (they have actually, although when I did ask for AN egg, I got half a dozen.)

Speaking of neighbours...We have some. They are all pretty good, but some unwittingly are not always that way. There is one particular house where a Malamute Husky lives. He is a lovely dog, and is very friendly, especially when i give him left over bones and stuff. The problem is, when the owners are gone to work all day, he howls all day. I think that a new boyfriend has moved in and he doesn't work, so lately ha has stopped. We shall see, as I start my week of nightshifts tonight, so will be home all day. Sleeping. We shall see. Get this though, last Thursday night, the stereo with subwoofer came on at...11 pm. Stayed on until 2 am. Called police at one-ish, but I don't know whether they came or this eejit had a sudden onset of common sense. I am thinking of watching something with lots of noise, like maybe a dvd of an Opera, at full volume on my 5.1 surround sound Home theater system (wharfedale speakers!) at about 7.30 on a Sunday Morning. With my patio sliding doors which open directly towards this neighbours house, wide open. WWJD?

Anyway, hope all is well with all, and will post more.

Oscar Update Update

Well, Oscar is 10 days old now. He is also part of the family. It turns out my wife is not allergic to him. She is very susceptible to laryngitis, paharyngitis, Bronchitis, and a few other 'itises. So Oscar is staying. I am actually thinking about keeping him. I took him to the Farm School at our local High School today for a checkup. He was a hit. Two HS students asked if they could take him home. The supervisor told me he looks fantastic. We can also enter him in our local agricultural shows, and they would like to use him to breed their ewes that they have at a more rural location than the High School. They also have a shearing facility at the school. They probably will shear him in exchange for the wool. He got his eyes sprayed for conjunctivitis again (so he looks like a blue masked racoon now) and he is starting on baby pellets now. He likes them but he is a bit of a sloppy eater.

I have done some research on Merinos. Originating in Spain, they were so highly valued by the Spanish that taking them out of the country was a capital crime. The first Merinos exported were sent as a gift to the king of England. Closer to home, a single Merino Ram sold for $485,000 in New South Wales. Merinos have some of the finest wool in the world. There was some information about microns and stuff that I didn't really understand. But Oscar is like a living blanket, so I guess that means he has high quality wool.

There is a lot of talk about how sheep are dumb. Not true. Oscar is house trained...almost. He has a few accidents, but if he needs to go, he bleats at us in a certain tone of voice, and we put him into a box with a layer of straw and he does his business. The stereotype of dumb sheep is due to the fact that they have a herd mentality. If one or two sheep panic and run over a cliff, the rest of the herd will follow...a bit unfortunate for the ones caught in the middle looking at each other saying, 'where are we running tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...." Sorry...that was a bad joke. He also has his hungry voice, his lonely voice, and his "where are you Kirsten?" voice. It has a distinct interrogative inflection to it.

So anyway, Oscar is doing well, and maybe even might pay a visit to the Wagin Woolarama next year. Wagin is a town in south west Western Australia that boasts a statue of the largest sheep in the world. A Merino Ram, by the way....and anatomically correct. This is a picture I took of The Ram with my daughter standing in front of it.