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by Elizabeth Todd
NFC Family Member
All in a "days life" changed a year ago, the advent of
my dog park diaries.
Before that I had been working at GFU, attending
NFC, and volunteering on the NWYM Board of Global
Outreach, all for about ten years (a quarter of my life).
There was really too much time with my computer,
reveling in the life of the mind, and too much time at the
office, for the work there was never done. I found this
meaningful and challenging—and still do. The overlap of
community between work, church, and friends was nice as a type of integration,
of overlapping interests, but also brought some narrowing of vision. I
spent my time with like-minded middle class, professionally oriented Christians
who share a common assumption that God invites us into service and
ministry; we went about doing useful things with our free
time and money. I was, and am, so thankful, for these
people from whom I learn so much.
Yet I needed a counterbalance to an overemphasis on
being scholastic and assessing avenues to solve problems
via committee. The catalyst came in the form of a
3.6-pound Christmas puppy named Mister. He needed
to be socialized with other people and dogs, so we made
a regular schedule to be at the Ewing Young dog park on
the far south end of Blaine Street.
We're there usually, rain or shine, in time to see the
sun set and dusk settle over the earth. Mister provides the
discipline. Around an hour before dark he sits in front of
me, fixes me with a gaze both hopeful and
determined, and makes a sound part purr,
part growl. It is time to go. Thanks to him,
we arrive regularly.
Read the entire article in
the January 20th issue of Your NFC.
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