Sermon Preperation

As many of you know, I graduated from Walla Walla College in 2006, and during my time there as well as since then God has opened doors for me to speak at various venues. Right now I am brainstorming about a talk entitled "Righting Sailboats" as well as writing an article entitled "Walking in Movement" which I hope to get published later this year.

Anyway, all this thinking about stories and speaking made me think of my favorite illustration which I have yet to use, so here it is for your enjoyment:

My friend Sarah, who lives in Seattle, was house-sitting for a friend. This was an okay job with the only real hassle being the newfie. A newfie is a breed of dog, short for newfoundland, which averages around 140 lbs.

The house-sitting was going swell until one day when something not-so-perfect happened while Sarah was gone one day.

The newfie died.

Yep, it was gone. But not really gone, because after calling and telling the owners about the passing of their huge dog, Sarah had to get rid of it; all 145 lbs of it.

Sarah had to take it to the vet. Sarah didn't have a car, and her boyfriend was out of town, so she did what any smart girl under the circumstances would do: she stuffed it in a duffel bag, one of the ones with a hard bottom and wheels, and then dragged it to the subway.

The train came but unfortunately Sarah couldn't lift the bag up onto it. Thankfully a man stepped down and helped her lift it up into the subway.

"What the heck is in there? It weighs a ton!" he gasped. Sarah, being a little embarrassed, replied "oh, it's just computer parts."

They sat down on the train next to the door until the next stop. At this stop the man shoved her to the ground and ran out the door pulling her 145 lb. dead dog after him!