Archie Julien's '60 Farewell Address
as He Moves to Australia
Our dog, Belle, and cat, Kitty, have since passed away, but not before the
Lord showered us with His Mercy, and converted our potential for grief into
rejoicing that they had really just gone home. This is my testimony of our
Loving Holy Father. We had Belle put down for kidney failure after she became so
sick it had become cruel to continue any further. That was Jaunary 19, 2000, a
very important date as I will show.
About a month before Belle's end, she had escaped from our house when she
became, as usual, frantic during a thunderstorm at night. When I got up to leave
for work, I missed her greeting, but she would sleep through my activity more
and more often because of her age, so I didn't get bothered. Trish called me
about 10, but I was in a meeting and didn't call back for almost an hour. Trish
said she had searched for Belle and called me when she couldn't find her. I
immediately left for home. We live in a subdivision about a half mile square. I
figured Belle would probably still be there, because on earlier occasions when
she escaped, she was always found not more than a block away. So, I planned to
repeatedly search the subdivision, figuring that if I didn't see her on the
first go round, it would be just because we had missed her, and I might catch
her the next time, or the time after that. We came upon the mailman, and stopped
to ask. He said he had just seen a dog like I described more than a mile away,
between where we were, and the post office he had just left to go do his
delivery route. Belle had walked through two subdivisions and crossed four busy
lanes of traffic.
We found her where he said, dirty, and wet, and cold, and facing the wrong
direction. Now think about the probabilities involved. Belle had at least a 5
hour head start. Trish called at 10, but because I was in a meeting, I was
delayed an hour until the mailman was put into place. The mailman would have
been just about the only person to have seen her that we would have asked. And
Belle just happened to be on the drive from the post office to his route. I
studied probability as one of my majors while working on my PhD, and I can
assure that the probability of our finding Belle through randomly meeting the
requirements of the above events was absolutely zero. But, that's not all. We
put her down January 19, 2000. Trish's birthday is January 20th. On January 20,
2000, a full and total lunar eclipse occurred directly over our house.
The message of course, in the context of the circumstances, is that the moon
(full moon; all lunar eclipses are of full moons) starts out full of light, goes
into a shadow where all its light is completely extinguished, only to emerge on
the other side where it is once again full of light. If that sounds familiar,
you might recall some translations of Psalms 23:4, "Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, ..." Of course, when you go
"through" something, that means you emerge on the other side. How many
people get a total lunar eclipse directly over their house on their birthday
when they had to put down their beloved dog the day before? Do you want to
consider probability again? Trish and I are not special, but Hallelujah, God is
so special that He reached His Hand down to touch a little mangy old lost dog.
And He is so special to later give comfort to us even though we have greatly
grieved Him with our many betrayals. Can anyone fail to say, "Praise
God"? "
On July 1, 2000, Kitty walked over to Trish, and rested her head atop Trish's
foot. An intimacy she had never exercised before. In the two weeks before, Kitty
had developed a softball-sized tumor on her shoulder. We took her to the vet who
said her growth was cancer, that she was in a lot of pain, and that it was time.
Thus, they left us as they came to us, six months apart.
As I write, Trish is now in Australia helping her Mum with her ailing Gram,
who just made 96 years, and received a letter of lifetime achievement from the
Queen of England. They are still a colony. I recently had a bit of trouble that
God has used to create the opportunity for me to move to Australia, finally
fulfilling my promise to Trish all our 28 years of marriage. My family is still
centered in Kenwood, so I intend to keep abreast with Aitchpe.com, and will try
to coordinate my returns to visit family with reunion schedules.
My love to you all. Archie
