Garbage day  or  Day of Celebration

 

My wife  Cathy called out to me as I walked out the front door, “Hey Kurt  remember to take  the garbage out”.

 

It was Tuesday and I dragged the garbage cans out to the street in front of the house,  that is always an exciting task… NOT. I went back in the house and washed my hands.

 

Cathy and myself graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in the late 1970’s  and moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee  for our first jobs.  Actually we lived on Signal Mountain just outside Chattanooga. We got a dog, a black lab several years later. On Signal Mountain at least back in those days, there were no leash laws and dogs could roam freely about and some did. Our dog, named Smokey Jo was not allowed to leave the yard and she was kept behind a rather short, maybe  3  and 1/2  feet tall fence made of wood and chicken wire, but it kept her in the yard. Somehow the free roaming dogs got to know Smokey Jo and they would come to visit her. One dog in particular that was a frequent visitor was Daisy, a female German Shepherd.  Shadow our neighbor’s male black lab would also was a regular visitor especially when Smokey Jo was in heat.

 

Tuesday was the most exciting day of the week. Not for us, but for the dogs.  No other  day presented the opportunity for unabashed, uninhibited celebration as did Tuesday, because Tuesday was garbage day and every Tuesday the big noisy garbage truck came rolling down the street.  For some reason to the dogs that was a cause for celebration.

 

Early Tuesday morning Daisy would lead a pack of anywhere from five to ten dogs to our house and then they would jump the fence and join Smokey Jo. Our house was the first house on a side road off of the main road and so the first stop for the garbage truck in our particular neighborhood was right in front of our house. As they were waiting for the garbage truck the dogs would bark without stopping, run around the yard and do all kinds of dog dances as they excitedly waited for the truck to turn the corner. As the truck got closer the dogs could hear  the truck in the distance making the noise of a diesel powered truck,  clanging garbage cans as they were tossed back into the yards and street as they were  emptied out. This just got them all the more excited, the barking became more fevered,  the running around was faster paced and the dog dancing more passionate.

 

Then it happened, the garbage truck  turned the corner and pulled up to the  garbage cans sitting out in front of our house. Every dog‘s snout was pushed up to the chicken wire fence, non-stop barking, nothing but loud impassioned non-stop barking. The cans were emptied, tossed back into the yard and then the truck moved on down the street.  Daisy and her pack of dogs jumped the fence and disappeared until next Tuesday.   Our dog, Smokey Jo went back to chasing squirrels.

 

A lot of people are sensing that Jesus is coming and they are making a lot of noise and getting real excited. What is it going to be for you?…. A garbage day or a Day of Celebration?
 
Oh Happy Day!!!    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW0Y4s4GScw&feature=related
 
Kurt S