The gift of imagination

I have been blessed with an incredible best friend, partner in ministry and wife. She has one of the most incredible imaginations. Sometimes I have to stop and reflect on what she has said. I’m always amazed at how she can see something far off in the present tense. Everyday we walk our dogs in the early morning and come across a variety of people. She will always have something to say or think out loud about a person, a building, an animal or…..

We have watched a larger house that would be perfect for working with older ‘homeless’ teens, over the last 6 years. It has gone from being abandoned to being totally trashed. Anne has nicked named the house, Pregnant Minor House. It is on a few acres of land and comes with a sizeable casita in the backyard. Unfortunately the house has been totally stripped of everything in the last year or so. Anne is so passionate about this house that she actually took a couple of her friends for a prayer walk around it. Last time we walked by it was obvious that someone was actually working on the little casitas.

We attempt to walk on our canal trail each day when no one else is around for obvious reasons. (Our dog herd has a tendency to go ‘rabid’ when they see strangers especially in the dark.) Yet, on occasion we will run into a variety of people that we have befriended over the years. Some of them, such as Inaz, Gilbert and a few we know their actual names, the others Anne comes up with nicknames. There is an older British Lady who drives a Jaguar and has Shepherds. She is always dressed in a long dress with a fancy coat. So you can imagine some of the interesting names Anne has used for our older friend who is very faithful in walking her dogs.

There had been a homeless gentleman who lived amongst an older tree that literally covered a huge area that was close to the canal trail and close to two major streets. We would see him walking back from the store with either a large water bottle or a cart with various food items inside it. This gigantic tree met it’s match with someone in the city who decided it was either too large and could fall onto a major street or knew that it hided a couple of homeless families. A few weeks ago it was gone, literally vaporized. I can’t fathom how shocked our homeless friend, Anne calls him Richard, must have felt. His home had been totally destroyed and now he is really homeless.

We walk by a Service Dog Home that is huge. We had a close friend who had worked there for a few years and oversaw the operations. Our dogs can usually hear these young dogs barking in the early mornings so they will continue the conversation. Anne has some choice words for the individual who oversees this operation but lives outside the area. This non-profit has been in serious trouble over the last 10 years and our one friend attempted to make things right but without any success. Anne dreams often of rescuing this phenomenal place and using it for rescuing local dogs that are homeless and roam the street. It has a large house, swimming pool, adjacent apartments for families adopting dogs to stay while training and then room for probably 30 dogs with kennels.

We enjoy looking at some of the homes that are up are the hills or little mountains around this area where we walk. There are a couple of really large homes that are  beautiful that have been landscaped so they are like museums. This particular one has bronze statues that are incredible. The outside of the house is decorated in a Southwest motif. We both have lusted after this house and another further up on the hill. They would make great homes for older teens that don’t have families.

I know that Anne will at times ‘ball’ me out for not looking up and around instead of looking at the trail or God forbid looking at a text or e-mail while we are walking. We are blessed to have some incredible sunsets and sunrises. We typically walk our dogs just before the sun appears and at times will walk at twilight. I am reminded that the greatest imagination belongs to our God who is the creative one that has designed life so that it is beyond comprehension. I believe our gift is to enjoy this creation and learn how to be creative and imaginative like our Heavenly Father.