I appreciated all the comments and prayers for Skip.  He is fine now but he
has gone through so much sickness in his short little life, Sandy and I get
a little nervous when he starts acting funny.  Let me explain why.  I was
reminded of what I am about to explain when reading Kathy's story about
Chris.

Skip is pretty small.  He weighs about 8 pounds.  Over three years ago now,
my second experience with depression and anxiety attacks was coming on.  I
could feel it coming for several months.  I tried everything to stop its
advance upon my life.  Reading my Bible in huge daily chunks, praying one
and two hours a day, and many other such things.  I was an assistant pastor
in a small church at the time, too, so I was very involved in church work.
I taught the young people's Sunday school class.  Yet, I felt the depression
coming.  I often hear people tell me, with whom I pray, that they are told,
by even those who are in their family and love them the most, to just snap
out of it.  Get busy.  Keep your mind occupied.  These are meager efforts,
at best, in stopping depression.  I well remembered the 13 years earlier
when I had been unable to work for two years due to the depression I had
then and I fought as hard as I could this time to stop the approaching
darkness I could feel was coming.  When it struck, it was a thousand times
worse than 13 years ago.  I became nearly physically incapacitated at times.

During the days it was advancing, stocking me if you please, I spent times
on my knees are our living room rocking chair in tears, praying and seeking
God with all I had.  I often did this during times everybody was gone.  When
Sandy was out shopping, for example.  Some of those times on my knees, and
sometimes on my face, praying and begging God to help me, little Skip would
come around.  I would ignore him since I was trying to focus on the Lord.
Skip would start putting his front feet on me but eventually, he would leap
up on to my back and walk up my spine to my shoulders where he would stand
and try and lick behind my ears.  I would put him on the floor but he would
repeat the whole thing over and over until I often found myself laughing and
sitting on the floor playing with Skip.  He didn't stop the anxiety from
eventually overtaking me but he has special meaning to me just because he
knew something was wrong and the Lord used him to show love and kindness to
me as I felt the hopelessness all around me.

Phil.