SecondIron's Blog

Sharpening Iron to Live Second

Home for the Holidays

I had the opportunity and privilege to sit down with Rick DuCharme, Founder and Executive Director of First Coast No More Homeless Pets (FCNMHP). We met for lunch at Joseph’s on Main Street. Over lasagna and cal-zones we discussed the exciting future of FCNMHP. Next weekend December 19th-21st,  FCNMHP will be hosting the final Mega Pet Adoption at the fairgrounds. This provides a one stop place for people looking to adopt a dog or cat. Many of the high risk shelters and rescue groups will be on hand to match you with your next family member. For only a 20 dollar adoption fee you can save two lives, the one you take home and the one that is saved in its place. As we close in on year’s end and people are making last-minute donations FCNMHP has a fantastic solution. With the generosity of a donor all dollars donated between now and the end of the year will be doubled. This means if you donate 25.00 it will be 50.00 or 50.00 becomes 100.00 and so on. This provides a fantastic opportunity for your dollars to go farther to save lives. FCNMHP also believes that animal owners should not be forced to decide whether to get their pet the medical care they need. They have an ongoing Angel Fund that through the generous help of its donors provides medical treatment to the homeless as well as those that otherwise would be unable to afford treatment. This program has been a great success and you can read […]

Why We Must Possess in Order to Give

In order for one to truly give of oneself, we must possess control of oneself. “The fundamental issue is freedom. You must possess yourself in order to give yourself away.” We all like to give to others in the form of charity whether in time, talent or money. Once we obtain a clean heart then and only then can we give. This is not to say that we cannot give our weekends up or maybe an hour here or there volunteering. We can go to charity event after charity event and still be empty. Even if you give the shirt off your own back to someone in need that does not consist of true giving. We remain slaves to the world and everything in it. Rather than giving to those in need we will hoard things we don’t really use, like or even want. We look in our full closets and think we have nothing to wear. Meanwhile our brothers and sisters are out in the elements hungry and bare. He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much. – Lao Tzu Click To Tweet Sure we go to church on Sunday and tithe our ten percent. Does putting spare change in the basket somehow wash away our sin? We talk a good talk as we hide the lies we hold within. Thinking that if we ask forgiveness then it is okay to do it all over again. In fact we were all sold into a lie of sorts. No matter what the. deed no matter […]

Open Your Eyes to See the Unseen

Open your eyes do you see me? We are all guilty of it, we pass by people every day that just want to be seen.  Won’t you open your eyes to see the unseen. Sometimes it is the man on the corner asking for change. Do you stop and talk to him or rush on by? There is the lady with all the kids pulling on her wrinkled clothes. Do you offer her a hand or step out-of-the-way. When you see an old classmate busing the table where you just ate, do you say “hi” or keep on walking by.  Do you get frustrated with the one in front of you that uses food stamps and then wants change? What about the one that scrounges in their purse only to come up pennies short. We all get impatient and want to get on with our lives.  We would rather not look therefore we do not have to see. There are moments every day that we could make our world a better place.  A moment to say thank you to the baggers making minimum wage at the grocery store.  Or to not be rude when your burger is not your way. You see those little moments that we take for granted could mean the world in someone else’s day. We see need on the TV,  where charities ask for our monthly gifts, gifts that mean nothing to us yet everything to them.  Our hearts break and we think someone needs to do something, yet that someone is you. Rather […]