I have to confess that I do get the Church Times. I always read the situations vacants column, even when not looking for another post. I sometimes, but rarely, read other parts, but hardly ever the back page interview.

The edition on 1st April 2011 caught my eye. It was not a foolstide joke. The interviewee comments about how dogs are her spiritual directors. They do not, she says, send you away with a scripture, but they are loyal, attentive listeners and live in the present.

Certainly sometimes walking my dogs around the rezza (reservoir) or through the Country Park just before or after 6am is one of my closest moments with the divine during the day. It is not just that the two hounds cause me to go at a slower pace – what’s the hurry when there is a different smell or if wee-mail needs to be placed on a lamp post or a strategic blade of grass for another dog to reply to. When they are running, they do want God created them for – how can I not worship when I see that?

The interviewee also says that dogs live in the present. That is true – and that is a challenge. I do not often live in the moment. I think Jesus lived in the moment. For a man on a mission, he had time.

Why have I not said who was being interviewed. The paper is by the kettle in the kitchen. If I moved away from the PCC. I would find something else to do, as the demands of time force me out of the moment.

Lurcher