"Only Gone From Your Sight" - #1 New Release on Amazon

SAMPLE CHAPTER...
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Only Gone From Your Sight:
Jack McAfghan's Little Guide to Pet Loss & Grief
by Kate McGahan

CHAPTER 4 

NOT ‘JUST’ A PET

It was hard for friends to know how to comfort her. After all, I had been like her child, her boyfriend, her husband and her best friend all wrapped up in one furry package. Pets can become like family members especially for those who do not have a family of their own.

Reflections on Life with My Master, Chapter 73

You might find it difficult to open up your heart and talk with most people because you fear they might think you crazy for loving me more than you’ve loved any human. All too many who deeply grieve the loss of a pet have been ‘reassured’ by a statement from a well-meaning friend, “It’s just a dog/ cat/ horse/ hamster/ rabbit/ parakeet... You can get another one.” Forgive them for they know not what they do or what they say.
   Even other animal owners might not understand. Some people who own pets are only master, not friend, and they miss out on the best parts of the human-animal bond. If only they could see that we are there to teach them and to give them the love that has otherwise been missing in their lives. The love most humans do not know how to give…or receive. These are the people who might laugh or sneer at you now when you call me your soulmate because they never have heard of such a thing. They think that all soulmates are romantic relationships between two people, not loving relationships between two beings, two friends, two soul travelers such as us. Pity them for what they do not know. Pity them that they cannot treat anyone else better than they treat themselves. Pity them for the love they’ve never had or recognized.

Love is chemistry beyond our control. When true love comes into your life it can transform you in the most extraordinary ways and change everything you ever believed in. You are never sure where true love is going to come from and it can be quite a surprise when it comes from your pet.

While it may sound strange that someone can grieve more deeply for a pet than for a human, there is a certain undeniable depth that comes from sharing a life of unconditional love. It doesn’t matter how many legs I have or how many you have, it’s a soul connection. No matter how we found each other, no matter how long we have been together, it is a relationship like no other. I have given you the kind of love that takes humans a lifetime to learn, if they ever learn. I know the power of love and I want to give it to you. It is the most powerful force in the universe. I came into this world to give true love to you and to draw true love out of you. How many people in your life do that?

Of course people do the best they can, giving and receiving their imperfect human love. There are a few special people on earth who are very old souls and they are capable of loving at a very deep level. They give the highest form of love; love that is divinely pure, honest and unconditional. It holds the loved one more precious than oneself. It sacrifices without complaint, without resentment, without keeping score. It gives and gives and expects nothing in return. It’s the same kind of love that I have given to you. I came into the world to love and be loved and I chose you. Love is why I came here. You are the reason I came. My love has become a part of you but you don’t seem to understand that yet. When I am gone you don’t seem to know who you are without me. You don’t know your identity without me. I will teach you. I will teach you through life and I will teach you through death. I will teach you that love never dies.

When you love from the depths of the soul in your heart, you are never apart from the one you love no matter how far away you seem to be. Even when I am gone from your sight, I am never gone from your heart. We live in the heart of one another for eternity, beyond the reaches of this world. The love runs deep. That's why it hurts so much for so long when we have to say “goodbye”. That’s also why you will get through this. Our love runs so deep that nothing can touch it, no, not even death. Our love will win. It always does when it is true.

I tried to comfort her. I spoke in a voice she could not hear. her grief and sadness drowned me out. I wanted to tell her what I have always known. That life is but a dream leading to love. Love, more powerful than her fear could ever be. Love cannot be destroyed. It grows and grows until it is stronger than death. 

Reflections on Life with MyMaster, Chapter 72

Soulmates change all the rules in the game of life. We have been brought together, you and me, by a common destiny. We have known each other before and we will know each other again. I will continue to transform you from beyond the grave and help you to see that love is more valuable and powerful than anything else.

There will be others who will not understand this kind of love. They will raise their eyebrows as they stand in judgment of you and comment how silly it is that you loved me this much. Don’t worry about them. I feel sorry for them. They obviously have never encountered a soulmate of their own or they would know better. They would know that traditional rules do not apply when a match is made in Heaven. Once you know this kind of love you will never question love again. You’ll know it when you see it. You’ll know it when you feel it. You will never be confused by something that is something else.

EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY BECAUSE 

OUR LOVE WILL SEE US THROUGH.

LOVE NEVER DIES.  

Keep Going! Click HERE to preview the first 5 chapters and/or order the book, 

available on Kindle and in Paperback! 

My Poem About Squirrels

I think that I shall never see 

This squirrel come down from this tree. 

A squirrel whose tail goes east and west;

She teases me! She is a pest! 

She sits and looks at me all day, 

And waves her furry tail to say 

She'll never let me win this game. 

I must forfeit; she is to blame! 

The tree protects with limbed terrain. 

Her sheltered home, it's her domain. 

Only God can make a tree, 

Or a squirrel... or fools like me. 

~ by Jack McAfghan. 
Based on the poem "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer (1914)

If Doubting Thomas Can Become a Believer, You Can Too.

One of our readers begs to differ on the subject of animals going to Heaven. He mentions St. Thomas in his argument.  With all due respect to his thoughts and beliefs, I don't particularly appreciate how this contradicts the entire love story of my life and my passing. I wish to clarify our St. Thomas, who was known for being a Doubter, much like my reader.

I also like to clarify that while I am not "religious" (religion does not exist in heaven, only spirit exists fueled by the power of love), we must always take into consideration the great writings and beliefs of the people who are of great faith -- no matter what creed.

"St. Thomas was born a Jew and was called to be one of the twelve Apostles. His birth and death dates are unknown, but his feast day is celebrated July 3. He lived before the formal establishment of the Catholic Church but is recognized as the patron saint of architects.

He was a dedicated but impetuous follower of Christ. When Jesus said He was returning to Judea to visit His sick friend Lazarus, Thomas immediately exhorted the other Apostles to accompany Him on the trip which involved certain danger and possible death because of the mounting hostility of the authorities.

"At the Last Supper, when Christ told His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them to which they also might come because they knew both the place and the way, Thomas pleaded that they did not understand and received the beautiful assurance that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

St. Thomas is best known for his role in verifying the Resurrection of his Master. Thomas' unwillingness to believe that the other Apostles had seen their risen Lord on the first Easter Sunday earned him the title of "doubting Thomas."

Eight days later, on Christ's second apparition, Thomas was gently rebuked for his skepticism and furnished with the evidence he had demanded - seeing in Christ's hands the point of the nails. Thomas even put his fingers in the nail holes and his hand into Christ's side. After verifying the wounds were true, St. Thomas became convinced of the reality of the Resurrection and exclaimed, "My Lord and My God," thus making a public Profession of Faith in the Divinity of Jesus.

The Incredulity of Thomas" by Caravaggio, public domain, Wikipedia

St. Thomas is also mentioned as being present at another Resurrection appearance of Jesus - at Lake Tiberias, when a miraculous catch of fish occurred.

This is all that we know about St. Thomas from the New Testament. Tradition says that at the dispersal of the Apostles after Pentecost this saint was sent to evangelize to the Parthians, Medes, and Persians. He ultimately reached India, carrying the Faith to the Malabar coast, which still boasts a large native population calling themselves 'Christians of St. Thomas.'"

SOURCE: www.Catholic.org

Paris: And They Call the Terror-ists "Animals"

The death toll in the Paris massacre keeps rising.  How can people hurt people?  The media calls these terror-ists 'animals'.  They give them too much credit. Animals would never do this to each other. 

If you read my book you will find out that it is not all about death and dying and loss. It is about life and living and love. Someone said "I haven't read your book because I know how it ends."  There are many many chapters far ahead of what you call The End and there are many chapters that follow.  

The end is not the end!  The point of my book is that in every single chapter there is lesson to be learned. The chapters are short as they plant the seeds of love, compassion and faith through the entire book.  It is not about death, it is about life!

The more your learn about life and death and how we are all connected in this universe, the more you will know the importance of being forgiving, staying loving and thinking positive.  When you get caught up in the terror, the fear and the trepidation of events like last night's event in Paris, it puts more fear out into the world.  When you are able to remain calm, keeping a peaceful heart even when things around you are in turmoil, that peace will radiate out of you and circulate out into the world. 

Please keep loving and you will help to heal an aching world. 

Send your prayers and your love to France today.