Great Dog Stories (10 page)

I teach screenwriting for a living. It’s the art of writing vivid, succinct word pictures that tell a story. What struck me about Alex’s memory of his Beagle and the school bus were the visuals. I can see the movie poster. Cornfields for as far as the eye can see. A big yellow school bus being led by a Beagle. Pepper strutting like the Music Man leading a parade of 76 trombones. The theme is the big and powerful being humbled and schooled by the small and weak.

It’s a familiar theme in the Bible and there are a lot of great stories to illustrate it. One such story finds Jesus with His disciples, engaged in serious discussion about who can get into the kingdom of heaven—when they are interrupted by a gaggle of eager parents hauling their children over so Jesus can bless them.

The disciples are bugged that their quality time with the Master is being interrupted by a bunch of noisy rugrats. After all, Jesus isn’t some mall Santa and perhaps He was about to reveal a big secret about the kingdom of heaven.

Here’s what the Bible says in Matthew 19:13-15 (
NLT
): “The disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. But Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.’ And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.”

I can imagine the egg dripping off the faces of the high and mighty disciples! All their years of learning and study, all the hundreds of hours they’d listened to Jesus, all the meditation and heartfelt prayers—all good but in a moment, turned upside down and inside out. Little children leading
them
to insights about the kingdom of heaven!

And Jesus wasn’t merely instructing the disciples through book knowledge. He had personal experience in the matter of being a gifted child. On a family trip to Jerusalem to attend the Passover festival, 12-year-old Jesus was accidentally left behind by His parents. When they came back to look for Him, they didn’t find Him at the local playground or in the ancient equivalent of a video game arcade—no, they found their adolescent boy in the temple, interacting with an assemblage of religious teachers and wise men. This “tween” wasn’t twiddling His thumbs or daydreaming. The Bible says He was an active participant in the discussion: “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers” (Luke 2:47).

If you want to know the deepest secrets about the kingdom of heaven you need to be like a little child. You need to have the mindset of a Beagle who believed she could fetch and lead a school bus. It is the power of innocence and meekness and utterly childlike faith.

Thank God for dogs and kids. Without them we’d have a much harder time figuring out the great and unsearchable mysteries of God.

Trust is letting go of needing to know all
the details before you open your heart.

A
NONYMOUS

B
ecky knew a stray dog was living in the orchard across the road from her house. She watched the dog on her way back and forth from work. From time to time, she would see people try to lure the animal, but the stray would not be beckoned.

This went on for about a year. One day Becky threw some old muffins into the alfalfa field, thinking the birds would eat them. The next morning she looked out to see the stray dog eating the muffins. And that’s where the real story begins.

It became Becky’s mission to get this homeless canine to trust her. She took food out to the edge of her yard and left it for the dog. The animal eyed her very cautiously, and would not approach the food until Becky walked some distance away. But as the weeks passed, this dog began to trust her kind human friend a bit more. Becky didn’t have to walk so far away for the dog to start eating. It took about two months, but finally the dog let Becky get close enough to pet her. This was how Becky discovered a tick and an infected cut on the dog’s side. The dog let Becky clean her up and put medication on her wound. As her trust continued to grow, Becky’s new canine pal started sleeping on her back porch. Becky named the dog Bonnie.

As their friendship grew, so did Bonnie’s body. It was evident that she was pregnant as she began to take on “the look.” At this point, she was still disappearing and showing up again. Suddenly, one day, Bonnie showed up skinny.

Becky asked Bonnie where the puppies were. To her amazement, Bonnie headed out to the fenced-in back lot. She crawled under a hole in the fence where Becky couldn’t go. Becky told Bonnie she was going back to the house to get the key to the gate. Bonnie crawled back through the fence hole and accompanied her human.

After Becky opened the gate, Bonnie led her to an old boxcar from a train. It was being used for storage. Bonnie had dug a hole under the boxcar. That’s where the puppies were.

It was remarkable. A few months before, this dog wouldn’t come near Becky. Now she was leading Becky to her puppies! Becky got down on her stomach in the dirt and started fishing them out one paw or tail at a time. Eleven puppies later, she had the whole litter. She stuffed them all into her shirt and carried them to the safety of her back porch where she could supervise them more closely. They lived in a plastic swimming pool until they were big enough to roam the yard. Becky found homes for ten of them and kept Bonnie and her cutest puppy, Tess. The more Bonnie trusted her human, the more Becky could offer her. Their relationship grew into a wonderful bond. In fact, Bonnie would not leave Becky’s side. She even slept next to her human’s bed at night.

Becky’s relationship with Bonnie taught her several great lessons about her relationship with God.

First, Becky was watching Bonnie and was concerned for her well-being even before the dog was aware of her. God had His eyes on us even when we were not yet aware of Him.

Second, Bonnie’s trust was shaky. She ate and ran away again. Still, every time she returned, Becky welcomed her. God continues to love and welcome those who come to Him with shaky trust and don’t yet understand what an intimate relationship with Him holds.

Third, Becky was patient with Bonnie’s fears. It took time for Bonnie to come close enough for Becky to remove the tick and treat her wound. God waits patiently for us to allow intimacy with Him so that He can bind up our wounds and remove the things that torment us.

Finally, by the time Bonnie’s puppies were born, she was willing to trust these most precious possessions to her human. Becky gathered the puppies up and protected them better than Bonnie could. Even though it is ever so hard to release our children to the Lord, He knows how to protect them and grow them up far better than we do. But it is only through getting to know who He really is that we can trust Him enough to place their lives in His hands.

Bottom line: God gave Becky a glimpse of His patience with us and showed her why He wants us to be intimate with Him. She realized that the better we get to know God, the more He can give us.

Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). But, like Bonnie, we must allow it. Becky shared that during this time, God began teaching her how very much like stray dogs we are in our relationship with Him. He has so much to offer us, but fear keeps us at a distance. We come in just close enough to snatch up the scraps of the abundant life and run away again.

Or we may be like a friend of mine who is still spiritually searching. He reads everything he can find on different religions but can’t seem to accept that Jesus is the truth he’s been seeking. He rummages the orchard of life, hoping to score a few old muffins, when he could be feasting on a wonderful relationship with Christ.

Proverbs 18:24 says, “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Jesus wants to be such a friend to us. Will you let Him draw you close so He can touch and heal you?

In faith there is enough light for those who want to
believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.

B
LAISE
P
ASCAL

D
aniel’s beloved Australian cattle dog mix (mixed with what he didn’t know) recently passed away. Hannah had been a part of Daniel’s family for 14 years. He was only six when they adopted her, so it’s hard for Daniel to remember a time when Hannah wasn’t there. If dogs were judged by their resumes, Hannah’s wouldn’t be exceptional. While she did come when called, she resisted learning tricks, not even mastering Basic Ball Fetching 101. But Hannah was unfailingly loyal to Daniel and his family. She loved them and they loved her. That made her the best dog in the world.

It was devastating when Hannah contracted Lyme disease from a tick bite, destroying the nerves in her legs. Daniel dreaded putting her down. He remembers cradling her face in his hands before he left for work that fateful morning and when he returned, she was just
gone
.

Hannah was greatly missed. The house was too quiet. No more tip-tap-tipping of her paws scampering over the hardwood floors. They missed her familiar bark, even her doggie smell. Daniel, like the rest of his family, felt a dog-shaped hole in his life.

The family decided it was an emptiness that needed to be filled. The only question was—how? In a world with millions and millions of dogs, how does one find the
right
dog? A dog who could possibly take Hannah’s place?

Daniel’s family found Hannah by making weekly visits to the local Humane Society. Now, they could search for dogs on the Internet. The good news was, there were hundreds if not thousands of dogs to choose from without leaving the comfort of their living room. The bad news was, there were hundreds if not thousands of dogs to choose from. This led to a paralysis of indecision. They had to narrow the search. Everyone agreed on a puppy. Cute. Little. A fresh start.

As to the breed, Daniel’s mom insisted on a mutt because she’d heard they generally live longer and are less susceptible to disease. She also wanted a girl.

The narrowing process continued. No hard-to-manage long hair that would shed everywhere. Not too big or too small. Nothing that could be mistaken for a horse…or a rat. The family researched the traits of various breeds. An easy-going disposition was a must. No high-maintenance diva dogs need apply.

It was hard work assembling this wish list, but even harder trying to
find
this pup. The family scoured online rescue sites like desperate singles in search of a soul mate. No matches. Then it occurred to Daniel that he and his brother would soon be away at college. How would a lone puppy keep itself occupied while Dad was at work and Mom was out running errands? Daniel insisted they get two dogs to keep each other company. His mom wasn’t thrilled with double dog duty, but reluctantly agreed—with the stipulation that the duo be a boy and a girl. She believed two of the same sex would be hostile to each other.