Great Dog Stories (11 page)

So,
two
puppies who met all the specs, who would get along with each other and the family—impossible! But nothing’s impossible with God, right? Eventually, a promising prospect arose: a big litter of Australian shepherd/Jack Russell terrier mixes. There was only one problem: the dogs were in North Carolina and Daniel and his family lived in Maryland—400 miles and a seven-hour drive away.

The puppy hunters weighed the options. That much time and energy just to get a pair of dogs? It would be an overnight trip with costly gas and hotel fees. And what if, when the family finally got there, they were the wrong puppies? Their photos were cute and the owner swore they were adorable little beasts. But used car salesmen and purveyors of puppies have been known to bend the truth. What if these pups were lemons? What if the seller was hoping to unload them on a desperate out-of-town family who had just driven seven hours and spent the night in a hotel? How could they
not
feel obligated to buy ’em?

Doubt-ridden, Daniel went back to the Internet. Surely, there must be a brother/sister set of puppies that met their criteria closer to home. But there wasn’t. They discussed lowering their standards. Big longhairs? Two males? But this wasn’t a decision to take lightly. Not just any Spot, Shep, or Fido could fill the Grand Canyon in their hearts left by Hannah.

Daniel searched obsessively until he developed a bad case of online-dog-profile-phobia. He was in despair the right dogs would ever turn up. It was time to give up—or get going to North Carolina.

The family loaded up the van and took a drive of faith down south. Expectations and worries were running high. Four hundred miles, seven hours, and one hotel later they met the puppies.

They were just as advertised. Active but not too rambunctious. Friendly and loving. Short-haired, not too big, not too small. The family named the girl Panda because she was white with black spots around her eyes. They named the boy Bear because he was black and…looked like a bear. They thought it would be fun to yell “Panda Bear!” and have both puppies come running.

Panda and Bear are being housebroken. Getting shots. Learning tricks. The house is no longer silent. Eight different paws tip-tap-tip on the floors. Barking fills the air—lots of it. Now at college, Daniel’s pleased to hear the dogs are great pals and play happily in the backyard.

As to that Hannah-shaped hole in their hearts? Panda and Bear didn’t fill that hole like cookie-cut forms. But they have become a part of this family in their own way. In doing so, they are the fulfillment of all the criteria Daniel and his family hoped for.

They are also an illustration of a thing called faith.

Hebrews 11:1 (
NI
r
V
) says faith is “being sure of what we hope for. It is being certain of what we do not see.” Without faith, Daniel and his family would not have left the comfort of their living room to take that seven-hour drive from Maryland to North Carolina. This family of puppy seekers hoped in these two puppies without actually seeing them. They studied the puppies’ pixelated images, read about them, and spoke with the owner on the phone. But without taking that drive of faith, those hoped-for puppies would never have become real to them as their own precious dogs.

Those seeking the Messiah also had a lot of specific criteria. In fact, there are over 300 Old Testament prophecies that pointed the way to the coming Savior. Here are just a few. It had to be a man from the line of David. Born in a not too big, not too small town called Bethlehem. Oh, yes. And one more thing.

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

Yikes! His mother had to be…
a virgin.

Now if that doesn’t make the One hard to find, what does? Can you imagine the stress it would have caused Daniel’s family if they’d added “puppies born of a virgin” to their wish list?

It takes a bit more faith to find an immaculately conceived human than a couple of short-haired puppies that don’t shed much. I mean, how does one actually find a perfect man who never sinned, who is the Son of God, who died and rose again from the dead, who can fill that eternity of emptiness in your broken heart and save you from eternal death and give you the gift of eternal life? Where do you find Someone like that? You can read about Him in the Bible, listen to His words on your MP3 player, hear sermons about Him, and get down on your knees and pray to this invisible God. But you can’t see Him with your own eyes. You can’t look out your back window and see your next-door neighbor Jesus walking across His swimming pool or rebuking a fig tree, causing it to instantly shrivel up and die.

So if you can’t see Jesus, He’s not real, right?

Not unless you take that drive of faith.

Unless you are willing to take a leap of faith and believe He’s as real as Panda and Bear, you will never have an actual relationship with Him. And you may miss out on the greatest blessing ever bestowed on mankind: knowing God’s love for
sure
.

Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love.

A
RISTOTLE

L
ike so many other folks, I love dogs. I have dogs that I call my friends in several cities. They know me and run up to me so I can hug them when I see them. But there is a dog I adore that I have never actually met. He is a television star. His character name is Levi and he plays on an old television series called
Sue Thomas, F.B. Eye.
Sue is deaf, so Levi alerts her to important sounds in her world. He has been trained to help in this way, just like Seeing Eye dogs are trained to help the blind.

The dog Levi’s real name is Jesse. When the show’s creators were just starting to cast, Jesse came to audition for them in Thousand Oaks, California. The creators fell in love with Jesse right away and hired him. He could do practically anything. If he was asked to do a new trick, his trainer and master, Bryan, would work with him just a little, and he’d catch on.

It was easy to see that Jesse loved his master and would do anything to please him. Bryan liked it when the writers would put little bits in the script to show off Jesse’s skills. For example, Bryan taught Jesse to touch the elevator button with his nose or paw by putting a piece of a treat in the button. Sue would tell Levi which floor they wanted, and he would touch the appropriate button with his nose or paw. This would make everyone in the elevator smile—Levi included.

When Deanne, the actress who played Sue, first met Jesse, she fell in love with him too. But she was concerned about how he’d be treated as a working animal. She didn’t yet know Bryan. When she saw Bryan lying with Jesse on the studio floor between takes, she realized Jesse was loved and well cared for.

Joan Johnson, the writer and creative consultant, also remembers seeing Bryan and Jesse lying together. It was several years later, at the end of shooting the show. Bryan was stretched out on the floor with Jesse’s head resting on his chest. Jesse was breathing more heavily now because he was older and had cancer. But the two of them rested peacefully together—dog and master.

Joan described Bryan as a tough guy. He was a stunt man, motorcyclist, and the alpha dog in his relationship with Jesse. But Jesse also knew Bryan loved him with all his heart, and the dog would do anything for his master. If Bryan was out of his sight, Jesse would turn his head to look for him. Though Bryan was tough, he was also very sweet, kind, and loyal. Jesse knew this and seemed to love Bryan with all his heart, mind, and spirit.

My Master is also strong and tough. He is not my alpha dog. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. When He tells me to do something, I wish I could say that I immediately jump up and do it. But I am not as obedient as Jesse. Sometimes it takes me longer to listen or act on my Master’s commands.

This morning I took my father-in-law to the doctor’s office. My mother-in-law comes along, so I usually don’t go into the office. But today, I felt the Lord leading me to walk with them to the waiting room. This time I obeyed without hesitation. We sat down and had a nice chat. When his name was called, my in-laws both went into the examining room and I stayed behind.

Just as I was wondering why God had sent me there, I heard the voice of a dear old friend. I hadn’t noticed she was sitting across the room. I walked over and we hugged and shared news of our families. I met her daughter and granddaughter. I had not seen this friend for several years, and during that time she’d developed cancer. She told me she’d decided to stop her chemotherapy. She said she didn’t know how long she had on earth, but God was in charge. Through the sadness we found time to reminisce about some of our fun times with Moms in Touch and Youth for Christ, where we had both served as volunteers. If I had not obeyed my Master, I would not have had this precious, and perhaps final, visit with this dear old friend.

Back in Bible times, God asked Noah to play a starring role on the stage of history. He asked Noah to build an ark and put two of every living thing inside, along with himself and his whole family. The rains were coming to destroy the earth. Noah loved God, and he obeyed…even though the people around him didn’t think the flood would ever happen. But God was as good as His word. The rains came. The ark floated. And when the waters receded, Noah and his family were safe and healthy.

I may not have the same role to play on God’s stage as Noah or Jesse. But I want to play the part He has for me. Like Jesse, I love my Master with my whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. I know I can trust Him with my life and everyone and everything I know. Like Jesse, I seek my Master and His guidance. And after a long, busy day, I imagine myself laying my head on my Master’s chest where I can rest with sweet abandon.

Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God
whose ways you may not understand at the time.

O
SWALD
C
HAMBERS

B
ogie was a marvelous female German shepherd who belonged to the Allyn family. She was six or seven years old when she became part of an amazing God-shaped miracle.

Bill and Penny Allyn were at their summer home in a small upstate New York town. It was a beautiful cabin overlooking a spring-fed lake. On this June day the water temperature was chilly—probably 65 degrees or colder. They were cooking breakfast for their youngest son, Mark, and some of his buddies. They were also watching their two-year-old grandson, Noah.

Noah was right there with the rest of the family. Then, suddenly, they realized their grandson was gone. They raced outside but didn’t see him. Their immediate nightmare scenario was that the toddler would wander into the lake and drown.