All Dogs Go to Heaven

My dog, Duke, has been in my family since I was 12 years old. We went and picked him out of his litter when he was just a puppy. Our whole family loved getting and having a dog. Duke has been a joy to play with and walk and feed and love. And although his hyper-active personality required some extra patience and discipline at times, my family wouldn't have traded him for the world.

Today is Duke's half birthday. He is 14-and-a-half years old today...and he is on his last legs...literally. This Autumn has been a particularly difficult time for our family pet. His legs have been giving out on him...he's been falling, and having trouble walking. He's been losing weight and is generally weaker and less energetic in his old age. The vet thinks that it's bad arthritis, or maybe cancer. At any rate, my family knows that Duke won't be around very much longer, and that soon we are going to have to let him go.

So my dog has me thinking about what happens to animals when they die. Do dogs (and cats and bird and ferrets and elephants) go to heaven when they die? Does God care for animals like God cares for us? It's an important question for my family these days. We can't let Duke go without believing that the answer is an absolute "Yes!"

I had a professor in seminary who talked about God's relationship with animals. He entertained our questions about what happens to our pets when they pass away. And he reminded us of this... that God has, and is, and will redeem ALL of God's creation. That includes dogs and cats and bears and fish and trees and flowers...all of it! God's kingdom would not be complete without all of these wonders of God's creation. How strange of us to think that God only has a place for people in the world that is to come. When I think about heaven...I can't imagine it without Duke there, waiting for his family to come home, wagging his tail, with his ball in his mouth, just itching to play!

I will miss my dog very much when he dies. Losing a pet is like losing a family member. But I am glad for all that Duke will experience with God...chasing rabbits and eating divine doggie treats. I'm grateful, too, for a Creator that is redeeming all of creation...even redeeming me and especially redeeming Duke.

Looking for God in all the wrong places

I was reading the Bible the other day – a dangerous task but something I try to do daily, and I recognized that the Bible is full of stories of God at work in the world. God is reported to be very active in the pages of Scripture. In fact, God is often at work in unexpected ways, using all different kinds of people and means to work in the world.

As a person of faith in Jesus, I believe that God is still at work in the world. But in the hum drum of life, I think I often fail to recognize God’s work. I forget to look for it and appreciate it and be grateful for it. So, I tried to think of how God is working in unexpected ways or places in my life. When did a stranger show me unexpected kindness? Where did I see God in the middle of tragedy? I thought for a while, but it wasn’t that easy. It was difficult for me to figure out where God is and what God is doing! Is this or that God’s work, or human’s work? Are humans at fault here or there, or is God responsible? What is God doing? Iraq, economy, elections, etc? What’s going on? Where is God in all of it?

In the middle of all this thinking I was doing, I saw two things in the same day: a beautiful three-hour old baby girl and a serene sunset over the river. Both sweet and pleasant surprises. Perhaps I was thinking too hard or too grandiose. Or I was thinking and not looking.

When we do look up at the world around us and start to recognize the activity of God, our faith grows – we can trust that God is active. Our hope grows – we are encouraged that God is working things together. Our love grows – we love the one who is acting with love for us all the time.