WACKY WEDNESDAY WISDOM: Where You Go, I Go- Flash Forward

    If you’ve ever had a pet you loved, please read this all the way through to the end. I promise you’ll be glad you did. If you’ve never had such a pet, then don’t waste your time. Scroll on to something else because to be honest, you won’t get it. If you’re one of those who’ll say: 

“You should be writing about people and honoring them, not an animal”, then please don’t read any further. You’ll be disappointed. But if you’ve ever had a family pet that you believe God placed in your life for a purpose, read on. And if after reading this, you feel it could be of some value to someone else, please share it. You don’t even have to tell them who wrote it. 

   I won’t keep you in suspense. Our family’s medium-size girl brown dog- My Famous Dog Flash- is no longer with us. She died peacefully last week. And we miss her deeply. 

   It’s possible I’m using this Wacky Wednesday Wisdom devotion as personal therapy. Perhaps I just need someone to listen to a story about a dog so I can feel I’ve done justice to the life she lived. But there’s also no doubt this writing qualifies as a devotion because of the presence of God in Flash’s story. Please bear with me while I explain. 

   I’m quite certain God uses animals, especially our cherished pets, to help teach us about the fruits of His Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5. I truly believe God placed Flash in our family to model the fruits of the Spirit so that we wouldn’t forget what they looked like and so that we could demonstrate them more abundantly in our own lives. By sending Flash into our lives, perhaps God was allowing us to witness a daily reminder of loyalty. And by doing so, He was saying to us “Be more loyal”. When we daily witnessed Flash’s faithfulness, perhaps God was beckoning us to “Be more faithful”. When we daily witnessed Flash’s availability, perhaps God was reminding us “Be more available”. When we daily witnessed Flash’s unconditional love, perhaps God was telling us to “Love unconditionally”.

   Flash was all about unconditional love. During all those years of me being a college baseball coach, Flash never gave a fat rat’s tail whether we had celebrated a dramatic win or endured a gut wrenching loss when I arrived home afterward. No matter what the result of the game or no matter who was mad at me for making the wrong move or upset at me because their son didn’t get to play, Flash greeted me as I entered the door with a wagging tail and a desire to be petted. Her eyes told me the same story every time: “I don’t care what kind of day you’ve had, I’m here to help make it better. I love you no matter what. Where you go, I go”. 

   Sometimes as Flash and I endured the evening news in the family room, she listened patiently as I vented out loud, griping about the media, politics, politicians, the state of the union, the state of the state, and the state of the world. And when I asked her what she thought, she would glance in my direction and her eyes clearly said: “It’s all okay, love wins in the end, and that’s all I care about”. 

   Flash wasn’t perfect. She drank from the toilet, shed, and counter surfed- once eating an entire two-pound package of raw ground beef intended for the Stroupe spaghetti dinner. She loved people but for some reason, she had some pent up negativity toward UPS delivery men and Jehovah’s Witnesses, which led to occasional confrontations. (Eventually the Jehovah’s Witness folks gave up and quit coming). I guess even a doggy who practices unconditional love has a nemesis here and there. 

   But her good far outweighed her bad. We never had to rinse the food gunk off the plates or bowls before placing them in the dishwasher. She licked everything clean to prepare the dishes for the wash cycle. And if you accidentally passed gas in the family room, you could claim it was her and she gladly accepted the blame without complaining.

   She had a different greeting for each family member when we entered our home, altering her personality to fit whatever family member she was with at the moment, instinctively understanding our individual needs during those times. How? It can only be that God equipped her to be His agent of comfort, encouragement, and joy- individually catered to each of us. 

   There’s no doubt first and foremost, Flash was a Mama’s girl. Their special and unique bond was unlike anything I’ve witnessed in my 57 years of life. To Mom she was the girly girl who got ribbons put in her hair and played dress up to the amusement of others.When Mom went upstairs to bed each night, she went upstairs to bed too, situating herself on the pad on the floor at the end of the bed. When she woke up during the night needing reassurance, she went to Mom’s side of the bed and demanded to be rubbed and stroked. When Mom ventured to her little closet/room to put on makeup on Sunday mornings, Flash demanded to have her face stroked with the little makeup brush, too. Flash was always saying to her mom- “Where you go, I go”. 

   But she was also a Daddy’s girl who loved to go on outdoor exploration adventures. To me she was a hunting, tracking, trailblazing, squirrel chasing, exploring, Queen of the woods, possum treeing, nature-loving dog. Our property is located mainly in the woods with a downhill slope that leads to a swamp area. Flash loved being my partner on our ventures to the swamp. But it was quite an uphill climb getting back so Mom didn’t always want Flash to accompany me, especially as she got older. So I would try to sneak out of the house and head to the swamp without Flash knowing. But it never failed that a few minutes into my trek through the woods, a medium-sized, brown furry creature would come sprinting past me, eager to blaze the trail and lead me to our special place down by the creek- just in case I had forgotten how to get there. Apparently within a few minutes of me leaving the house, she would pitch such a conniption fit that Mom would have to let her out. And as she caught up with and eventually passed me, she would fire a glance my direction, her eyes saying: “I’m here. We’re doing this together. This is our thing. My job is to look out after you and get you there and back safely. Where you go, I go. Don’t go trying to do this without me”.

   The same was true any time I opened the drawer to get my truck keys. She ran to the door and barked, ready to leap to her spot in the middle of the back seat of the truck, always facing forward and looking ahead so she could see where we were going. It didn’t matter to her the destination, she was a willing passenger. “Where you go, I go,” she said with her eyes as she barked her approval. Since hanging up the coaching shoes in 2019, I have become ordained and have served interim pastorships at a few different churches. On our truck rides, Flash became my congregation as I practiced how to deliver some of the stronger lines I would be sharing on Sundays. She patiently listened without criticism and without falling asleep.

   Flash’s greatest gift was her presence. She never got tired or bored being around me, Mom, or any of our three boys, who all grew up with her but have moved away now. She was always there for us. During the pandemic, when my teaching job required me to interact with my college students online from our upstairs bedroom, she laid on the floor and listened to every lecture. She learned more Sociology than the majority of my college students and she could have made at least a B+  if I had ever allowed her to take one of my exams. When I strummed my guitar and sang a few choruses in that same room, she never complained about a missed chord or me singing off key, which was annoying to family members and various neighbors, but not to her. 

   In the Bible in Ruth 1:16, Ruth declares her allegiance to Naomi even though she could have easily and understandably walked away to restart her own life. “Where you go, I go” declared Ruth. Flash must have heard me quote that verse at some point and decided it sounded good to her.

   A week or so ago, at about 11:30 in the evening, Flash and I were home alone as Mom was out of town visiting her parents. Before going to bed, I noticed Flash had uncharacteristically moved to a couch in a front room and was lying quietly on it. When I beckoned her to come to bed, she also uncharacteristically didn’t move. I could tell she didn’t feel good so I stroked and rubbed her for a while then tried to help her down from the couch so we could head toward the bedroom. As soon as her paws hit the floor, I knew something was wrong. As the minutes passed, my sweet little medium-sized girl brown dog became more and more listless and her breathing became more labored. I begged her to hang on so that I could get some help but it quickly became obvious she was experiencing her last moments on Earth. With her lying on the floor and me on my knees holding her tightly,  Flash began to fade away and her gaze became distant. But we were able to lock eyes at one point and for one brief moment, she seemed to be saying to me: “Where I’m going, you can’t go . . . at least not now.” I’ll keep the rest of our last few moments together between us, but suffice to say, as I felt the breath of life leave her and she eventually slipped painlessly away, I was distraught. I looked heavenward, stretched out my arms and asked God- “Is this all there is? Is this the end”?

   Immediately Isaiah 11:6 came to my mind where, when speaking of a future Heaven, scripture says: “In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all”.

   Some will claim my comfort was born in the heat of that moment, or that I was merely falling victim to sappy sentimentality- that I was having an emotionally based idealistic wannabe experience. But what I was simply doing in that moment was turning to the Word of God to guide me in my time of hurt. 

   So the question may be asked: Does God care about our pets? Did God care about Flash? 

When speaking of two sparrows in Matthew 10:29, Jesus reminded listeners that “not one of them shall fall to the ground apart from your Father”. Does God have time in the midst of everything He’s got to take care of in the world to be concerned about animals and pets? According to the Gospel of Matthew, apparently He does. 

   As I Flash forward to that time in the future when I go to meet my Maker, and after I’ve met up with my relatives and spiritual heroes who have entered before me, I can imagine another scene.  One that my newly acquired Heavenly eyes will allow me to witness. One where the Wolf and the Lamb are lying down together, where the Lion and the Calf are cozied up next to each other, and in their midst patiently waiting to greet me, will be a medium-sized girl brown dog with a wagging tail . . . eager and ready to go where I go. 

   And all will be right again.