08/11/2012 21:51
My buddy Buster died. He was old and sick and his body just couldn't go anymore. Before I get too much into this--Buster was a dog. He was an unusual cross between a char-pei and something else; maybe several something "elses," but we think the other part might have been chow. He was a handsome dog, imposing, scary to children and often compared by first-timers to a bear or even a lion.
In reality, he was a big baby, and if a bear, then nothing more than a Teddy bear.
We had a friendship of eleven years. He came to us at a time we needed a friend, and I think that is one of the things that made him so special to us. We believe God sent him.
You see, just he "showed up" at a low time in our lives. The timing was uncanny and now that he's gone, we have more than a sense of emptiness--we sort of feel unprotected. Maybe it's time for us to move out of our comfort zones; maybe it's a new season for us.
Four years into pastoring our church, a suave, charismatic man came into town to steal church members and our church split to follow him. It was more than a split--just about everyone left except three families. It was a very painful time, it was all in us to quit, lay it down and let someone else take it up. We didn't and now our church is better, stronger, and deeper in God. Perhaps it is so because we ourselves are.
Buster helped us through it. He just showed up on our porch one day and wouldn't leave. I forbade Shirley and Jessica from feeding him. Every time I went out, there he was faithful and loyal. He followed me everywhere, happy, smiling, totally there.
Guess who not only fed him, but brought him into the house? Yep.
He was the best dog in the world.
We had a six foot pipe gate that he learned to open by standing up, placing his front legs on one of the upper horizontal runs and he would walk backwards until it was open enough for him to jump down and run through before it shut back.
He never left. If he came out a gate, it was to be with us.
There's something about dogs, isn't there? Loyal, faithful, and dependable; desirable characteristics. I once heard that we should be the type of person our dogs think we are. Buster was also totally forgiving and never held a grudge. Maybe we should be more like them in that respect.
Some people let their dogs sleep with them. Nope, not me. Besides, he was too big. He would have loved that, though. Dogs are pack animals. They love to pile together. He slept in our bedroom for several years until he developed this awesome snore; that's when we shut the bedroom door at night. We could still hear him though; he lay against our bedroom door. He'd also be laying right outside our bathroom door when I come out after my morning shower. He did that up through the day he died. Faithful and loyal, always.
When the vet injected him with the chemical that would relieve him from his tormented body, I will never forget that last look when we locked eyes, mine watery, as I held his face in my hands. That last look, faithful and loyal.
Thank you, Buster, and thank you God for his loyal friendship all these years. We are a little lost right now, but we know You are the author of faithful and loyal. and You will carry us through.
Do dogs go to heaven? You betcha. He's there. Faithful and loyal.
