Crossing the Threshold: Our dogs remind us of a greater love

By Jennifer Stultz
Tri-County Tribune Editor
jstultz@cherryroad.com

Dogs. Oh how we love our dogs. I am sure cat people love their cats just as much as dog people love their dogs, but there is just something about a dog that reciprocates that love on such a deeper level it seems. Our little dog, JackJack, is a perfect example of that deep love.

Whenever we go somewhere from home, our Boston Terrier, JackJack, likes to ride along. He sits in his special seat in the middle of the front of our pickup and looks out at the world from the comfort of his safe and secure, soft bed. With his master (my husband) on one side and his momma (me) on the other, he is in doggy heaven, just to be allowed to ride along and see what there is to see in the world. He occasionally provides a good, soft lick or two of love to whomever he can reach and sighs contentedly as we go about our errands in town, or wherever we might be going that day. However, if one, or maybe even both, of his people have to get out of the vehicle and leave his immediate sight to mail something at the post office, do some quick shopping, or just visit with a friend, JackJack gets anxious. First he starts with a whimper or two, then he cries, and then he experiences full meltdown and wails until he can again see his people. When his people come back, he is overwhelmed with joy. He butt-wiggles, does happy little jumps in his car seat, and profusely licks anyone he can get a tongue on. His love is so apparent, and so sweet. It just melts our own hearts and we cuddle him and reassure him that he is okay and we will never really leave him.

It used to really bother me that there are not many verses about dogs in our Holy Bible. After all, if God made these wonderful creatures who love us so much here on earth, shouldn’t there be mention of that in the greatest guidebook for life ever written?

There are verses about other animals and creatures in the Bible that have good connotations, like the dove, sparrows, sheep in the pasture, a cattle on a thousand hills. But there is little good to be said about dogs in the Bible. I do not claim to be a Bible expert, but I can use Google just as well as the next person, I suppose. The Bible verses that come up in a quick search reveal that dogs eat their own vomit, they lick the blood of evil people, they are scavengers of the soul, they deserve only the crumbs under a king’s table, beware of the dogs that live outside the city gates.

Those are cautionary verses to be sure, and they cannot be ignored, but they make me so sad. But wait! There is more if one considers the main message of Jesus Christ and the example of love that we see in our own pet dogs.

In Matthew 15:21-28 we can read about a Canaanite woman who daughter was possessed by something bad and she begged Jesus to heal her. This was not a Jewish woman or someone who was from the house of Israel, but Jesus heard her plea, and rewarded her faith in him with healing for her daughter.

“She knelt before him saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ And He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes Lord, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’ And Jesus answered, ‘Great is your faith.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.” (Holy Bible).

Our dogs are gifts from heaven, sent into our lives, I am sure, to show us that there is something more, something much greater than the love they bestow on us with their incessant licking and joy of living here on earth.

When we think about how much we love our dogs, and how much they love us in return, we can be reminded about how much even more we are loved by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The love we experience here on earth is just crumbs to that which we, who believe in the God who created us all (and our dogs and cats), will experience someday in heaven, for eternity.

And that is why I think we have dogs among us on earth – to warn us of evil, to give us a small measure of comfort and companionship, and to remind us of the great love that is waiting for us when we die.

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13).