I planned to write on something else but sometimes life intervenes and things don’t go as planned.
My dog died Sunday, and I just don’t feel much like writing.
Sure, she was 16 years old, frankly longer than a Dachshund should live, and we all knew everyday she woke up was another gift from God, but still, the loss of a dog is #2 on the when is it okay for a man to cry list (and well, I didn’t sleep much either, and neither did my other dog).
But as I’ve always said, we’re not much for news around here, we’re more interested in what we can learn from it. I’m fairly confident most people aren’t really interested in my dog, but they might be interested in a new emphasis on an old idea.
Pardon the Interruption
Okay, allow me to share one thing from my dog before we move on (sort of a eulogy, you might say). In one of my books I wrote about how much you can learn from your dog, so allow me to wander down memory lane a bit, and then we’ll get to the point — I promise.
When we brought home our puppy our backyard was a mess — the fence needed repair and nearly toppled over on its own. To prevent the puppy escaping from the yard and running out into the street in front of a car the fence needed repair, which we diligently set out to do.
Dachshunds are social creatures, they like to remain with their family so we had a problem — we needed to fix the fence, yet the puppy wanted to stay with us while we worked. In an attempt to remedy the situation, we set up a portable kennel on the patio while we worked repairing the fence. And you know what comes next…
Yap, yap, yap. Bark, bark, bark. Whine, whine, whine. Yap, bark, whine … (you get the idea).
The puppy simply wouldn’t remain quiet. I thought, you don’t understand, the fence needs to be fixed so you won’t run out into the street and get squished by a car (the dog only being 8 inches tall you know). It’s for your benefit, just wait and it will be better soon. But try as I could, the dog didn’t understand — yap, yap, yap, bark, bark, bark. And then the Lord responded…
You’re the dog.
To which I quickly replied — yap, yap, yap. Bark, bark, bark. Whine, whine, whine…
You may not see the final plan; you may never see the final plan. That doesn’t mean God doesn’t have one, and it’s better than the one you thought up. Don’t be the dog yapping along complaining about something you know nothing about as you see through the glass darkly. (“The Troubled Church”, page 145–146)
Thanks girl, may the lessons you taught never be forgotten. You will be missed.
The Origin of Death
I watched my dog get old, and slowly begin to shut down, a product of decay and simply old age. That’s when it hit me: Satan stinks — You took my dog, you sick bastard.
Oh, not directly (unless something was going on I didn’t know about), but he’s responsible nonetheless. Allow me to paraphrase.
On the fifth day God created Dachshunds, and all manner of dogs, along with everything that swims in the river, different kinds of birds, and each produced many offspring, and God saw that that they were good. (Genesis 1:21, Yeager translation)
God loves dogs, and if a bird can’t fall to the ground without His knowledge, surely He looks after His creation as well (we’ll come back to that in a second, or as Paul Harvey would say, you’ll get the rest of the story).
Of course, you’ve heard the phrase “no good deed goes unpunished”, so cue the creepy music as the evil villain enters the scene.
Once again, from my own paraphrase:
Now the snake was more cunning and deceitful than any family-friendly pet which God had made, and he slithered up to the woman and said “Did God say you shall not eat of any tree?” And the woman said “we shalt not eat of the tree in the middle of the garden, lest entropy and decay enter the cosmos, and we die”. Then the slimy snake lied to her face saying, “you shall not die” …
Well, you know the rest of the story, but it ends thousands of years later with You took my dog, you sick bastard.
The physicist in me understands what happened — entropy entered into the world, better known as decay, death, and sin. A dog isn’t supposed to live 16 years; mine did. Still, it’s sad to watch the end.
I could go on for hours delving into that, but it’s much easier to say
You took my dog, you sick bastard.
The (kind of) Happy Ending
God does look after His creation, for you see we were scheduled to be out of town this weekend, but had to cancel for other reasons. Perhaps it’s reading too many Navy Seal books, but I’m of the thought no dog should die alone, they should be with their family when they pass.
Mine was.
And that, as Paul Harvey would say, is the rest of the story.
So What?
Chuck Missler said you can measure your spiritual maturity by asking “How much do you hate sin?” I awoke today (well, not really awoke because that implies sleep) with a new understanding of the pain and anguish God must feel over His creation tormented by entropy (death, decay).
You took my dog, you sick bastard.
Sin and satan stink, because they conspired with malice, forethought, and hate to take my dog — and everything before, as well as what will come after.
Yeah, he took my dog, but he can’t win, and he knows it.
Satan (who deceived mankind and caused death) was thrown into the lake of fire where his cohorts are. And they will stay there forever, never to hurt another puppy ever again. (Revelation 20:10 YT)
Checkmate. Game, set, match. The fat lady sung. Hasta la vista, baby.
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.” (Revelation 21:1-6 NKJV)