The Wonder of Animals and Heaven

What a sad day! Today we took our faithful Golden to our vet and she did not return home with us. Just last week we learned she had bone cancer. By this weekend it was obvious that she was not doing well at all.

Less than six years ago we bought her while in France as a way to help the children feel more at home in a foreign place. Little did we know that the adults would fall for her, as well. We all agreed that faithful was the word that best described her. The only time I ever saw her react negatively to a human person was last week when the vet touched the place on her spine affected by the cancer.


I am amazed at the level of my sadness. I look to her Creator as the Author of all good things and the One who understands all things. I thank Him for giving us the joy of pets! It is truly amazing that these balls of fur can bring us happiness and become such a real part of our lives. What a wonderful God He is to create dogs for our pleasure!


Tonight the children and I read Randy Alcorn's thoughts on dogs and heaven. The poem by John Piper, included in his response, was poignant to me.

And as I knelt beside the brook
To drink eternal life, I took

A glance across the golden grass,
And saw my dog, old Blackie, fast
As she could come.
She leaped the stream—
Almost—and what a happy gleam
Was in her eye.
I knelt to drink
And knew that I was on the brink
Of endless joy.
And everywhere I turned
I saw a wonder there.

Heaven will truly be full of wonder. Will Maggie be
there? I have no idea. But I know that God will re-create all that
we see now! I praise him that all of creation will be made new. But
wouldn't it be nice to see those soft, brown eyes again?

I WONDER!