Great Dog Stories (9 page)

McPherson and Arnold were those kinds of friends. I will remember McPherson’s non-condemning spirit and his always-loving attitude. I will remember Arnold’s calming and soothing effect on my life and his always-sweet smile. My life is richer for knowing them both and they will always be in my heart.

Jazzmin

There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.

A
LBERT
E
INSTEIN

J
azzmin was “the dog not chosen”…because she
was
chosen. Are you confused yet? Humanly speaking, you should be. But it was all part of God’s perfect plan to place this dog in a very special family He desired to bless.

My dear friend Val is part of that family. She was the first to see Jazzmin. At the time she had a husband, three sons, one elderly Beagle, and a pet lizard. The two younger boys had been helping out at a woman’s home, and her Rottweiler had had a litter. She offered them a puppy.

That was not the kind of dog Val felt would suit their family. For years, she’d had it in her head to get an Airedale terrier. But she and her husband were working for an urban ministry. Pricey dogs weren’t in their missionary budget.

Then one day Val was at the pet store, buying food for the lizard. She was stunned to see an Airedale puppy there. Normally, such dogs weren’t found in pet shops. The female puppy was between two and three months old and cost a thousand dollars. Val sensed that this dog was supposed to join her family—but no way could they pay that.

Val left the dog in the store—and prayed. It was early July. Time passed. The puppy didn’t sell. The dog was growing…and the price was shrinking. Val kept checking. By late August, the Airedale’s price had dropped to five hundred dollars. But it was still more than Val’s family could manage. All this time, she’d continued to speak to the Lord about this puppy. Now she asked a salesperson what happened if a dog didn’t sell. She was told that sometimes the dog was sent to their other store—and sometimes the pooch was simply given away.

Another week or two passed. The puppy still had no takers. Val went in and talked to the manager. She observed that the puppy was getting way too big for her cage. What would they let the dog go for?

To her shock, the manager told her she could have the dog for
99 dollars
! Val told the fellow to wrap her up. They gave the pup a bath and a bow and Val took Jazzmin home. She proved to be the perfect pet for Val’s boys, and thirteen years later, Jazzmin is still a treasured member of the Parker family.

Val knows Jazzmin was an answer to prayer and a miracle gift from God. His miracles come in all different shapes and sizes. The one God did for a certain prophet in ancient Israel came in the shape of an ax head.

This man was part of a company of prophets-in-training. The famous prophet Elisha was their mentor. At a certain point, they felt they needed larger quarters to meet in, and with Elisha’s blessing, they started on the task.

The building site was a spot by the River Jordan. As they were chopping down trees, one prophet’s iron ax head fell into the river and sank. This poor man’s heart must have sunk along with it. He cried out to Elisha that the tool had been borrowed.

We might not think that losing an ax head is any big deal. But this was an expensive item in those days. It’s possible that in order to earn the funds to replace it, this fellow might have had to drop out of “prophet school.”

Elisha’s response was swift and sure. He knew he served a God of miracles. He asked his student to show him where the ax head sank. Second Kings 6:6-7 records what happened next: “Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. ‘Lift it out,’ he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.”

The same God who made iron float is still doing miracles today. He hasn’t changed. Val knows it every time she looks at Jazzmin. But not everyone might have recognized that this dog’s price was slashed by God’s hand. In our culture, we are more prone to mislabel God’s miracles “coincidences,” or neglect to look for them at all.

Val and her family were twice blessed by the miracle of Jazzmin. They were blessed by the dog, and by the knowledge of God’s love and care. Will you watch for His hand in your life, so His miracles can bless you too?

All children are artists. The problem is
how to remain an artist once he grows up.

P
ABLO
P
ICASSO

O
ne day when Alex was in elementary school, he opened the door to go outside to wait for the morning school bus. Hearing the familiar hinges creak, the family escape artist (also known as Pepper the Beagle) bolted out the door. Fortunately, Alex’s family didn’t live on a busy city street. Cornfields, not skyscrapers, surrounded their farmhouse in this rural part of Pennsylvania. There was a better chance of Pepper being hit by an Amish buggy than a speeding SUV.

Little Alex tried to give chase, but Pepper was long gone. As Alex’s mom took him out to wait for the bus, Alex worried Pepper would never return. His mom tried to reassure him that dogs could instinctively find their way home, but she couldn’t hide the fact that she was worried too. She didn’t want to make promises she couldn’t keep. It was up to God to bring Pepper home.

Alex said a prayer.

Then, off in the distance, Alex’s big yellow school bus approached from around a bend. Alex could only make out the top half of the bus because the bottom half was hidden by acres of corn. The odd thing was, the bus was moving very slowly, literally crawling along the road.

Alex and his mom wondered what could be the matter. Did the bus have a flat tire? Was it in need of repair?

As the bus came around the bend, Alex and his mom did double double takes. There, in front of the bus, proudly leading it down the middle of the road was…their runaway Beagle! The pup was 100 percent resolute in holding her leadership position, and the bus driver made no effort to honk her away. As the bus neared, Alex could see the driver’s expression—not a trace of irritation or impatience, just a bemused smile.

The bus pulled up to Alex’s driveway. Pepper raced to the front door and went back inside the house. No biggie. Business as usual for Super Dog. This year lead a bus, next year, perhaps drag home a 747?

Alex felt he’d witnessed a miracle. His mom told him Pepper hadn’t run away after all, but had taken the initiative to fetch the bus. As Alex rode to school that morning, he was beaming with pride. Other kids’ dogs fetched slippers or newspapers, but his dog delivered a whole school bus loaded with children. How cool was that?

Alex was so impressed, he wrote an essay about the miraculous event in first grade. It was entitled, “Lending a Helping Paw.” As a budding writer today, Alex remembers his piece about Pepper as his first serious literary work.