By Erin Strybis
As I was preparing to write
this article, Gus, my 9-month- old puppy, was hit by a car. My husband and I had been at a family funeral when our pet sitter broke the news. It seemed like a cruel joke. How could anyone have faith at a time like this? That night, after visiting Gus
at the emergency clinic, I couldn’t sleep. In the early hours of the morning I grasped for my phone and sent out an SOS, asking family and friends to pray for him. I was feeling so weary and incapable of prayer, it felt comforting to lean on their faith. One by one messages from
loved ones came in—reading them brought fresh tears to my eyes. Eventually I attempted a feeble prayer, whispering, “Lord, if you are out there, please let my puppy live. Please.” Gus made it through the night,
and the next day and the day after that. Today, to our amazement, he is happy and healthy. Through pets, gifts of God’s
creation, God continually amazes us. In response to our “Pets and faith” call, Living Lutheran’ s readers flooded my inbox with a multitude of reflections, each naming special dogs, cats—and even a llama—that brought them closer to God. What follows are a few common themes and highlights from those letters.
34 OCTOBER 2016
They teach us unconditional love In her 13 years of life, Lucy the beagle accompanied Sean Wilson through highs and lows. When Wilson’s wife Hadley died three years after they married, he was devastated. “It was much, much, too soon,” Wilson recalled. “My life fell to pieces.” He said the only constant in
his life was Lucy: “No matter how bad I felt about myself or the hand I had been dealt, Lucy was there. There was never judgment, never frustration from her. There was only her promise to stay with me no matter what happened. “Her complete and infallible
love for me reminds me of the love Jesus has for us. We are imperfect, but we are loved without exception and reservation. … Knowing that love is there has made all the difference to me.” The loving presence of Gus, a
yellow labrador retriever, at Camp Kirchenwald brought comfort to children who really needed it, wrote Conrad and Winnie Youse. In his 14 years of life Gus always joined his owners as summer staff at the Lutheran camp in Colebrook, Pa.
Lucy the beagle, pet of Sean Wilson, Royse City, Texas.
Gus the yellow labrador retriever, pet of Conrad and Winnie Youse, with children at Camp Kirchenwald, an ELCA ministry in Colebrook, Pa.
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