Though as a puppy he often
stole clothing from campers and interrupted games by running off with equipment, Gus matured into an important staff member, they said, intuitively identifying children who were homesick and painfully alone. “To those children he licked away their tears and offered a paw of consolation that could not be refused,” they wrote. Gus was not only a counselor but
a guide, leading lost groups back to camp. His behavior, they said, was an example that most Christians would do well to imitate.
Luna the llama, pet of Susan Dahl, St. Charles, Minn.
in heaven,” he wrote. “She led me to imagine what it would be like for me to sit on the lap of God, curled up like Fanny, totally relaxed. It worked!” Becky Rische of Spicewood,
Texas, believes her dog Cooper answers prayer. “He doesn’t do this alone, of course. God works through him,” she said. He has introduced Rische
to countless new neighbors and helps her see the best in others. “Consequently I pay attention,” she wrote, “because my dog can be one channel where God speaks.”
Ophelia, cat of Steve Poindexter, Broken Arrow, Okla.
Cooper, dog of Becky Rische, Spicewood, Texas.
Dooley the dog literally rescued
Karen Yagher. At 2 a.m., Yagher woke up with searing pain in her back and headed downstairs for a glass of water and aspirin. Dooley followed. “It’s OK, buddy dog,” she told
They teach us to pray Luna the llama taught Susan Dahl the importance of looking to God during times of trouble. Dahl and Luna live on a farm with other animals outside of St. Charles, Minn. When Luna’s baby died after
she gave birth, the llama “looked up to the heavens and cried a loud piercing cry, as if to say, ‘Why God?’ It was at that moment I truly believed that animals also turn to God at their time of need,” Dahl wrote. For Stewart McDonald, a pastor
in Tucson, Ariz., Fanny, his cat of 19 years, helped him take up the discipline of contemplative prayer. One morning McDonald
struggled to get started with contemplative prayer. “Then I noticed Fanny, curled up in my lap, totally relaxed. It was as if she was
They come to our rescue When Ophelia came into Steve Poindexter’s life in 1999, he was in a rough place mentally and emotionally. Encouraged by his niece who had found the kitten at the veterinary clinic in Tulsa, Okla., Poindexter adopted Ophelia. The kitten was also in rough shape— she had been neglected and had recently undergone surgery for a broken hip. Over time the two developed
a deep bond. “Although my faith was somewhat tenuous at the time, I came to realize I was witnessing a small glimpse of God’s love for all creation through our relationship,” he wrote. “Seventeen years later … I see clearly now that I never actually rescued her, but rather she rescued me.”
him, “I’m just going to rest for a while.” That was the last thing Yagher remembered before waking up in the hospital. She was being treated for a bacterial infection that had destroyed several of her spinal vertebrae. Later she found out that Dooley
had stayed by her side, but at some point he became alarmed and ran upstairs to wake Yagher’s husband, who found her lying on the living room floor. He called for an ambulance right away. Had her husband found her an
hour or two later, the doctors said she would have died. “I don’t know why this happened to me, but I do know God used Dooley to save me that day,” Yagher wrote. “Dooley, my good and faithful friend, died last year. … He was more than just a dog, he was my guardian angel.”
They connect us to God While recovering from her second cancer surgery, Jane McKinley of Lakewood, N.J., found it difficult to
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