Yesterday afternoon, we came home from running errands and as I pulled up, I spotted a large yellow envelope by the front door.  It was from our veterinarian’s office.  I was not sure what it could be, but I knew I would cry either way.

Inside the envelope was the children’s book Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant and a notecard.  The card was a kind note letting us know that the office had a made a donation to University of Florida School of Veterinary Medicine in honor of Goldie.  We were very blessed by the gesture.  That office took incredibly good care of Goldie from the time we had her – and if that is a college that produces such excellent professionals, then I am happy.

Tears burned my eyes and I tried desperately to blink them back so that the kids would not see them.  G especially is sensitive to sadness.  As Chris unloaded the mountain of groceries from the car, I stepped inside the house and opened the book.  

I was stunned when I opened the front cover.  Inside were personal notes from all of the staff and the doctor to us, comforting us at the loss of our beloved pet.  I read through each and every one at least twice as I hiccupped through my tears.   I cannot begin to express how much that meant to us.   

I am becoming more and more convinced that Goldie will be waiting for each of us when we get to Heaven, bouncing on all four legs just like she did here, with that happy-go-lucky expression on her face.  These are a few of the thoughts that have crossed my mind as I’ve thought about animals in Heaven…

• God did create them.  All of them.  And He said that it was good.  (Genesis 1:25)
• Jesus comes back riding a horse.  (Thanks to Ken Mann for mentioning that one!)  (Revelation 19:11-16)
• When God commanded Noah to build an ark, there were eight humans on board.  Eight.  How many animals were there?  Seven pairs of the clean animals, one pair each of the unclean animals, and seven pairs of each kind of bird.  All the animals.  The ark was built to save eight humans and lots of animals.  (Genesis 7)
• Luke 12:6  ”Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God…”

And I think that is just the beginning.

Then I was looking up on Amazon the Dog Heaven book so I could link it here, and up pops a few books written by Christians about animals and Heaven and what the Bible has to say about that topic.  Wow!  I added them to my shopping cart and hope to get them soon.  Meanwhile, I will do some searching on my own, too.

But I’m still not sure I’ll ever really love cats.   Perhaps it’s because my lungs have a tendency to close up when I am around them.  I’ll probably like them in Heaven then because I know I will not have this broken body anymore but instead a new one that works perfectly.

And so does Goldie.  No hip problems, no arthritis…just running free.

Gulps