Another Senior Friend in Heaven

Another Senior Friend in Heaven

We lost a very dear senior friend today. She has been a friend of our family for the past 15 years. We first met when we were living in Maryland. She had a rough life, and in fact, she even ended up having her name changed because her original name was a reflection on her real family.

We sort of adopted her into our family. She was there before Zach was born and became a special friend to our kids, Laura, Josh and Julie. She was there for us in the good times and bad times. She demonstrated to all of us unconditional love.

It didn't matter when we would see her. She would always greet us with joyfully. We could have not seen her for twenty four hours, and she'd treat us like we were gone for weeks.

She was one of those special ladies that comes into your life just when you needed the encouragement, the camaraderie, and a listening ear. You could tell her stuff in confidence, and she would not judge you or ignore you for something you might have said that could have been offensive.

It has been hard for us to watch her declining health during the past year. She's had several close calls where we thought she was not going to make it. But for some reason, her fiestyness kept her going. We knew that one day we were going to face the inevitable. We've all dreaded it.
But during these past several weeks, many of her 73 year old body parts just started wearing out. Watching her move around was not just painful for her -- it was for all of us.

Today was the day her life ended. It was a very sad moment for me. It was just as well that the kids weren't around, especially Zach. With all we've been through, I knew that this was going to be a hard moment for all of us.

The amazing thing was that I had the privilege of being there for her final moments. While it was very difficult to let her go, I know she lived a long, fruitful life. Knowing that she would be free from pain and suffering made the outcome just a tad easier to deal with. Thankfully she closed her eyes and just went to sleep.

The sad part for me is that unless my theology is wrong, we'll never see her again. Our precious black lab was a good friend to all of our family, and so many others that she touched. The vet told us today that she outlived the average lab's lifespan. It's just sad that we won't get to see her in heaven -- unless the movie was right, and "ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN?"

Probably not quite the Freedom Fighter you expected. We've learned many lessons from this special family friend -- lessons that I can learn as I think about my friendships. -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK

God's WORD for YOU: Proverbs 16; Nehemiah 4-6; Acts 2:22-44

Great Quote: Heart-work is hard work indeed. To shuffle over religious duties with a loose and careless spirit, will cost no great difficulties; but to set yourself before the Lord, and to tie up your loose and vain thoughts to a constant and serious attendance upon him: this will cost you something. To attain ease and dexterity of language in prayer and to be able to put your meaning into appropriate and fitting expressions is easy; but to get your heart broken for sin while you are actually confessing it; melted with free grace even while you are blessing God for it; to be really ashamed and humbled through the awareness of God's infinite holiness, and to keep your heart in this state not only in, but after these duties, will surely cost you some groans and travailing pain of soul. John Flavel