Our son was approaching his fifth birthday, and like many children, he decided a puppy was the present of choice for him. Wide open, rambunctious and never-tiring are adjectives which describe both our 5-year-old son and his new best friend.
My wife chose correctly when her always-meticulous research determined that a Jack Russell terrier was the dog breed of choice for our little boy. It was a match made in dog heaven, if there is such a thing.
Being from East Tennessee by God’s grace, our family is naturally very religious on both sides. Our son’s maternal grandfather is an ordained minister, and at that time was the pastor of the church we attend. Additionally, our son was enrolled at a Christian School since K-4 and was well versed in all things Christian, at least as far as a five-year-old could be. Our son’s dog exhibited all the AKC physical traits associated with the Jack Russell terrier breed, and our son appropriately chose the classic dog name of Spot.
As our growing boy grappled with his Christian and life education, so did Spot. I will never forget the time our son baptized his dog Spot in a mud hole. On another occasion during one of those deep theological discussions that families sometimes have, our son volunteered how he had recently preached the same thing to his dog Spot. Upon hearing of Spot’s second encounter with our son’s version of evangelism, one of my good friends surmised that Spot knew more Bible than most Christians in East Tennessee.
If my son and his human friends where climbing his play house, so was Spot. As each friend would slide down the playhouse slide, Spot would do the same. It always made my wife chuckle to see a dog not only slide down a slide, but patiently wait his turn. Any game or sport the children played, Spot would be right in the middle of it.
Of course, Spot would do most of the classic dog tricks to some degree, such as sit, stay or fetch. At every birthday and turn in our son’s childhood, Spot was there, the faithful best friend of our growing boy.
Thirteen-plus years go by fast in the life of a boy, even faster in the life of a dog. Our son and Spot both met each other in the early part of their respective childhoods. Spot has recently slowed down to a crawl. I took him to the vet this week and the veterinarian said Spot was suffering from heart failure and wouldn’t last more than a couple of weeks.
Someone once observed that dog is God spelled backwards — I don’t know about all that. One thing I do know is that Spot has almost completed the Job my wife and I picked him to do. Spot has helped raise our little boy, his boy, his best friend, from a child into a man.
In many ways a pet’s life is a microcosm of the human life, which is to say a pet’s life is an encapsulation or miniature version of the human life. Hopefully there will be many other dogs in our son’s life, but Spot has one final lesson to teach our son: Spot is at the top of the slide, and he is waiting his turn. The only thing different is, Spot’s turn has come first.
Thank you Jesus for the witness of your creation in all things, including our pets. Thank you, Spot, faithful friend. You have journeyed from a boy’s best friend to “man’s best friend.”