3 Dog Family

This past Spring, we became a 3 dog family. It wasn’t by our design, but then again, we recognized by Whose design it was. Gus, our yellow Lab, found a black Lab living underneath the porch of our cabin in Wisconsin. She didn’t have a collar on and there were no “lost dog” posters around town, so we brought her home. Abby, our other black Lab, just looked at us in complete disgust. Not only did she have to share her home with a 100 pound puppy named Gus, but now she had to make room for another dog. Since the new dog didn’t have a collar on, we had no idea what her name was. Her name became Sadie.

Sadie quickly won our hearts (it took Abby awhile, though). Having lived “on the streets” for an unknown amount of time, she was not in good health. After numerous trips to our vet, she determined that Sadie was at least 8 years old and had been neglected for a good number of years.

When we first found her she had pneumonia, a bladder infection, and she was malnourished. Our vet also told us that Sadie has arthritis in her spine. But in spite of all that, she has a sweet personality and is very easy going and—she’s ours. Once in awhile all 3 of them will be sitting on the deck pretending to protect us from squirrels and geese and it looks like an Oreo sitting there—two black dogs with a white (yellow) dog in between.

The reason I’m writing about Sadie is because when Love wants to find someone, there’s no stopping it. Did we luck out or did Sadie luck out? I think we all did. Love comes unexpectedly disguised as unexpected things or people. Not only do we find Love, but Love finds us as well. It could be an old, sick, neglected dog or how about when Love came down and rested in a dirty, smelly feeding trough in a barn in the little town of Bethlehem. There was no stopping God and no sending His gift back. There were, however, “lost people” signs all around town…all around the world for that matter, and God knew what to do. Even though we are all sick in mind, body, and soul; even though we’ve tried to make it on our own “on the streets,” God claimed us as His own and gave us all a new name—a son or daughter of God Almighty.

There was no stopping God’s incredible Love. That’s what we celebrate on Christmas and that is why we gather together each Sunday to offer our thanks and praise. Merry Christmas.