God’s $2,000 Dog by Greg Richmond

So the last thing my wife said as I walked out the door to watch Monday Night Football over at a friend’s house was, “Don’t you dare come home with a puppy, Greg!”

You see Erin knew my friend’s daughter rescues and cares for animals.

Erin and I found Jesus when we first knew we would be together for life and planned out the next 35 years. Besides 4 kids (we now have 2!) part of that plan was to have a yellow lab named Honey and a black lab named Midnight. We adopted a male yellow lab from a friend at work and named him Hachi Mitsu, which is “honey” in Japanese.  Anyway, when I saw the cute scared black lab puppy at my friend’s house and my friend turned into a used car salesman to get me to adopt him, I felt God telling me this was fulfilling His plan for us and I needed to do it.  In retrospect it may well have been more of a fleshly impulse that I tried to justify as His plan, rather than praying, reflecting, and deciding in good time.

The look I received from my wife as I woke her up with a puppy in my arms was not quite on the same level as the loving look she gave the puppy.  Well, the cute lonely puppy quickly turned into a unexpected money pit – counting the worms, skin disease, shots, pills, special diet, required kennel, dog house, training supplies, no chew, no dig, no bite, Texans NFL collar (had to have it) etc., the cost reached over $2,000.  This was not in the budget for a family about to lose its sole source of income in 4 months with no job on the horizon.  After Midnight chewed up the entire house, our other dog (drew blood), and dug 50 holes in our tiny yard, I started questioning my ability to understand God. After exhausting all other options we decided to take him to a local animal shelter.  When they refused, I knew I had made a very large mistake and was pretty certain I had never heard anything from God about this incorrigible mutt.

Of course God’s plans are not always our plans. When Erin was taking him to the next animal rescue place, a woman walked out looking very sad.  She saw Midnight and Erin going in and immediately asked if she was giving him away. Midnight and the women instantly bonded and greeted each other like a 7 year old receiving a puppy for Christmas.  You see she was very sad because she could not afford the shelter’s fees for adoption and shots.  Erin knew immediately this was not just a coincidence and had the women follow her home to get Midnight and his stuff. As I loaded her car with the expensive dog house, kennel, food, medicine, toys, treats and the dog. I felt compelled to tell her about our Life Group that meets at our house every Wednesday and invited her to come and have dinner with us.  She quickly accepted and shared with us that her husband was going to be away for a long time and that she was basically living a life of a widow: lonely, over-worked, underpaid, scared of crime in her across town neighborhood, and depressed.  Midnight and the woman became best friends. She told us numerous times later how he kept her company and gave her hope.  He was a great watch dog, and the barks that annoyed me to endless frustration gave her peace and comfort in a home without her husband to protect her.  Furthermore, she has the time to train him properly.  She still misses her husband, but God has a plan. And because of this dog, she is restoring her relationship with Midnight’s Creator. Our Life Group met a new friend, and I learned a valuable lesson yet again: God is in control, He can do all things with all things, and I need to get out of His way sometimes and let Him work!  I praise God for His faithfulness and goodness. And today I thank him for the most annoying and expensive dog I have ever met.  In retrospect, a perfect God-made dog – which is now in a divinely appointed home, giving and receiving true love.