A 4-legged reminder

Our first baby is our dog Buford. We adopted him when he was 8 months old from a friend. He was perfect for us. He was already house trained and could do all the typical dog tricks. He was high energy, but always willing to just sit with us and snuggle. We swore we would not be “those people” who referred to one another as mommy and daddy in reference to a pet, but pretty quickly that was naturally what happened. He was in the house whenever we were in the house. We walked each morning and sometimes at night. We went to the park and even took him on a boat ride with friends and let him play fetch in the lake. As the years have passed, Buford has journeyed with us from South Carolina to Indiana to Arkansas. He learned to be a full time outside dog after Maiesha was born. He learned to play in snow and ice in Indiana. We watched him mourn the loss of his “brephew” (mamma and brother made babies and we rescued one), Bailey, when he died from a fungus. He learned to take fewer walks since Chloe was born.

We celebrated Buford’s 11^th birthday on November 6^th. That doesn’t sound old to us 2 legged creatures, but for a large breed 4-legged friend it is kind of old. We noticed he has been slowing down, but a couple weeks ago after returning from a trip we really noticed a problem with his hind left leg. We took him to the doggy doctor and discovered he is suffering from some level of neurological failure and hip dysplasia. For the first time we are faced with the mortality of our oldest companion. Medicine has helped a lot so the immediate threat of having to say good-bye has been relieved, but the reality is this might be his last Christmas with us.

As we prepared for a follow-up appointment Thursday we discovered Buford had pushed through the gate and left home. He is not good at returning however, so this is a serious thing especially since we don’t know how well he would hold up given the neurologically problems. Fortunately, some nice girls just a few blocks away found him and we were able to bring him how only about 24 hours after he left. We were so thankful and very much reminded of the first time Buford left home. The miracle story that changed our lives 10 years ago just a couple months after we first brought him home.

It was a warm, rainy Friday evening when I arrived home from work to find the gate to our chain-link fence standing open. I called for Buford and searched for him in the muddy backyard (not much grass in the pine forest we lived in) but he was gone. It looked like someone had come into the yard and he chased them off. I called Tyrone immediately and he came home as quickly as he could from school. He drove the neighborhood and nearby neighborhoods with no success. We stood in our house crying and fearful of what may have happened to him. Little did I know in those moments God was about to do something incredible. You see…we had just celebrated our 3^rd wedding anniversary and I was in the first trimester of my pregnancy with Jeremiah. We were closing in on the 2 year anniversary of Tyrone’s departure from church. He had continued to attend our young marrieds small group, but had not stepped foot in our church in nearly 2 years. Well, as we stood there deciding to carry through with our plans to attend small group that night I noticed Tyrone look up toward the ceiling. Later that weekend he told me that was when he had prayed and asked God to bring Buford home. He promised God he would return to church if Buford would come home. Rather than looking at this as one of those ultimatum prays, I think God really wanted to get Tyrone’s attention because less than 5 minutes after he prayed 2 girls that lived a few houses down came running with Buford. They had found him. He was a muddy mess but he was home. Two days later, Tyrone went to church for the first time in nearly 2 years. He has only missed a handful of Sundays since.

I googled “God is faithful” and 2 Timothy came to the top of the search results. As I read verses 1:1-13 and 2:1-13, I see now that God was trying to get my attention that night too. Paul is encouraging Timothy to remain faithful and trust God because of the hope we have in Jesus. He tells him to keep proclaiming the good news even if he has to suffer for it. He says don’t be ashamed of it. He says don’t be weak or fearful because God has given us power and love and self-control. Those two years that I went to church alone were scary, but God used it to show me how to trust him with things I can’t control. He showed me that I had been “playing church” and often only went to church because it’s “the right thing to do”. He revealed that my identity was in appearing that I “had it all together.” As I read 2 Timothy, I feel like Paul wrote these words of encouragement for me now as I reflect on this story. I need reminders of his faithfulness constantly because I can slip back into all those things he healed me of during those 2 years. I especially need reminders when I feel like he is asking me to wait (with no explanation) and I know he is asking me to wait for something big right now. Paul wraps us his words of encouragement with this:

Here is a saying you can trust.

If we died with him,
    we will also live with him.
If we don’t give up,
    we will also rule with him.
If we say we don’t know him,
    he will also say he doesn’t know us.
Even if we are not faithful,
    he remains faithful.
    He must be true to himself.    2Timothy 2:11-13 (NIrV)

God is saying hold on. Trust me. I got this. Be patient. Stick with me, I am not going anywhere. Even when you forget to trust me, I am still faithful because that’s who I am.

We have seen God do incredible things in the 10 years since that miracle night. Every time Buford goes missing it is a reminder of what God did that day and to seek what God is asking of me today. Someday Buford will leave us for good – sooner than any of us would like, but his place in our family will always remind us that God is faithful and he always answers.