This is Bruiser …

… and he just had a brush with death.

Bruiser is our four-year old English Mastiff, and he’s a huge, lovable presence in our house. And for the past few months, he’s had a tumor growing on his hind-paw. We had it biopsed a couple of weeks ago, and while we were waiting for the results, we had to tell the girls what might happen.

If the tumor was malignant, we told them, we would have to put Bruisy to sleep. Poor little things, there were immediate tears. Lots of them. Lots and lots. We told them we would pray for Bruiser, and that Jesus would take care of Bruiser because He loves our pets too. Lots of tears.

We told them that if we had to put Bruiser to sleep, we would see him again in heaven someday. That he would be running and playing with Spooky, Lulu, Buddy, Logan and all of the dogs we loved and lost. And that seemed to help them feel better!

A couple of days later, we got a call from the vet: Bruiser has a hamartoma, and it’s not malignant! The Lord saved Bruiser to live, drool, shed, galumph and love another day. There were lots of “Thank you, Jesus,” prayers from the girls that night!

There might be some people who aren’t so sure about our pets going to heaven when they die. It’s not mentioned in the Bible, and of course, our pets don’t have souls. But like Randy Alcorn says in his book, Heaven, God is better at giving gifts to His children than we are (Matthew 7: 9-11), and how many parents have gotten a pet because their children asked for one? And I especially love what Joni Eareckson Tada wrote in her book, Heaven, Our Real Home:

“If God brings our pets back to life, it wouldn’t surprise me. It would totally be in keeping with His generous character … Exorbitant. Excessive. Extravagant in grace after grace. Of all the dazzling discoveries and ecstatic pleasures heaven will hold for us, the potential of seeing Scrappy would be pure whimsy — utterly, joyfully, surprisingly superflous … Heaven is going to be a place that will refract and reflect in as many ways as possible the goodness and joy of our great God, who delights in lavishing love on His children.”

Yes, that is the God I know … the God who would reunite us with our beloved pets, just to see us smile … and the God who listens to little girls’ tearful prayers and makes their dog well.

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