John 15:13
The Voice (VOICE)
13 There is no greater way to love than to give your life for your
friends.
King was my dog. He went everywhere I went as a boy, except
to school, of course. But he would be lying there waiting for me when I came
home. We had the run of several thousand acres of untamed hillsides. I
collected insects and pressed the flowers from the rich Western Cape fynbos.
King enjoyed the explorations and bundu bashing as much as I did. His rich red
and white collie coat would flare out in the perennial Cape Southeaster.
These halcyon days came to an end when I turned 12. Dad
accepted a new job fifteen hundred miles away. Grandpa died, and we buried him
there at Helderberg; then we got into the car and drove to the new job, new
environs, steppe country rather than fynbos, and boarding school for me. King
remained behind.
A new family adopted him. They had young boys who loved him
as much as I had. King adopted his new family and loved them as much as he
loved us. He lived happily with them for some four or five years. He also took
the boys on the great adventures through the fynbos that we had pioneered.
One day they came upon a downed power line. The kids had no
experience with such danger and were immediately attracted to the flying
sparks. King sensed the impending danger and kept getting between the boys and
the wire and pushing them back. But there was only one dog and two curious
boys. Finally, in desperation King grabbed the wire with his mouth to pull it
out of the boys’ way.
The boys watched in horror as King was electrocuted. The
family gave King an honorable burial and sent us word of his love and heroics
in saving the boys.
Thank You, Lord, for
love, self-sacrificing love not only between You and us or between people, but
also between dogs and us. May my life today show others this kind of love.
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