Shalom Fellow Israelite,
Early one morning this past week, as Rimona and I went on our
exercise/prayer walk, we happened to
notice down the road a driver of a large truck trying to coax a dog into his
vehicle. Before we go any further, let me say that in Hebrew the word for dog
is “kelev” – if this word is broken down (ke-lev) it means “like a heart” –
hence the title of this article.
The animal didn’t budge, and instead ran into a field. We also noted that this dog’s behavior was somewhat
odd; he seemed to be confused as if lost.
When we approached the field in which he took refuge, he came our way. It
was then that I realized that, he was a rather young specimen of what I had
concluded to be a German shepherd. He
didn’t have a collar and didn’t seem dangerous, so I got down and beckoned him
to come to me, which he did, enjoying the petting and the “loving”. From that point on he walked with us for
almost an hour.
Arriving home I realized that we would have to part ways,
which was very difficult for me because in my heart I really wanted to keep
this young creature. My father loved
dogs, and so I was brought up with that same affection and positive attitude
toward them. However, my attachment to
these animals had always resulted in tragedy. Some were hit by cars, others shot, stolen, or
just disappeared. Each loss left a deep wound and sorrow in my heart.
After college I left home and never again owned a dog. When I was in my forties, and had been a
believer for ten years or so, I happened to be in a meeting that was being
addressed by a believing counselor. He asked
each one of us to describe his or her emotions.
When it came to me, I could only express two - a deep feeling of sorrow
and/or anger. In response he inquired if
I had experienced loss in my life such as the death of a loved one, even of a
pet. Choking up I said “yes,” and shared
with the group the above-mentioned experiences.
Needless to say, I fell in love with my new acquaintance. However, Rimona is not so much of an animal
lover, and what’s more the house we’ve rented has just been built and does not
belong to us. So I let the idea go and
closed the door on the dog. About an
hour later, when I arrived at the local grocery store, there he was, my newly
found (and lost) friend. The proprietor’s son was giving him some water, so I shared
with him my own encounter with the dog, and he filled me in with some more
information. Apparently the young canine
was a pure bred Belgium shepherd,
whose worth was in the thousands (NIS
Since our yard is mostly a pile of dirt at this point, I
brought the new family member into the house.
It didn’t take long before the house smelled like a kennel, though the
bath option was still a possibility. I
spent the rest of the day with my friend.
Towards evening we thought that it would be wise to take him to a local
vet and have him checked, especially for a chip, but the one vet we called didn’t
answer and for some reason we didn’t pursue any other, although there were
several more listed in our area. During
the short time that this pup was in our house I could see that he was very well
trained and obedient, which made me think that it might have been a lost army
dog.
And so, not being an ordinary member of the canine family, it
was wonderful to host this creature. I could see why he was so expensive. That night I slept on the couch, and our no-name
friend lay on the floor next to me, without a single problem. Occasionally he would put his chin on my arm,
just to see that I was still there and to receive a reassuring pat.
The morning found our house reeking. It was obvious that we
could not keep the dog as our outdoors was not suitable, not to speak of the
fact that we hadn’t inquired yet as to whether he had a chip or not. To my
sorrow I felt that I would have to give him up. I was proud of Rimona, though, as she was
still willing for me to work out a favorable solution. We knew that we would have to make further
inquiries as to this dog’s status, and so found out that a place for that very
purpose did exist in our area.
On our way there my little pet sat in the back as if he had
been trained to travel in a vehicle.
When we arrived, the first thing I wanted to know was about the
chip. Yes, he had one, but there was no information
on it. So again I had to swallow hard
and “give up” the possibility of perhaps keeping him. We signed a form with our
information on it and left. At first I
could feel the deep inner sorrow that started surfacing, but suddenly it just
lifted off, giving way to peace and joy that fused the “fracture” in my heart. Rimona, identifying with my grief, turned
to me and said that she felt like crying. But I was able to share with her what
I had just experienced. We prayed a
prayer of thanksgiving and asked Yeshua what that was all about. The answer came back in a most amazing
way. While in the past all my dogs were
taken from me, this time I had to willfully and freely “give up” what I thought
could have become my pet. Once I let go
of this early childhood affection Abba healed that broken area of my heart.
About an hour later we received a phone call from a very
happy man. We then learned that the dog’s
name was “Tony” and that he had been stolen a few days before. The owner was one of the local veterinarians
that Rimona had nearly called up the previous evening. Later in the day we stopped by to see Tony
and to meet the doctor, who also explained why his and the dog’s were not
registered with the number of the chip, and that it was only later in the day
that he sent his information to the data base. But we knew that had this
divinely arranged circumstance happened in any other way the results may not
have been the same. Thank you Abba for
your loving help!
Blessings upon your week,
Unfortunately one year later, Tony was out for a walk with his owner and
saw something under a bush, it happened to be one of the most deadly of Israel
Ephraim
P.S. Once again we are in a season in which the nations are
being brought down to the “valley of decision,” and as we know the ultimate
outcome will be found within the pages of the prophets of Israel
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