We're Not Firing on All Cylinders

I have been thinking about Heaven a lot lately.  I’ve been wondering what it will be like, feel like, smell like….What will I do in Heaven?  I suspect it will be something animal-related, maybe tending to critters, playing with them, feeding the penguins fish (yes, please!), maybe organizing Corgi conventions…that sort of thing.  I wonder what each day will bring and whether or not I will spend a lot of time interviewing the great Biblical and historical figures to find out more about their lives.  Will we sleep?  What will we eat?  How will we spend our time and interact with others?  What will it be like to see Jesus face-to-face?  It’s fun to ponder, and I know that my little pea-brain can’t possibly fathom what is in store.  But I’m looking forward to it.  For one thing, my knees won’t creak and pop in Heaven.  That’s a total bonus.

I might have one little analogy that helps you to think about Heaven (I’m an analogy girl; must be the literary nerd in me).  My paternal grandfather is in his late 80’s.  He is a kind, gentle, funny man who is honest and whip-smart.  I love hearing stories about his life because I feel that I have much to learn from him.  When he was in his 60’s he had to have a surgery to fix a deviated septum in his nose.  Over dinner one night he told the story of his surgery and said, “I didn’t even know that I had a deviated septum.  When I finally healed I realized that breathing is a whole lot easier.  I thought everyone experienced breathing the way I did, but after that surgery I realized I had been struggling to breathe my whole life!”

                                                                                                              
This story struck me because my grandfather spent over 60 years of his life having to work hard to breathe through his nose.  For over half of his life he didn’t realize that breathing was much easier than he realized.  So for over 60 years this hard-working Kentucky bluegrass farmer probably had a much more difficult time in the heat and exertion of farm life.  But then he got to experience breathing in a whole new way:  easier, more effective, simply better.

The more I thought about this story, the more I began to equate it with Heaven.  Here on earth we humans are living in a land that we don’t belong in.  Our true home is with God, but while we are here on earth we have work to do.  Our eyes probably don’t see as perfectly as they were designed to see.  Our taste buds are perhaps not fully appreciating the foods we eat.  Our brains might not be processing information as quickly as they could.  And our hearts might not experience emotions with the purity that God intended.  For all we know, breathing is even harder here on earth. 

So, when you wake up and feel your knees creak or your body groan, take heart that down here life can be a challenge, but in Heaven we will be running on all cylinders just as we were designed. 

Do All Dogs (and cats and guinea pigs, and bunnies and horses....) Go to Heaven?

Look at that face. 
I can totally see a shiny halo on her head.

It has been a hard few weeks in our household.  Merely a week after our Persian cat, “The Fur” (AKA Angel) passed away, our 13 year old Welsh Corgi Mandy succumbed to cancer.  My husband and I made the very difficult decision to allow our veterinarian to put Mandy to sleep so that she wouldn’t suffer from the multiple tumors that had spread throughout her body and onto her lungs, making her breathing very labored and difficult.  I am certain that we made the most humane decision possible, given the circumstances.  The loss of our very good dog was incredibly hard on me.  I am so grateful that I could kiss her face and hold her in her last moments, and I know that our stubborn Corgi was quite tired from her fight. 

I cried for days over Mandy’s death.  I think I even slipped into a bit of depression because the grief was so intense.  I know that some people might say, “It’s just an animal.  Move on.  Get a new dog.  It’ll be fine.”  But I am one of those people who look at pets as a part of the family.  And Mandy was truly my little sidekick.  We’d take walks together, go for drives together, lounge on the boat in the sun…when we went to a friend’s house, Mandy came along.  She snored next to me on her dog bed, licked my face when I’d do yoga at night, and brought her squeaky ball to me to throw.  She was truly the perfect dog.  Losing her devastated me.

At the peak of my sorrow, I contacted my pastor through Facebook to ask him a question that I’ve wondered about all my life:  Do pets and animals go to heaven?  I have always insisted that yes, pets go to heaven.  Of course, right?  Heaven would be missing something if our beloved pets weren’t there to greet us.  God loves us and blesses us with family, friends, and our pets, so I can’t imagine that God would not include them in our grand entrance into Heaven.  I’ve always imagined that when I enter Heaven I will see my childhood dog Skipper-Roo standing next to my Grappa, just waiting to say hello.  And I want to see all of my beloved pets, including Mandy-Dee, when I walk through those glorious gates.

Unfortunately, there are no specific verses in the Bible that speak about the eternal fate of our pets.  My beliefs about pets in Heaven have been based purely on a gut-instinct.  A hunch.  A mega-hope.  And then the wonderful Pastor Bob caught me at church to chat about this issue.

He said that he loves this topic because it is fairly contentious.  There are people strongly on either side of the question, and with no precise verse in the Bible to settle the issue, I’m sure the debates are exciting.  But I suspect that Pastor Bob loves a rousing theological debate perhaps as much as a good Muay thai spar (maybe even more).  Well guess what?  Pastor Bob has good news:  The Bible indicates that pets indeed go to Heaven!  And Pastor Bob has more than a hunch to support his thoughts.  Here they are:

Ecclesiastes 3:19-20

^“For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.  All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.”  Check it out:  “All (children of man and beasts) go to one place…”  Some people suggest that mankind is “superior” to animals, or that animals do not have souls.  First of all, who can actually verify whether or not animals have souls?  How do we know that animals don’t have souls?  God created animals, so who are we humans to think that somehow human life trumps the life of all of creation.  Didn’t God enjoy making all creation?  Genesis indicates that God took great pleasure in the creation of all things.  Certainly God takes pleasure in the animals he placed on Earth and would agree with me that Welsh Corgis are simply adorable.  As well He should.

Romans 8:19, 22-25

^“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God… For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.   And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.   For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?   But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”  Pastor Bob thought it was noteworthy that often the Bible speaks of “creation” rather than simply “man.”  This collective term, he decided, includes mankind, goofy Welsh Corgis and crusty-faced Persian cats, along with all other animals.

This affirmation from Pastor Bob gave me much to smile about.  I found that shortly after our conversation I became able to recall memories of Mandy without shedding tears.  The thought that I will get to see her again gives me great comfort and hope, and as I look at my almost 16 year old cat, I don’t feel dread regarding his eventual death.  God gave me each of our pets, and they have crawled their way deep into my heart.  I want to love them to the fullest while they are here on Earth, and I nurture images of our eventual reunion in our glorious afterlife.  Let’s be truthful:  Let’s say that pets don’t, in fact, go to Heaven.  I know that I’m going to be so enthralled with getting to hang out with Jesus face-to-face that this will be enough to nourish my soul for several eternities.  And something tells me that if Skipper-Roo, Gracie-Poo, Mandy-Dee and all my other pets past, present, and future are not waiting there to jump on me and get hair all over my angel’s robe (or whatever we wear in Heaven), I am not going to notice.  But it gives me incredible peace to know that my fabulous Pastor thinks that they will all be there waiting for me. 

Which means I need to bring a few extra rolls of packaging tape with me when I walk through those pearly gates.  That tape has been instrumental in quickly getting pet hair off of my clothes as I’m trying to get out the door for work.  Trust me, with a Corgi in the house, I have become a pet-hair-removal expert.