Just over a year ago Cherie Ann and I moved to the country, a whole 10 minutes from town. But wait…..to many of our friends it is way out in the country. For all of the years we’ve been married, we’ve never had a pet.

With both of us at work everyday along with the fact that we lived in town where we couldn’t just let a dog run loose, it wasn’t an option.  Very soon after moving to the country a stray cat wandered up.  We gave him a home and a name.  Smokey Bearcat was now a member of the family.  Cherie Ann mentioned on a number of occasions that she wanted a dog.  I made the point each time that we had a cat and we didn’t need a dog.  Cherie Ann suggested that God would send her a dog when the time was right.  I said “OK, if God sends it, I guess that will be OK.”

One day while we were sitting on the back porch enjoying the afternoon, of all things, a dog strolls out of the woods.  It was a poorly fed yellow lab with a short rear leg.  He moved slowly and cautiously across the field and laid down in the shade of a large oak tree.  All of the time he appeared to keep an eye on us, kind of checking us out I guess.  Cherie Ann looked at me and smiled and said, “there’s the dog God sent me.”  Instinctively I said, “Do not feed that dog to entice it to stay. If God wants us to have a dog, he will send it to us and we’ll know it.” 

Next thing you know, after about an hour of canine observation of the humans, he moved back across the yard, climbed up two flights of stairs and stood there on the porch just looking at us.  He even did the dog style “sniff test.”  Again, Cherie Ann commented, “well, I guess this is the dog God wants us to have.”

Reluctantly I agreed it appeared that way.  We next provided him a house to sleep in and a name.  His name is “Andy,”  a take off of the name “Little Orphan Annie.”  Andy quickly became accustomed to our schedule and our activities. And, Andy has grown accustomed to his name, he readily responds to it. It wasn’t too long before we learned Andy is deathly afraid of storms.  During a storm he literally shakes uncontrollably, goes in his little house, the basement, or anywhere else he can find an element of quiet and dark and curls up in the corner. 

As I mentioned earlier, Andy has had some sort of injury to his right rear leg. His bad leg adds very little to his ability to be mobile but he’ll run with other dogs and hang in there as best he can.  Well, God has provided and that’s the end of that, we thought.  Next thing you know, another dog adopted us, this time a beagle. We assume it was dropped off down on the creek.  We called him Barney.  Now we have Andy and Barney right here in Mayberry.  Life is good.  Andy and Barney get along well but Barney the beagle has much more energy and much better mobility than does Andy.  It soon becomes obvious that Andy’s efforts to keep up with young Barney was causing him pain in his bad leg.  While attending a meeting in Montgomery I was telling someone the story of Andy and Barney.  I mentioned that we were going to need to find Barney the Beagle a good home.  A lady from Hartselle overheard the conversation.  To make this part of the story shorter than it could be, she picked Barney up and took him to her sister who was looking for a Beagle pup.  Imagine that. At this point we’re back to Smokey Bearcat and Little Orphan Andy.  All is well at Papa’s Place yet again.

It did not take long for God to really test our relationship with Him and his dropped off pets.  Several weeks later we had a new visitor, a female puppy.  She is one of the “Heinz 57” varieties and appeared to suffer from ADHD.  Because she is brown in color, we call her “Brown.”  Remember the UPS commercial, “what can Brown do for you?”  She has two speeds, either asleep or going 90 MPH.  Again, Andy tried to keep up with Brown much like he did Barney Beagle.  With Andy’s bad leg, that’s not easy.

A few days after Brown appeared, on a Thursday afternoon, a severe thunderstorm came thru the area.  The weather was complete with heavy rain, severe lightning, high winds, and extremely loud thunder.  All of those storm characteristics that cause Andy to really freak out. 

It seems Andy and Brown were off on an adventure when the storm blew into the area.  While Brown headed for the house apparently Andy was either too frightened to do so or possibly he was bothered by his little short leg and was too tired to make his way back home.  Whatever the cause, Andy looked for the first place he could find that would provide cover from the inclement weather.  That source of cover was a detached garage about 2 miles away from Andy’s home.  The door of the garage was raised about 18 inches off of the ground.  Through that space the lady at the house noticed dog legs walking around in the garage and went to investigate.  Andy being the timid dog he is wouldn’t let her get too close.  She could get close enough to see he had a John Deere collar and was a yellow lab, nothing more.  She called her neighbors to see if they knew of anyone that might have a dog that matched that description or if they were aware of anyone that might have lost their dog.  Her calls produced no results. 

When darkness came and Andy wasn’t home we became somewhat worried.  It wasn’t like Andy to miss meal time.  Cherie Ann rode all over the area stopping frequently and calling for Andy.  Her efforts weren’t successful.  Needless to say, we were really worried for Andy’s well being.  We prayed that wherever he was that God would take care of him. 

The next day was Friday.  Cherie Ann was up at daylight, yes daylight, and walked over a large part of our property to see if she could find Andy hurt and possibly unable to get home.  That same morning Cherie Ann called all of the neighbors in the community to see if they had seen Andy on Thursday.  Only one neighbor remembered seeing Andy on Thursday.  That neighbor had mowed her yard before the storm.  Andy ran along beside her as she rode her mower.  That’s one of his favorite things to do.  He likes to snatch the butterflies right out of mid-air as they are flushed out of the grass as the mower moves along.  On Friday Cherie placed a “Lost Dog” ad in the Cullman Times in hopes that someone might know Andy’s whereabouts. 

Early Saturday morning Cherie Ann got up and headed to the woods again searching for Andy.  The Lost Dog ad was in the Saturday edition of the Cullman Times.  When the paper came out on Saturday, one of the neighbors of the lady where Andy was hold up in the barn saw the ad.  The neighbor called the lady and told her that the Lost Dog ad in the paper seemed to describe the dog the lady had called her about the afternoon before.   At about 8 a.m. on Saturday morning the lady called the number listed in the ad and spoke to Cherie Ann.  Cherie Ann told the lady his name was Andy and he would probably respond to his name.  She called him Andy and sure enough, Andy came right up to her and let her feed him.  As you might imagine, we immediately went and retrieved our lost canine friend and family member.

The lady that found Andy turned out to be a classmate of mine from high school. I hadn’t seen her in years.  She reluctantly accepted the reward we offered her for helping us locate Andy.  I’m confident the funds were put to good use.

At the same time Cherie Ann and I agreed we must do something with Brown.  Brown just had too much energy for Andy to run with.  She was more than likely the reason Andy was that far from home when the storm started.  After checking with a few animal shelters and other places, we decided to take Brown to the pet adoption location normally set up on Saturday morning in front of Tractor Supply here in Cullman.  When we told them our story about Andy and Brown they let us know they didn’t have any room for another animal.  No room in the inn…..we’ve heard a similar story before haven’t we?  I went so far as to offer them money to take Brown and ensure us she wouldn’t be euthanized and to find her a good home.  The very kind, caring, and compassionate lady apologized for not being able to take Brown.  She encouraged us to check back at the end of the day to see if some pups had been adopted making room for Brown.

As we were standing there talking to the pet adoption lady, about to take Brown back home with us, a Ford Excursion pulled up.  A big robust young man exited the vehicle and headed to the available pups under the tent.  He appeared to walk around scoping out just what was available.  As he walked around I noticed him looking over at Brown several times.  One time when he looked over I got his attention and told him I’d give him a cash contribution if he’d take Brown and give him a good home.  The young man walked over and we began to talk.  The young man told us he had a horse farm in the southwest part of the county.  His pet dog of several years had disappeared a while back and he was in search of another dog.  He went on to say that Brown was similar to what he was looking for.  It was at this time we even offered to pay the vet bill for Browns shots and for her being spayed if he would give her a good home.

The young man again suggested that wouldn’t be necessary.  His girlfriend was a Veterinarian Technician and she would take care of all of that for Brown.

The young man knelt down to pet Brown.  Brown immediately began licking, nudging, and warming up to the young man.  After a few minutes of feeling each other out, it was obvious Brown felt comfortable with the young man.  The young man informed us “he just believed he’d take Brown home with him if that was OK with us.”  It was.  The two new friends headed off to the Ford Excursion to travel Brown’s new home.  When Brown got in the truck he immediately took his place in the front. He appeared to be sitting on the console next to his new friend offering to help him drive.

Needless to say we felt good about the whole day to this point.  We thought “WE” had done well. We were extremely proud of ourselves and our efforts.  We felt we had made some very good decisions yielding outstanding results even better than we had wished for.  Everything had worked so well.  We had Andy back at home and Brown on his way to a good home.  We felt so good.  As we stood in the parking lot watching the pair leave and head home, we were beaming with pride.  What a job we had done.  

As the Ford Excursion pulled away, we both noticed something that completely and immediately changed our perspective about the entire weekend and who was responsible for finding Andy and who orchestrated the new home for Brown.  On the back of the Ford Excursion was prominently displayed what we have referred to as a Jesus Fish.  I believe the proper name is a Christian Fish emblem.  It was about that time we commented that we may not have been in charge of the activities after all.  In retrospect, it’s obvious Divine Intervention was responsible throughout the process.  Through the process we learned a little bit about our love for Andy and how much we really cared for him and his unconditional love for us.   

I’m convinced all parties to this event filled weekend benefited as a result of God’s plan.  The reward for the lady that found Andy I’m sure was put to good use.  We got Andy back home.  Brown has a new home where she can run to her heart’s content. And, we met a very nice young man that now has a new best friend.  All participants benefited and a lesson was certainly learned on our end. 

Interestingly enough Monday’s scripture from one of the devotionals I read each day was from Job 12:7.  The scripture says, “Ask the animals, and they will teach you, the birds of the air and they will tell you.” 

Like many pets, Andy regularly exhibits an unconditional love for us as he eagerly greets us when we get home with his tail wagging, numerous wet licks, an undivided attention and a nonstop willingness to be by our side no matter the mood we might be in.  He is an example of unconditional Love at its best.

Wouldn’t it be great if we would relate to God as enthusiastically and consistently through our daily prayer, Bible study, and seeking God’s guidance in our lives without regard to the trials and tribulations we are encountering at the time.

Maybe we really should listen to and learn from the animals.  Cherie Ann and I certainly have.  Andy, Smokey Bearcat, Cherie Ann and I are all doing well hoping to live happily ever after.