Nahum 1:7 
“The LORD is good, 
a refuge in times of trouble. 
He cares for those who trust in him,” (NIV)

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I needed this verse this morning. Yesterday was one of the worst days ever. Ollie the Border Collie died. 

My faithful friend, through so many adventures, breathed his last. 

Some dogs are so much more than pets, aren’t they? This is especially so for Border Collies. They are always ready. They are ready to run, ready to catch the ball, ready to play, ready to work, ready for children to pet them, ready for adults to adore them, and ready to cause us to love them more every time we see them. 

Whenever we reached a transition point, a beginning, an ending, or something where we simply needed a change in scenery, my question to him was, “Are you ready?” His response was to jump to attention. Tail wagging. Eyes fixed. Tongue hanging out. He was always ready for adventure. 

I will tell Ollie’s tale elsewhere, but now you know why this verse is so meaningful to me today. 

I read one of Billy Graham’s books when I was in college. He was talking about heaven. He talked about how people get so attached to some things here on earth that they don’t really think that much of moving on to someplace better. 

Someone had asked him about something that was intensely personal and pleasurable. He wondered if that would be absent from heaven. Billy Graham wisely answered that the God who created what this person found so meaningful would be eclipsed by the intense and sinless pleasures of heaven. 

From time to time, someone will ask me if dogs go to heaven. My standard reply is, “Can you imagine heaven without them?” Our Father in Heaven, the Giver of all Good Things, gave me Ollie the Border Collie. For the last twelve years, he has been to me a little bit of heaven on earth. 

We haven’t been able to run together for a long time. We’ve both endured lower back issues. Our pace over the last few years has been more deliberate, but delightful and satisfying every time we’ve taken a stroll. Among the most wonderful pleasures I anticipate on this renewed earth is a long, almost endless run with Ollie.

I so hope there are tennis balls to throw and treats to toss to that waiting mouth. I hope the Great Shepherd of the Sheep uses a Border Collie to gather us in and to watch over us as we rest. 

On this day when I feel so lost, I am so glad that “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble, and that He cares for those who trust in him.”

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I will trust God for intense pleasures to come on that Day of All Days.

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Our Father, thank you for Ollie the Border Collie. Thank you for expressing your love to me through him. Thank you for how good you are. Thank you for being a refuge on days like this, and thank you for caring about my heavy heart. Thank you for the untimed Day to come and the unlimited joy of reunion with those we love who have gone before us. An old song says, “Heaven is a long hello.” I look forward to greeting so many loved ones and friends, and I really do hope to be reunited with Ollie the Border Collie. That will be the Day of All Days. He is the Dog of All Dogs. You alone are God and the Giver of All Good Things. Amen.