Dogs, Love, and God
Steve Johnson • March 13, 2025

A few years ago, we faced the task every dog lover dreads. My wife and I had to put our 16-year-old Yorkie-Poo to sleep. This little dog had been nick-named Nurse Peppy. Her formal name was Pepper. She became known as Nurse Peppy when she crawled into a dog bed and slept with our Jack Russell Terrier (Terrorist) as he lay dying. She comforted him as he helplessly shivered until we got him to a Vet.


Peppy, like many of our other dogs, became an integral part of our lives, offering comfort and companionship in times of need. When I had to elevate my leg after an ankle replacement, she would lay beside my cast on the recliner for hours. She remained on duty 24/7 for me, my wife, and our daughter, a constant source of solace and love.


It made me think of my first notion of unconditional love. When I was young, our family had a yellow lab named Babe. She was always glad to see us greeting us with a tail which seemed nuclear powered. We also learned how to reciprocate love with Babe. My sister best typified this by sharing her ice cream cone with Babe. My sister would take a lick, then Babe would take a lick…you get the idea.

Since we married, the many dogs we have had have been there for us, expressing their love. On a bad day, Hugo wanted to sleep in the crook of my arm. On a good day, Cindy wanted to go for a walk. Every day, Peppy wanted to sit on my lap, where she would happily sit for hours until her waning days. As she faded, none of the things she had loved mattered.


We all have our share of memorable and sometimes embarrassing stories about our beloved pets. One such story about Peppy stands out. On a road trip, Peppy got antsy. She was sitting on my lap as my wife drove. I stated we needed to find a place to stop, but suddenly, I got frantic. The dog was posturing to poop, standing on my lap. I yelled we had to stop. My wife replied, “I’m looking.” I shouted, “Stop now!” I had time to catch the only solid, doggy-made tootsie roll. What followed was at least a cup of diarrhea all over my pants and shirt. When we stopped, I set the dog in the grass, ripped off my shirt, opened the van’s hatch door, and prepared to get a fresh shirt and pants. My wife stopped me before I removed my jeans and pointed at a nearby convenience store. At least 15 senior citizens, their faces plastered against the glass, laughed hysterically and pointed at us. It was a moment of shared laughter and embarrassment that only pet owners can truly understand.


Red-faced, I slunk by that crowd, who were still howling, and used the convenience store’s bathroom to change. My wife made obligatory purchases of several of my favorite snacks and candy bars while laughing along with the crowd. Half an hour later, I joined my wife laughing about the incident. Peppy, meanwhile, had gone back to sleep on my clean lap.


The love our dogs have for us is so refreshing and simple. Almost unconditional—unless you forget too many dinners. It seems God uses our dogs to teach us how to love and develop our hearts. A dog can soften a hard heart and prepare a soft heart to mourn the loss of a loved one. Maybe a dog’s life is so much shorter than ours to teach us how to survive the loss of someone dear. Raised that “real men don’t cry,” I stunned myself when I wept uncontrollably, holding the dead body of a stray named Annie we’d adopted. God touched my heart.


Later, as two close friends struggled with the loss of a son and a daughter, it helped me to weep with them unashamedly. I could walk with these two men and feel their pain and anguish. 1 John 4:16 tells us God is love. He is the creator of love. It seems that dogs may well be one of His many teaching tools for how we are to love one another, with our hearts full as we learn to love God.


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Pesky Idols!

By Steve Johnson • March 13, 2025
What is an idol? It’s anything that enslaves us and moves ahead of Jesus in our list of priorities. It could be something good, like walking or fitness. I’ve faced mobility challenges for years, first breaking my fibula, which formed a non-union requiring surgery. Then, I had an ankle joint replaced. Next was a knee joint, which became bone-on-bone, leading to a total knee replacement of the first knee. Several years later, the second knee followed the same path. Early in the recovery process, I bought a Fitbit activity tracker that was attached to my pocket. It gave me valuable information as I rehabbed the ankle. Based on my progress, I could objectively assess whether I was getting enough exercise or too much. At some point, it became more than necessary information. On a flight to Dallas, I lost my Fitbit. I panicked and replaced it within a week with a new, improved wrist version; I love my Fitbit! The following year, I had my knee replaced, and my Fitbit let me track how much exercise I was getting again as I rehabbed my knee. My daughter and a friend invited me to be a Fitbit friend. They thought I would be someone easy to beat. As my knee got stronger, I walked longer and more frequently. My first target was five thousand steps daily, then ten thousand, followed by fifteen and twenty thousand steps daily or over ten miles. I planned to crack thirty thousand steps (I did hit 27,000). Then disaster struck—I got two blisters on my right foot. My wife thought I should give it a break. How could I? My steps would fall behind my daughter and my friend. But I conceded and took a break, getting less than five thousand steps—for an entire day! I needed to get back at it today, but I would take it easy with a leisurely walk about 5:30 am around a community lake. It’s my favorite walk and where I have my best prayer time. People talk about having a prayer closet; it doesn’t work for me. When I’m walking, I can focus on communing with God. The time is precious, sacred, and intimate—just me and God. When I first started doing this, I imagined walking beside Jesus. I was walking with my Best Friend. Now, I spend time with the entire Trinity, and it’s even more precious to me. My mobility is the best in ten years, and the prayer time has been great. But my Fitbit has become my master. As I eased into my 1.26-mile walk this morning, I forgot that my Fitbit was charging. It was a great walk and time of prayer. Real intimacy and closeness stirred me on many levels—I was walking in fellowship with God. Then, at the one-mile marker, with only .26 miles to go, I realized my Fitbit was at home. First, I was shocked that I wouldn’t get credit for 3,455 steps on my Fitbit. Then it struck me that I’d had an incredible walk with the Father, but I was moaning about not having my little Fitbit. We laughed (God does have a sense of humor). It was like having the most incredible meal you’ve ever eaten and complaining about not getting a cheesy, paper-wrapped mint from your waiter. I will continue to use my Fitbit, not to compete against anyone, but to keep track of how I’m doing getting exercise. However, I will work to keep my priorities straight and focus on my most important relationship with God, my Savior.

Reflections

By Steve Johnson • March 13, 2025
What makes a glorious sunrise? In my opinion, it’s the right amount and shape of clouds, as well as the positioning of those clouds. Aren’t clouds just water vapor sometimes containing dust particles from the atmosphere? Sometimes we drive through vapor in the form of fog. Depending upon the type of clouds and where they are positioned, as the sun approaches the horizon, there are incredible colors from the light reflected by those clouds. Various shades of the red spectrum and blue spectrum for sure, but the highlights of bright yellow give the scene a vibrant explosive quality. The hand of a master artist couldn’t begin to touch the beauty of ten minutes of this ever changing light display. The beauty of the scene is the reflection of the sun on water vapor. The sun which is too bright to look at, when its light waves bounce off wispy clouds becomes a diverse and beautiful array. Our faith is similar; the sun is analogous to God. His love is reflected off us, His creation. We are all different types, sizes, shapes and colors so the hue of reflected love is different and wonderfully beautiful. It’s a challenge to remember that my reflection of God’s love is a representation of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. A love so deep it’s a struggle to grasp how wide and long and high is the love of Christ. My pastor Tom, in a recent sermon said that the number one reason people say they don’t become Christian is because of Christians. He quoted Mahatma Gandi, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Tom reminded us to be good ambassadors for Christ. Like the clouds we are a vapor in time, Lord let us be a brilliant reflection of your Glory.