Hot Mess Rex
I know many people who can testify to the life-changing power of the love. Unqualified, redemptive love.
A wonderful illustration of the transforming power of love was uploaded on Facebook by my friend, Kelly Spurlock Sink, just this week. With her permission, I share with you the story of her dog, Rex. Let me not spoil Kelly’s narrative with more introduction. Once you have read it, you will feel the love.
“By far, the hardest part of loving a pet is the moment when you have to say good bye. Today, with heavy hearts, we laid our sweet Rex to rest.
“He wasn’t always so beloved to us. In fact, we almost gave him away at least twice. Rex came to us when Facebook friends advertised that they needed to re-home him.
“They described in detail the type of home they thought he needed—one with lots of room to run, other animals for companions, and people who were around a lot. It sounded exactly like what we could offer. So we took him.
“He was the hottest of hot messes! Even on 60 mg of Prozac a day, he still had so much anxiety that we didn’t know what to do with him. He would bust out of the strongest crate and destroy the house, but would run away if left outside when we were gone.
“He chewed our books and our carpet, peed and pooped all over our house, shredded our screen door (multiple times). He staunchly refused to relieve himself outside after dark, much to my utter frustration as the days got shorter. He yelped in fear when someone tried to touch him from behind.
“But gradually, over the months and years, with the consistent love and security of his human and animal companions, he changed. We took him off the Prozac.
“He became the most affectionate dog, and particularly loved my husband Josh. He would park himself outside the bathroom door and wait for him to emerge in the morning, or sit at the front door for hours waiting for him to come home.
“He certainly loved me too, though. He would lick my arms and legs for several minutes at a time, and just seemed to revel in the company of the people who loved him.
“I guess that is what made him so special. He was such a mess, but we didn’t give up on him (though there were times we REALLY wanted to). Rex taught us first-hand the transforming power of love. Rest well, sweet boy! We miss you terribly!”
In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary - we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! 6 . Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. 7 We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. 8 But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. 9 Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. 10 If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Romans 5: 5-8 The Message Bible
(Boldface the author’s)
Photo graciously shared by Justin Veenema of Unsplash