Free Great Dog Stories by M. R. Wells Page B

water temperature was chilly—probably 65 degrees or colder. They were cooking breakfast for their youngest son, Mark, and some of his buddies. They were also watching their two-year-old grandson, Noah.
    Noah was right there with the rest of the family. Then, suddenly, they realized their grandson was gone. They raced outside but didn’t see him. Their immediate nightmare scenario was that the toddler would wander into the lake and drown.
    Bill called 911. He urged them to send help, including what was needed for underwater rescue. Penny asked Mark and his friends to start searching too. At some point, the family realized that Bogie was also missing. This had never happened before. They had an electronic fence and their dog had never breached it—until now.
    All these years later, memories differ. What the family does agree on is that Noah was missing for about 45 minutes. At some point, Mark spied Bogie from the end of the Allyn’s dock—and possibly Noah too. They were some distance away, near the lake. Bill leaped into his car and raced to the spot. They also got a call from someone saying they had seen a toddler running with a German shepherd.
    When Bill reached Bogie, she was standing between Noah and the water. Noah was throwing stones over Bogie’s back. There was also a woman nearby who said she’d seen Bogie blocking Noah from going onto the docks.
    There was more. To reach this location, boy and dog would have had to travel through a densely wooded and swampy area near the highway. There were deep gullies, and one spot where a plank was laid across a creek. This was a journey fraught with peril for a toddler. Bill and Penny believe Bogie must have guided Noah and kept him safe.
    In the case of the Allyn family, God used a caring dog to protect and save a human child. In the case of Jews exiled to Persia many long centuries ago, God used an initially reluctant young woman to prevent a mass extermination.
    The place was Persia. The time was the Babylonian captivity. The life preserver of God’s choosing was a beautiful young Hebrew woman named Esther. Through a series of circumstances, the Persian king, Xerxes, chose Esther to be his new queen. However, he did not know that she was Jewish.
    Haman, a high official at court, was plotting to have all the Jews in the kingdom killed. Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, begged her to speak with the king. But at first she hesitated. If she went to the king without being summoned, she could be put to death. Mordecai responded with the now-famous words, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14).
    Esther asked that the Jews fast and pray for her. She and her maids also fasted and prayed. God gave her favor with the king, the Jews were spared, and Haman was hanged.
    I believe Bogie and Esther were both used by God for “such a time as this.” I believe He has special things for each of us to do. In big and small ways, He calls all of us to minister to one another. He could choose to act directly, but instead He allows us the privilege of participating with Him. Will you pray and ask how He might choose to use you even today to be an instrument of His miracles and love?

    For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).
Consider This:
    Is there a person or pet God has used in a special, and perhaps surprising, way in your life? What happened? How did it bless you? How did it strengthen your faith? How might God want to use you in someone else’s life today?

Dream Dog Guarantee
Take God at His Word
    In God we trust. All others we virus scan.
    A NONYMOUS
    A fter many years as a