Poor Wendy

I never thought I’d be one those people. You know, the kind that push their pet around in a stroller, but here I am, walking our puppy Wendy around our neighborhood in a pet stroller that we ordered from Amazon.

In fact, I’d have probably laughed secretly and wondered how someone could spoil their furry little friend so rottenly. Those were the kind of people who put air conditioners in their doghouses and buy the little booties for when they go on a walk in the rain. The kind of people who treat their dogs to a spa day and hire a professional photographer to do a photo shoot with the pooch wearing sunglasses and a tutu.

Don’t get me wrong. I like pets, but I’m not over the top about it. They’re high maintenance. You’re always vacuuming, sweeping, cleaning, entertaining, playing, taking them out to do their business, making arrangements when you want to go somewhere or feeling like you can’t go anywhere. You have to remember their shots, flea and tick meds, heartworm pills.

And then sometimes your small and excitable puppy jumps out of the car and breaks her front legs. It was parked, but she couldn’t wait to get out and somehow landed awkwardly, frantically yelping in the most pitiable way you’ve ever heard. Of course, we took her to the vet, who met on a holiday no less, and decided we’d attempt to set her legs and cast them (as opposed to doing surgery). We’d check in two weeks to see how it well she was healing.

The right leg was looking okay, but the left was not. The options were limited: living with a bad leg that would likely be always painful, or perform surgery to try to fix it. I felt a little embarrassed to ask how much this thing was going to cost. I mean, how much is too much? Where do you draw the line to say we can’t afford to do whatever we can to help her?

It’s crazy how attached we become to these little ankle-biters, this eight-pound Velcro pup who just wants to be with you every moment of every day – when you’re eating, sleeping, doing yard work, watching TV, reading, going to the bathroom, everything.

So, she’s recovering well so far from her surgery, and hopefully in a couple months will be back on her feet running around again.

Isn’t that like the love of God for us? There is no line, no boundary, no limit to His love. He gave up His Son to die in our place so that we could be healed from the pain and penalty of sin. “This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Friend, if you ever start to feel like your life is not worth saving, look to the cross, where our Savior bled and died so that you could be forgiven, healed, made right with God, and promised a home in heaven. Why not turn to Him in faith today and be saved?