Dog Door

I was on a high mountain ledge, looking down at clouds reflecting bright sunlight. I recognized this as a dream. I’d had several of these—dreams in which I knew I was dreaming. Each time, God has taught me something, and I wondered what this one was about.

I turned to the cliff face, rising high out of sight. I was about to begin climbing, when I noticed an opening several yards to my right, and a few above my head. At first I thought it was the entrance to a cave, but as I got closer I could see light, more brilliant than what was around me. I climbed up and pulled myself through the door.

I stood up, and found myself on a path through a forest, dense but bright and cheerful. I heard birds, and somewhere a stream. But my attention was drawn to the clearing up ahead. Standing in the center, smiling, with His hand held out, was Jesus. I walked/ran to Him, a mixture of awkward and elated. He hugged me, and we walked, just talking.

Being with Him was more than enough for me, but in the back of my mind, I wondered what this dream’s purpose was. Knowing my thoughts, He said, “I brought you here to show you something.” He nodded at the woods, and I turned in that direction. I heard the barks and yelps and leaves rustling, then Jenna broke through the trees at a full run toward me. Jenna was our Border Collie mix, and we’d lost her to an autoimmune disease years ago. I’ve loved every dog we’ve ever had, but Jenna had grown with our kids, and was special to me.

She reached me with a leap, and I got on the ground to hug her. She felt like I remembered, but lighter, and her black coat glistened like a starry night. She licked me with a perfectly pink tongue, and that’s when the tears streamed. The disease robbed her of oxygen, turning her tongue a deathly blue before we lost her. She was a member of our family, and we were devastated at her suffering. To see her like this was a joy I could feel healing a wound in my heart.

Then more barks. I looked up to see every dog we’d ever had running toward us (the Pekingese more wobbled than ran), from the same place Jenna had come. They were playing together, circling and jumping up on Jesus and me. He was laughing, and the absurdity of it all overwhelmed me. Even in my own dream, the logical part of my mind was trying to take over, and I wrestled internally with what I knew about life and death. I wanted this to be true, to know this was more than a dream, that I was seeing a part of heaven where they were all happy and healthy, but I was afraid I was somehow making it all up. I looked up at Him. Again, I knew he could see into my heart, but He let me hear myself say it: “Jesus, is this real?”

He knelt, and put one hand on Jenna’s head, and one on my shoulder. “Rob, nothing through which I have demonstrated My love to you ever really dies.”