Zippy stuck his head out the car window, grinning into the wind that ruffled his fur. We were having a fine time vacationing in a cabin in northern Minnesota for the month of August.<\/p>\n
My husband, Bill, hiked; Zippy, our Shetland sheepdog, ran in the open space; and I painted. We left our hideaway to replace the creaky old bed frame in the cabin.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook over there!\u201d I said, pointing up the road at a country store with a big sign hanging out front: Consignment Shop.<\/p>\n
Bill pulled up and parked. Zippy jumped around in back, eager to get out. \u201cYou stay here for a second, Zippy,\u201d I said. I climbed out and poked my head into the store, chock-full of stuff, floor to ceiling. \u201cMind if we bring our dog in?\u201d I asked the blonde woman at the counter.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo dogs allowed,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m awful sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guess she isn\u2019t a dog person,<\/em> I thought. I motioned for Bill to come in alone. We couldn\u2019t leave Zippy in the hot car for long. I picked through the narrow aisles, but I couldn\u2019t really concentrate. \u201cBe back in a sec,\u201d I said to Bill, and made my way through the maze of items to check on Zippy.<\/p>\n He barked joyously as I approached. \u201cOkay, boy,\u201d I said, letting him out of the car. He jumped around at my feet and rolled over in the grass in front of the store. I scratched his tummy.<\/p>\n \u201cHe sure loves you,\u201d someone said from behind me. It was the woman from the shop. She set a bowl of water on the ground. \u201cMy name\u2019s Lana.\u201d Zippy lapped up her kind offering. Lana scratched him behind his pointed ears. Guess I was wrong about her,<\/em> I thought.<\/p>\n \u201cI hate turning dogs away,\u201d said Lana, \u201cbut the store\u2019s overcrowded. You know what I think the best thing about heaven will be? Every dog will be welcome there!\u201d<\/p>\n I raised my eyebrows. Dogs in heaven? Much as I loved Zippy I\u2019d never considered such a thing. Zippy chased butterflies in the grass as if he couldn\u2019t imagine a nicer place than where he was right now. Could there be an even better place waiting for him somewhere? \u201cDo you really think there will be animals in heaven?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n Lana pointed up the hill. A driftwood cross was barely visible, sticking out of the ground. \u201cThat\u2019s where my dog\u2019s buried,\u201d she said. I felt a pang in my heart looking at the distant cross. Zippy was 10 years old, and I couldn\u2019t bear to think of a time when he would leave us, though I knew it would happen.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought I\u2019d lost him forever,\u201d said Lana. \u201cI was devastated. One night I was lying on my bed crying over it, and God gave me a vision.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou mean a dream?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n Lana shook her head. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t your usual dream. Not by any stretch. Jesus was sitting on his throne. My dog had his paws up on Jesus\u2019 lap. Jesus was rubbing him under the chin, just the way he liked.\u201d Zippy lost interest in the butterflies and came and sat obediently by my side. He perked his ears up at Lana.<\/p>\n \u201cMy dog turned and looked at me,\u201d she went on. \u201cHe thumped his tail on the ground. It was as if that animal had found his voice and told me: He was happy in heaven, so I shouldn\u2019t grieve for him any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n Zippy rolled over and wiggled on his back in the grass. I tried to picture Jesus rubbing his belly, the way Zippy liked. It seemed kind of silly. Why should it, though?<\/em> I asked myself. Doesn\u2019t God love all creatures of the earth?<\/em><\/p>\n Bill called from the store, \u201cFound what we\u2019re looking for!\u201d Lana went to take care of business, and I got Zippy back in the car. I told Bill all about Lana\u2019s vision during the drive back to the cabin, and I thought about it in the weeks after when I stood sketching in front of my easel. \u201cI\u2019m going to paint it,\u201d I told Bill one morning. \u201cJust like Lana described.\u201d<\/p>\n I sketched Jesus on a throne with a sleek greyhound resting its head on his knee. \u201cDo you approve, Zippy?\u201d He panted, and I took that to mean yes. Once I started painting, more dogs appeared on the canvas. A German shepherd pulled at Jesus sleeve. A spaniel nosed his arm. Other dogs gathered at his feet, proud and content. I couldn\u2019t keep them away, and Jesus didn\u2019t seem to mind.<\/p>\n Zippy sat front and center, looking at the viewer the way Lana\u2019s dog had turned and looked directly at her in the vision.<\/p>\n I entered the painting in a local art show back home in Illinois. People were drawn to it. \u201cI always say heaven must be filled with dogs,\u201d someone remarked. \u201cWhenever I picture Jesus,\u201d a woman told her friend, \u201cI\u2019m going to picture him like that.\u201d I was delighted. Zippy was waiting for Bill and me when we got home. \u201cOne day you\u2019ll sit at Jesus\u2019 feet too,\u201d I said, \u201cand that will make it easier for me, if you get there before I do.\u201d<\/p>\n The following August Bill, Zippy and I returned to Minnesota and drove straight to the consignment shop. I couldn\u2019t wait to tell Lana how her vision had changed me. But the store was empty. I pressed my face against the glass. \u201cThere\u2019s no hint a business ever operated here,\u201d Bill said. Even the big sign was no more.<\/p>\n Zippy sniffed out the window and jumped out to chase a butterfly. I looked up the hill for the driftwood cross, but that too was gone, as if it had never existed. But I had Lana\u2019s vision of heaven, captured in canvas and oils. I knew that the animals we loved would be loved and welcome there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zippy stuck his head out the car window, grinning into the wind that ruffled his fur. We were having a fine time vacationing in a cabin in northern Minnesota for the month of August. My husband, Bill, hiked; Zippy, our Shetland sheepdog, ran in the open space; and I painted. We left our hideaway to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[155],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[2232],"class_list":["post-14652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-after-death"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n