This week we had to put down our beloved dog. Anybody who has consistently sat under my preaching the last twelve years has probably heard your fair share of Ace stories. He supplied no shortage of life lessons and spiritual insights for me over the years. I'll spare you the laments and jump right to the good stuff. Here are my favorite four stories to tell about Ace and the ways he pointed me to God!

Lesson 1. GOD CARES ABOUT THE DETAILS

It wasn't long into our first year of marriage before Jill and I began to consider getting a dog. It just seems like the kind of thing you're supposed to do when you're newly married and freshly in love... unless you just want to have kids.

But our schedules were busy to say the least. Jill was in her first year of full-time teaching and I had just entered my first year of full-time ministry. We were in and out a lot and as much as coming home to a dog would be a welcomed experience each day, we struggled to know if our lifestyle was conducive to being dog owners.

Around that time an old friend of ours reached out to let us know she was looking for a good home for her maltese-poodle pup. We had actually seen him before when she first got him and thought he was adorable. As much as she loved him, she was preparing to go on the mission field among other ministry-oriented things and knew he needed a good home.

So we began to pray. Prayer is a core value of our home, and we pray about virtually everything. I may have even fasted a meal or two, I can't remember. I have to admit, I felt kind of silly talking to God in depth about such a trivial thing when I was neck-deep in youth ministry and walking with students through real-world problems.

One Sunday at church, one of our members came up to me and said, "Do you have a dog?" I was taken aback! We hadn't told anyone about our secret canine intercessions. "I don't." I said, "Why do you ask?" She proceeded to tell me that morning, after waking up, their 2-year-old son in his broken, toddler vernacular, repeatedly said, "Pastor Zach's dog! Pastor Zach's dog!"

I was floored. I was also a little offended. I needed to have a serious conversation with the Lord. Something to the affect of, "Lord, you mean to tell me all the times I have sought and searched and pleaded for big, life-changing prophetic words that don't come for months or even years, but when I ask you for confirmation about getting a dog, you send prophetic dreams to toddlers for me?!"

I'm being a little facetious. I wasn't upset, mostly pretty shocked, but more than anything, I just felt deeply loved by God. Cue the many scriptures that tell us just how much God cares for even the smallest minutiae in our lives. "Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered..." "How vast are His thoughts towards us, they outnumber the grains of sand..."

I knew the verses intellectually. That day I knew them intimately. God cares about the things we care about, and He delights in us. We brought Ace home a week or two later and he became one of the greatest sources of joy in our lives during that season. He saw us through 12 wedding anniversaries, several major job changes, a few surgeries, and two extremely boisterous, and at times, overly loving children.

Lesson 2. GOD LIKES TO RIDE

There were several words we couldn't say out loud around Ace because of the reaction they would illicit. Treat, walk, or even just the sound of his leash clicking against the wall would send him into a frenzy, always excited to go out. But no word meant more to him than ride. Ace adored when we came home to be with him, but even more so when we took him with us somewhere, absolutely anywhere.

During a particularly busy season in my life, I was not getting adequate rest nor time at the Father's feet. I justified it as a righteous cause "for the sake of the ministry." In reality I was giving an Oscar-worthy performance of Martha out of Luke 10: so busy doing FOR God, that I was neglecting to be WITH God.

One day I ran into the house to quickly change my shoes in order to run off to the next thing. Ace greeted me with all the excitement in the world, as usual, and I returned his enthusiasm with a simple pat on the head as I headed straight for the bedroom. As I was bent over, lacing up my shoes, I looked up to see him staring directly into my face, shaking nervously in the hopes that I would spend some time with him or even better, tell him to hop in the car with me.

And then the Lord spoke. It was not audible, and I don't have these moments very often. It's like God's voice booms on the inside of your heart and conscience, so clear and convicting to your soul that you know you didn't just think it. The Lord said, "I WON'T BE YOUR DOG."

No explanation necessary. In an instant I knew EVERYTHING the Lord was communicating to me. His place in my life was not to wait for me to come home each night and hopefully have some time left over to give Him. He is not to be dormant in the life of any believer, let alone a Pastor. He doesn't stay at Church after you leave on Sundays and wait for you to come again the next week to commune with you. He wants to go WITH you. God likes to ride.

The Lord used Ace as an image of a God who doesn't just wait patiently, He waits eagerly. He desires for us to commune with Him throughout each day and to bring our thoughts back to Him in both the quiet and the noisy moments. Message received Lord.

Lesson 3: RESTRAINED, NOT RESTRICTED

As much as Ace loved going on walks, it was a miserable experience for us. How can you have four legs and be so bad at going on walks?!

The truth is his legs worked fine, which is why he was determined to run everywhere he went. He constantly stayed at the end of his leash, completely choking himself. He was mesmerized by the world around him. Every time we would take him out to potty in the yard, just as he was about to go, a leaf would blow in the wind, or a car would peel through, or heaven-forbid and ANT would scurry across the pavement! At the slightest movement he was on the chase.

I used to give him pep talks before we would go out. Like William Wallace leading an army into battle, I tried to inspire this dog to focus on the mission. But the poor guy just couldn't help it. He wanted to chase, sniff, lick, and experience every little thing the world had to offer. So the leash was our life-saver. Literally, I mean he would've run into traffic on day ONE without it.

As he got older, he slowed down. It only took getting loose a couple of times and facing it in the real world before he realized how good he had it in our home (especially in our bed). The leash became less and less necessary. The last several years we could just simply open the front door and tell him to go to the car and he would, without so much of as a thought to run after something or leave us in the dust.

There's an often-quoted verse in Proverbs 18 that stresses the importance of vision for our lives. "Where there is no vision the people are unrestrained." But who wants to be restrained? Isn't the point of vision to empower us and send us out?! Why would vision hold us back?

Many people see the Christian faith as suppressive and drab. They confuse restraint with restriction. Restraint means to be held back. Restricted means to be pushed away. The way of Jesus is a vision for our life, and it restrains us from the ways of this world. Much like a leash, the Word and His commands keep us from living a life that is outside of His will.

For many onlookers, our life submitted to Jesus may seem stifling, much in the same way that perhaps a stray dog would look at Ace on his leash and think, "What a sad existence, he can't go anywhere!" But what the stray doesn't see is the bed Ace sleeps in every night (and much of the day, for that matter), the food he gets in his bowl (and off of our plates, when he's sneaky), the toys, the belly rubs, and all the absolute love that is lavished on him by owners who love him enough to hold him within our grasp.

See, as a puppy, Ace was convinced the world was the place to be. But as he matured, he learned there was no place in the world like being in the lap of the ones who keep him restrained. I'm thankful for a Heavenly Father who loves me enough to keep me close to Him.

Lesson 4. OLD AND DEAD OR NEW AND LIVING; YOUR CHOICE

Perhaps the story I've told the most about Ace was when I woke up one night to Jill screaming in the living room. She had gotten out of bed to let Ace out to potty. When he returned, he did so with a friend. There, hanging limp out of both sides of his mouth, clinched between his jaws was a dead, infant rabbit.

Now, I'd like to think he didn't kill it, and he just found it dead on the ground, but Ace was extremely fast. If squirrels and rabbits didn't make all the right moves, precisely as they should, he was likely to catch them.

In this particular case it was clear Ace couldn't distinguish what he had just found from any of his stuffed animals. He didn't want to eat it, but he certainly wanted to play with it, and sensing our panic, he immediately went into defense mode. After getting him back outside, I did my best impression of a hostage negotiator. Have you seen the Jurassic World movie where Christ Pratt eases his way towards the velociraptors, keeping his hand directly in their eyes' view? Yeah, I was mimicking that.

One sudden move, he'd be off and I would have no chance of catching him. I told Jill to go get one of his favorite treats and a shovel. With no questions asked and happy to leave the scene, even if just for a moment, she returned with both. I took the treat, made sure he could clearly see what I was offering, and I threw it about three feet away from him.

Now he had a choice: drop the dead bunny and take the treat or keep the dead bunny and forego his favorite snack. Ace was never one to pick play over food. He dropped the bunny and gobbled up the treat while I scooped ol' Bugs up with the shovel and transported him to the garbage can.

I've told that story at tons of schools, conferences, and youth services always to communicate one simple truth: In the decision to follow Jesus, there is no scenario where you get to keep your old, dead life and walk in your righteous, new one. You can settle for what's dead, or walk in new life with Christ, but either choice requires you to give the other up.

Jesus made it clear that following Him is synonymous with denying self. I'm thankful to have chosen new life in Him over the old nature of my past. And I'm thankful Ace chose correctly that night as well.

CONCLUSION

As I look back it's so obvious why the Lord wanted us to have Ace. Not just because he made us happy and brought joy to our lives, but also because the Lord used him to teach us to lean into His voice and receive revelation through everyday moments.

Ace was an absolute gift from God because he was another way God gave more of Himself to us. I've realized the best gifts in life are not just from God but also reflect God. They point us to Him, reveal His nature to us, and keep bringing us back to His goodness.

It was heartbreaking to say goodbye to our beloved pup this week, but I find so much peace and joy in knowing I never have to say goodbye to the One who gave Ace to us. For all the dog lovers out there, you get it. Thanks for keeping us and our kiddos in your prayers this week as we feel what we feel and cast our cares upon the Lord!