Hi John and all the Doves....Now that I've enjoyed my good emotional cry for the day, I decided to go more into my study of what happens to animals when they die.  Do they die, or do they pass on like we do?  The bible, for the most part is silent on this one except for one or two hints among which are:

Ecclesiastes 3:28...."Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth"?

Numbers 22:28..."And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, "What have I done to thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times."  (I added the quotation marks for clarity only...this is not "adding to scripture" for those who might comment)

Jubilees 3:28..."...."And on that day was closed the mouth of all beasts, and of cattle, and of birds, and of whatever walks, and of whatever moved, so that they could no longer speak:  for they had all ! spoken one with another with one lip and with one tongue."  (The Book of Jubilees is one of the Apocryphal books that were once contained in the scriptures in the early days of the church...it is no longer considered to be part of the "canon"....but I cannot find that directive, nor the word "canon" anywhere in scripture.  That was a decision made by fallible "man")  Each person chooses for themselves what supplements scripture or what doesn't.

Genesis 3:1.."Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.  And HE SAID unto the woman, "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"  (again, I added quotation marks for clarity)

This determines to me that at one time, before the "Fall" creatures could speak.  This is extremely valuable information for me because I had a treasured pet, a white Toy Poodle named "K.C. Masterpiece", whom I called "Kasey."  He died in my ar! ms 7 years, 2 months, 7 days and about 23 hours ago....but who's counting?  Anyone who has had a beloved pet knows exactly what I am talking about.  Love has no boundaries on any living thing.  God knows even when one sparrow falls to the ground...Matthew 10:29.

I grieved without much solace until a friend of mine sent me a kind of "poem" that was called "The Rainbow Bridge".  I found this poem set to music on the internet, and I thought it might bring comfort to those who have lost some beloved pet in the past....or is in the process of losing one.  This gives a beautiful picture of seeing them again.....they won't be left behind when all is said and done.  An animal is unable to "sin" because it doen't know the "Law."  If one doesn't know the Law, then it can't "sin" against the Law.  Only God knows this one.  But, the wolf, lion, lamb, and calf will all be there in the "Kingdom"...see Isaiah 11:6.  And what about w! hite horses in Revelation 19?

http://www.indigo.org/rainbowbridge_ver2.html

I thought of this today when I thought of the rapture and the awesome expectation of "flying away."  I have no idea how I would be feeling now if I still had my beloved dog with me.  But, there must be those people who are reading this that are going through just this struggle.  Our hope is in our Lord Jesus Christ and not in this world, or anything in this world.  And only the thought that I would be seeing my "loved one" again could give me peace of mind.  Somehow I feel that I was supposed to send this to all the Doves....it's what I would want.

With agape love to all....

Arlene