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A
Christimas Story There was
a girl playing in her front yard at Thanksgiving. She was 8 yrs. old.
Sammie was her name. Sammie heard a moaning sound coming from the drainage
ditch at the side of her yard. She went over, and saw a yellow dog lying
in the ditch, whimpering. There was blood on his shoulder, and his ear
was torn partly off. Jill and Sammie bundled the dog in an old blanket, loaded him in the car, and took him to the vet where their cat went. After they waited anxiously for an hour, the vet came to them and said, "Sammie, if you hadn't found that dog when you did, he might have died. He's been in a bad fight, but he's going to be OK." After four days, Sammie and Jill brought the dog home, and nursed him back to health. Sammie named him Andy. Sammie was in her front yard the week before Christmas, playing with Andy who still limped a little. A car drove by, stopped, and backed up. A man and a woman got out with a little boy. The boy yelled, "Jason, is that you???" The dog stopped, perked up his ears, turned, and ran limping to the boy, who hugged him around the bandages. Sammie ran up to them and said, "His name isn't Jason, it's Andy!! Let go of him!" Jill was at the window and had seen Andy run to the boy and his family. She feared the worst, so she ran out and came up as Sammie started crying. She invited the dog's family into the house, and held Sammie's hand. Sammie kept reaching out to Andy, who licked her hand. They talked to Jason's family, who offered to repay the vet bills. They'd been looking for Jason for 6 weeks, ever since he dug under their fence and got away. Then they loaded him up and took him home, because Jason really was their dog. Sammie ran upstairs and cried on her bed. Her mom went to her and tried to comfort her. She said all the right things, about how Jason belonged with his first family, how Sammie had saved Jason's life, and how hard it was to give him up. She got Sammie to talk, between sobs, about how much she missed Jason. Sammie kept saying, "But his name is Andy. We saved him- he was supposed to be our dog now." Her mother said, "Sammie, this is real hard. You're right, we thought Jason had joined our family, and he did, for a while. But he had to go back to the people who loved him first. Don't you think God wants Jason to be with his family, and for them to have him back all well?" "I think God is a stinker if that's what God wants. What about you and me and Andy?" And she cried some more. Her mother sat with her until she finally quit crying and fell asleep. On Christmas Eve, Sammie and her mom went to the late afternoon service at their church. Sammie prayed for Jason, that he was healed and happy. During the children's sermon, she heard the preacher say, "Jesus came to us for a little while, to teach us to love one another. Jesus taught us to be happy to give away freely the gifts we receive from God. Jesus gave his life so we all might live close to God." Sammie wondered about what the preacher said about Jesus. That Christmas Eve night, just before her mother put her to bed, Sammie got to open one, only one, of her presents early. It was a new pair of roller blades. She was excited. She said her prayers, then said to her mother: "You know, I think Andy came to us for the same reason Jesus came." Her mother was startled, and said, "How do you mean?" "Well, we took care of Jason, we started to love him, and then he went back to his real family. Jesus came so God could show us how to love each other, and maybe dogs too. Jesus kept giving back to people all the love he'd gotten from his mom and dad, and from God in heaven, then God took him back to heaven. It's kind of like we did with Andy, I mean Jason." Sammie's mother started to cry, and hugged Sammie. Sammie said, "Mom, you don't need to cry now, because we did what Jesus taught us to do, to give back what God gave us. God gave Andy to us for a little while, to help us learn to love him and then to give him back to his first family. You were right, mom. But we still miss Jason, don't we?" They cried a little more together, then said good night and sweet dreams. A year later, just before Christmas, a car pulled up in Sammie's driveway. She stopped roller-blading on the patio and went to see who it was. Jill came out, too, and Sammie skated up to meet her. It was Jason's family. The mom and dad and boy got out of their car, and smiled. They told how well Jason was doing, and that Jason had become a father in October. Jill was grinning, and so were all of Jason's family. The boy opened the door into the back seat, and pulled out a big box with a bow on it. Jill picked up the box, and Sammie tore off the wrapping paper. It was a kennel with a little yellow dog inside. Sammie got
real excited and tried to open the kennel door, but she couldn't budge
it, so the boy helped her. He reached in and brought out the puppy, and
handed it to Sammie. Sammie looked at her mother, and then said, "Is
the puppy for me??" And they all laughed and her mom said, "Yes,
Jason's mom and dad called and asked if you'd like one of his puppies
for Christmas. I said I figured you might." Sammie grinned and hugged
the puppy close, and he licked her. She exclaimed and said, "OK,
NOW his name is really Andy!!" Then she said, "Thank you so
much!! I still miss Jason sometimes, and now I don't have to miss him
any more- his little boy has come to stay." Copyright 2002 Calvary Episcopal Church Gospel:
Gospel:
John 1:1-14 |
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