A Tribute to our Dog Luna
Someone once said, “Consider it a pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”
To consider is to reflect. But as I reflect on losing a best friend, I am not happy. My faith is once again being tested to its core. And somehow in some way I am to use this pain to endure, harness and use for the season I am in.
Her name was Luna and she came into our lives in the most sovereign season one could imagine. She taught me patience, endurance and what joy truly looks like. She didn’t always make me happy but even when I was the most mad at her that I could be, it was that precious smile with an under biting, tongue out smirk that reminded me that my commitment to her was bigger than my current feelings of frustration.
When Logen and I committed to the calling to leave everything behind in pursuit of our purpose in missions overseas, I knew that she could not come. We found the perfect home for her with a family member who knew that love is love and wanted to give more to her than we ever could traveling the world. It was there that I also left my hope of ever having her back in my life in the capacity we once shared.
Today I received the news that she had died. My first thought was of Coop (my first dog who passed away in my arms as he was tragically crushed by a car on Monticello Road). As I started to harden my heart, as I often do when my experience in reality is not what I expected, the Spirit of Truth reminded me that life is not always full of happiness. I immediately began to consider the joy that Luna brought into my life in the season I was able to share with her.
From rollerblading the mountains of Weaverville to biking the valleys of Spartanburg, she showed me the importance of embracing what is. To embracing the community members who look and think different, to seeking out the saddened in heart and simply sitting beside them until they acknowledged her existence; she taught me the importance of being available to listen. Now she is gone but I am not. So will my somberness honor her more than the lessons I have learned from her? By no means! I feel the pain of her death and I harness it now to finish what we have started here.
I have left everything behind in pursuit of what is ahead; an education for the youth of Cambodia that might not receive one otherwise. Family, friends, our cars, our status and occupation is still in America, but my soul has never been more alive. I don’t take the pursuit of happiness lightly in the free country I was born and raised in. I simply recognize it as a privilege and desire to give the lesser the same opportunity as Christ has done for me.
Even though we have not had the support we expected. Even though many people have said how much they admire what we are doing over a $100 luncheon that they asked us to pay for. And even though we are here now with even more loss than we had before... we came, we will endure. I am not a victim of Luna’s death. I am the one who will use this pain to endure, harness and use for the season I am in so that when we finish, Maggie’s School Cambodia, it will be complete and lacking in nothing, as will I!
I don’t need your comments or condolences. I need your support! Check us out at Maggie’s School.
