Henri

“Yesterday, we were very fortunate that Dr. Stacee Kim helped us in ushering our dear little friend, Henri Hardy, from this life to the next. To say that she was caring, compassionate, and helpful not only to Henri but to my wife and me would be a gross understatement. It was an emotional time, to say the least, but Dr. Kim, through her kind words and attention to Henri, put us at ease and kept us focused on how important Henri had been to our lives. She even talked about how Henri would most likely join all of our dogs that had gone before him; that his illnesses would be healed; and he would most certainly return to the adventurous ways we had known and loved during his almost 14 years with us. That reminded me of a story I read a long time ago about Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German philosopher, theologian, and pastor. In 1928 while teaching in Barcelona, Spain, he was confronted by what he termed “a most unique case in my pastoral counseling.” A young boy, beside himself and in tears, visited Dr. Bonhoeffer at his lodgings and told him that his beloved companion and playmate, a young dog named Mr. Wolf, had died. The boy talked and cried for almost an hour but eventually concluded that Mr. Wolf was not dead; his spirit was in heaven where it was happy. Dr. Bonhoeffer was then confronted with the question of whether the young boy would ever again see Mr. Wolf since he was certainly in heaven. Bonhoeffer faced the unanswerable question head on: “So there I stood and was supposed to answer him yes or no. If I said ‘no, we don’t know’ that would have meant ‘no.’ So I quickly made up my mind and said to him: ‘Look, God created human beings and also animals, and I’m sure he also loves animals. And I believe that with God it is such that all who loved each other on earth – genuinely loved each other – will remain together with God, for to love is part of God. Just how that happens, though, we admittedly don’t know. You should have seen the happy face on this boy; he had completely stopped crying. ‘So then I’ll see Mr. Wolf again … then we can play together again.’ In a word he was ecstatic.” This is how we prefer to see the future with Henri and all of our beloved dogs who have gone before him. We are hoping they have formed a jolly old band of mischievous, adventurous dogs and are having a grand old time. To Dr. Kim, thank you” 💜