Joshua and His Courage

Joshua. It is the name his dad wanted for him, chosen because of the example of the man Joshua in the Bible. The Joshua who believed when the majority didn't. The Joshua who fought battles and won when he should have lost. The Joshua who upheld a promise given to a prostitute. The Joshua who carried out justice to a greedy deceiver before all of Israel. Tough stuff. And all throughout his story, God says, "Do not be afraid. Be strong and courageous. I am with you." I haven't counted how many times He speaks these words to Joshua, but it's a lot. Enough to make me think that maybe Joshua was very often afraid and needed the encouragement and assurance of a God who said He would be with him. I read somewhere that courage is fear that has said its prayers.

The Joshua in our house spends most of his spare time reading up on military aircraft. He checks out books from the library and copies information into notebooks. He photocopies pictures. He draws and creates airplanes and war scenes. He reads about men of courage. He learns fighting techniques and self-defense and just became a junior black belt in Tae Kwon Do.  This same boy asked for an electronic pocket Bible for Christmas. He knows Joshua's story. And now something of courage.

I looked out the living room window and saw Joshua and Samuel playing in the snow about 2/3 the way down the driveway. They had gone together to get the mail. I saw Gilbert the Basset sniffing around on the road near the mailbox. The mail must not have gone yet I thought. I watched for a bit and then went downstairs. A bit later I heard Samuel come in. Crying. Surely tears of a snowball scuffle. I didn't hurry up the stairs.

He stood at the back door in tears. "What's the matter?" I asked. "Are your hands cold? Did you have a snowball fight?"

"Gilbert got runned over!"

oh no. "Are you sure? Is he still alive?"

"Josh stayed down there with him!"

I rushed to the spare bedroom closet to grab a blanket. Sam followed as I hurried to the garage. "Where's the sled?" Sam stood on the step not answering. "Where's the sled!"

I heard Josh come into the garage. He said he came back because he thought Sam was taking too long and would I hurry up because Gilbert got run over, but he was sure he was going to be okay because he was moving and trying to get off the road. He showed me to the sled and we took off running down the driveway with Samuel behind us. As we ran, Josh kept on talking, telling me that he called to Gilbert and he was sure the driver in the pickup must have seen him, but it was going to be okay because it looked like just his leg was broken. I was barely listening as I was looking hard toward the end of the driveway and searching for Gilbert.

When I saw him, I knew.
oh please, God.

I instructed the boys to stay back. I knew a dog in pain would be prone to fight even someone who was trying to save him. I spread the blanket in the sled and tried to gather him into it. He resisted, trying to pull himself away from me. As I was gently but firmly encouraging and moving Gilbert toward the sled, all I could hear was Joshua behind me:

Come on God, you can do this! I believe in miracles, God! You can save him! Come on God! I know you can do this! God I believe in you! Come on Gilbert! Come on God!

Please God, hear our prayers. Help me God.

Come on Gilbert! Be strong! Come on God! I know you  can do this!

Gilbert gave and I eased his broken body onto the sled. I couldn't bear the thought of pulling him over the rough frozen gravel the distance back up the driveway. I looked behind me and Joshua was kneeling on the road and Samuel was standing soberly beside him.

Josh and I carried the sled as quickly and as carefully as we could. All the while, Josh saying Gilbert's gonna be okay cuz it looks like just his legs are broken and me saying I hope so and we'll do all we can. When we got to the garage I was faced with how to get everyone in our little Honda Civic. I pulled Sam's carseat out and we slid Gilbert in the blue plastic sled onto the back seat.

Please God, your strong arm of protection over our vehicle.

The boys buckled in together in the front seat. We barely turned out of the driveway when we had to stop already. Gilbert was trying to pull himself out of the sled. Joshua jumped out and crawled into the back, squeezing himself between the front passenger seat and the back seat. He put his arm around Gilbert and told him to stay boy. I told Joshua to keep talking softly to him, but not to pet his back or get too close to his face. Gilbert strained toward the door and turned his face away from all of us.

Samuel sat by himself, small in the front seat, looking out the window. He didn't answer me when I asked him if he was okay. Just shook his head. I held his hand and drove.

Joshua continued to talk it all out. Talking to Gilbert. Talking to God. Talking to me. Everything was going to be good. And then, over and over, he was quoting Joshua 1:9 "...Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Oh.  I knew he was fighting for Gilbert. I joined him silently and fought the tears that were jammed up behind the lump in my throat. Please God. Help me be strong for him.

Be strong. God is with you Gilbert. Come on God. I believe in you God. I just know God is gonna do a miracle, Mom. Don't you?

I sure did hope so.

Somehow, in all those minutes that ticked by, I managed to make a call and let Hubby know what was going on. He was on his way home from an inspection and pulled into the vet clinic just moments after we did.

The boys sat bravely in chairs next to the wall while the lady behind the desk asked me questions.

It was only a few short minutes before the veterinarian came out and wanted to talk with us. There was nothing to be done. She told us we were all welcome to go back and say our 'good-byes'. We did. It was hard.

 As we were leaving, Joshua, his courage firm while his chin trembled and the tears splashed out, stood a distance from the table where Gilbert was and said good-bye the way our son Joshua would say good-bye:  He gave him a military salute.

And we saw our Joshua. And we saw courage.

linking up today at MOB Society.  Love those Boys!

The Love Dogger

He was a surprise for the boys.


24 hours after arrival to his new home!

 It was a good time for our family to have a dog again. We knew we wanted a Basset, and so we began watching Craig's List ads, the paper, and checking online at Basset Rescue sites. We made a lot of inquiries, but nothing panned out. Until Gilbert.

We found him through a Craig's list ad. His owner loved him a lot. She spoke of him and I could tell her heart was all tangled up in his long ears and his over-sized feet and his love-me eyes. I totally understood. I've been tangled up in all of that before myself. She had gotten him as a little pup. He was eight. She was married now with a newborn and a toddler. Her husband was in the military and they had to move and just weren't sure that taking Gilbert with them was the best thing to do for him.

I told her of my own love for Bassets. Told her of the boys and all the room out here for a dog to follow his nose. She told me it sounded wonderful but she just wasn't sure yet. We agreed to talk in a week. All the while, the boys had no idea. We didn't want them to be disappointed if it didn't work out, and we just really wanted to surprise them if it did.

We got a sitter for the evening, went out for supper at a nice Mexican place near the lake, and then drove out to meet Gilbert at the farm. Gilbert was eager to have company and sang us a welcome greeting as only a Basset can do! He was everything I imagined. His owner was a warm-hearted woman and when he jumped into our Explorer, I knew I was taking a part of her with us.

The boys were definitely surprised and it was love at first sight.

At first there were some ground rules Gilbert had to learn. The first and unspoken rule was that I loved dogs more than Hubby did. Gilbert decided that needed to change.

 The next rule that Gilbert needed to learn was that furniture was for people and not for dogs.

Ok fine. But no sleeping on the beds.

Well, needless to say, Gilbert wasn't a "rules" kind of dog. He was a "people" kind of dog.

He didn't mind that we had names for him. Names like Big Bad Basset.

Gilly-Berto.

And Love Dogger.

He was the Love Dogger.

Gilbert was taken from us tragically on Friday afternoon.

We miss him.