ZZZZZZZZ

I haven’t been sleeping very well lately but the other night I was so tired I could scarcely crawl into bed. Since it was a cool night I snuggled down into the covers and finally got into my favorite position and soon fell into a deep sleep.

It was a tired kind of sleep where everything was shut out including noises that usually bothered me.

I am into my dogs quite a bit and while sleeping I began to dream about my Blue tick hound Smokey. As dreams go this one was off the wall but it seemed so real. I dreamed that Smokey could talk and carry on a conversation.

Now since this was just a dream the fact we were conversing didn’t seem odd or unusual at all. I asked Smokey how his day was and exchanged some niceties and then he wanted to ask me something a little more serious.

He said you know that I am getting older and have been wondering about something. I responded by saying well tell me what it is and if I can help you I will. A moment later he shocked me by asking “will I go to heaven when I die?”

After hem and hawing I recovered and said let me think about it for a while. Then I asked him why did this come to your mind?

He said I always hear you talking about you going to heaven and I would like to go with you. I answered why do you think you could go with me? He replied well I have always been good and led a nearly perfect dog’s life.

I felt I should tell him that many people have been good but they still had to take another step and that was to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then the unthinkable happen; I woke up! Slowly reality set in and I realized that I had just been dreaming, still the dream seem to be real I wanted it to continue but alas I was now awake.

After many days I haven’t been able to come up with a conclusive answer for Smokey’s question “Will I go to heaven when I die?” I talked to him about the subject and tried to assure him that we both will go there but it was easier to talk to him while dreaming.

The one thing that leaned toward a yes answer was; perhaps animals are in the same class as babies and do not need to be redeemed like sinful man.

And in the millennium there will be animals there. I must admit I must defer to others for the definitive answer to this query of Smokey’s yet I believe they will go to heaven.
"If there are no dogs in Heaven,
Then when I die I want to go where they went." Will Rogers, 1897-1935

I found this web page interesting don’t miss it if you’ve ever had a dog;
http://www-hsc.usc.edu/~cypert/dick/inheaven.html