Spook

We have owned a lot of dogs through the years, but my favorite of all time was Spook. I purchased Spook, a six-month-old female Border Collie, when we were ready to return to West Africa in 1982. I was serving as an agricultural missionary and needed a livestock dog to help me work with sheep and goats.  Border Collies are renowned for their intelligence and abilities to work livestock.

I had only a few weeks to work with her before our journey to Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). The trip meant spending the night at a hotel at the Paris airport and another long trip to Ouagadougou. I was nervous about traveling with four kids and a dog.

The hotel at the airport had only one grassy spot about the size of a bedroom where the dogs took care of their digestive business. I had worked on getting Spook to do her business on the command of “get busy.” I nervously walked through the lobby of the hotel and approached the tiny dog area. I gave the command and Spook did her business. I was so proud of her as planes were roaring their engines, people filing by with their luggage, shuttle vans speeding by, and only one tiny grassy spot.

During that trip and subsequent trips, I often told the children that Spook was a better traveler than they were.

Spook was so intuitively smart about helping me control a herd of goats or a flock of sheep and also chickens, ducks, pigs, cattle, and even donkeys. Once I heard a bunch of kids screaming and I went outside our house to see Spook running circles around six kids all mounted on donkeys that were making a tighter and tighter circle. To the boys’ relief, I called Spook off the donkeys, and they continued down the road.

This dog was so smart that sometimes she would anticipate what you wanted her to do. She loved our children and was very protective of them. When the boys would go visiting out in a village, Spook was always right there with them—unless she was out with me working some animals.

We had our own house worship service every Sunday evening for our family and colleagues who lived on the same compound and volunteers who were serving with us. All the windows were always open, and Spook would be outside and lying down next to a window where she could see me or at least hear me. When I sang, she would howl. If I stopped singing, she would stop howling. We could never understand why she did this, but for the most part I could not sing as everyone would laugh too much at Spook and not make a joyful noise!

Spook had a terrible weakness. She was afraid of storms. Fortunately, where we lived at the edge of the Sahara, there were only 3-4 storms each year, and they came during a 14-week period. Spook could sense when a storm was brewing, but we had no idea that it was going to storm. Mind you we had no communication with the outside world where we lived, so we did not have any weather forecasts.

We could usually tell when Spook sensed a storm coming. She would become very nervous and agitated, so we would let her come into the house until the storm passed. Only twice did we fail to observe her warning, and she ran away. She would run in the opposite direction of the approaching storm, so we would know where to go looking for her.

Village dogs were so inbred that they all looked similar, and the villagers all knew Spook, so it was not a huge problem to find her.

Many people lead their lives in a manner that mimics Spook’s actions. Like Spook, they act exemplarily and excel in their activities and expectations. But when something happens to upset them or alarm them or they get some bad news, they fall apart.

At times when someone is diagnosed with cancer, they become overcome with fear of dying. Granted cancer is a frightful disease that takes over 600,000 lives a year in the USA. I know as I have been successfully treated for two different kinds of cancer in the past 11 years. Did I have fear? Yes, but I decided in both episodes to claim Joshua 1:9. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

I so much admire my daughter-in-love, Kimberly, as she has recently been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on her pancreas. She was being screened to donate a kidney to a 20-year-old who is the daughter of some former missionary colleagues. The tumor was discovered much earlier than the normal diagnosis, so she is in a “wait-and-watch” season to see how fast the tumor grows and to watch a spot on her liver that also lit up in a scan.

Kimberly is such a happy, loving follower of Jesus, and everyone likes to be around her because she just oozes joy. Her diagnosis did not change her disposition or her outlook on life. What a great example of someone who has claimed Psalm 118:24 as their lifestyle: “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”