But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

Job 12:7

I seriously wonder sometimes if maybe Max Retriever should have his own blog. It hasn’t escaped my notice he’s more popular than I am!

Yesterday, for instance, I wrote my heart out about deep and important issues that touch all of us profoundly (“Humility as a qualification for Leadership“). At the end of the day maybe 150 visitors looked in. Meanwhile, the last time Max made the cover image (April 25), the count was closer to 500!

This month Max turned nine years old. It just doesn’t seem possible that he now qualifies as a “senior” dog. It hasn’t even been three years since we first welcomed him into our home, and I wish we could find some way to tag the other six onto this stage of his life.

I noticed something interesting at Max’s therapy job Monday morning. We had made the usual series of visits, leaving a lot of smiles in our wake, then we checked in again with the folk sitting on the front porch before heading across the parking area to our car.

Max was tired – which is not unusual after being patient and receptive with 20-30 people who all want his complete attention. But he looked over his shoulder one more time (we were just a few feet beyond the front porch), looked up to me with a kind of nod, and seemed to pick up some bounce in his step. His head was up and his tail held high – wagging with a gentle, dignified sweeping motion. Max knew he had done important work, and he veritably strutted his way to the car.

That afternoon Max slept a lot. He only got up for the time it took to take his grandmother Grace for a walk. The pace – around half of one mile per hour – doesn’t seem to phase him. He will sit for a moment every once in a while to make sure mum keeps up, and he presses in close so she can steady herself on his collar.

So, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX!!!!” And when we sing “and many more…..” we mean it with every ounce of faith and hope and conviction we can muster.

Good boy, Max; good dog. – DEREK