Study – Grow – Know

It’s Not Final

July 19, 2023 at 2:21 PM 4 comments

Ironic thing about life in this realm is that it ends…for everyone. That includes animals as well. No one gets out alive. But most people spend their lives doing everything they can to escape death. Some even turn themselves inside out in an effort to increase their longevity.

Don’t get me wrong. We shouldn’t go through life unaware of things that can actually harm us. We should try avoiding things that can result in death, if at all possible, but in spite of our best efforts, we will all die. Eating right can certainly help. Maintaining your health can also help, but there are many things we have no control over in this life and many of them result in death.

No one can actually outrun death. It will happen to all of us and it will happen to many when least expected. Just this past weekend in our community, a young firefighter in his 20’s, along with his fiance (also a firefighter), were driving to an accident when he lost control of the firetruck. It rolled four times and, though it did not kill either of them, they were air flighted to a hospital that specializes in trauma for treatment. If they survive, they have a long journey back to health. So far, we do not know why he lost control and rolled the truck.

Sometimes we know when death is approaching because we see it. My mother spent a year or so in assisted living. While there, even though she had phenomenal care (which was not cheap), she deteriorated. It was largely due to the fact that she did not want to leave her apartment and be involved in that community. Eventually, she began to lose her appetite and then they put her on “hospice” notice and contacted us. I spent a few days with her, all day in fact for a number of days. She was essentially comatose, but I took the time to talk to her, read the Word, pray with her and just let her know I was there. She died that night, passing from this life to eternity.

Kashi’s last few minutes before breathing her last.

Death is always hard to deal with simply because it is so final (at least for us in this realm), since we cannot speak with loved ones and friends who have passed on any longer. That door for us is closed tightly. But the more you love a person, the more they are missed and the greater the emotional pain.

I’ve often wondered what it’s like for animals too. We’ve had pets all our life. In fact, I can still remember the pets we had when I was a child. While folks who have never had pets really cannot relate to pet owners, other pet owners know exactly what I’m talking about when I say that pets add so much to our lives, don’t they? Yes, they cost money to feed and take care of. Yes, you might worry about a pet like a cat that tends to roam and there’s nothing you can do to keep them home. They have a wanderlust that cannot be tamed until one day, you find them dead on the road, killed by a car they could not get ahead of to get home, their safe place.

Then you have the pets that love to curl up next to you and just lean on you, to touch you because they love you that much. When you connect with your pet, it’s a remarkable bond and something that God has blessed us with being able to know and experience. I’ve talked in previous articles about our newest addition, Scooby, and how loving and loyal he is so that he needs to be where you are and seems to so much appreciate what we’ve rescued him from.

But regarding pets, it’s always very difficult to know when to put the pet down. They cannot talk to us and explain their pain or discomfort. They don’t come with “expiration dates.” You have to simply know your pet and know them well.

One of our cats, Kashi, was rescued about 16 years ago when we lived in California. A woman was walking near the horse pastures at UC Davis when she heard meowing. As she approached, she saw a litter of kittens with their umbilical cords still intact, but no sign of the mother. She waited a bit and still no sign so she took the kittens to a vet. It was a vet where our daughter worked. We did what we could to help with the raising of the kittens, which all needed to be bottle fed. Eventually, we adopted one of the kittens that we named Kashi.

Kashi was such an interesting cat. She was always smallish because of her immune issues. We thought she would die early on as at least one of her brothers had. She strengthened herself and carried on. Kashi was always very gentle (unless another cat was vying for her food bowl!), and was content to just sit in your lap and enjoy being petted. As she aged, she spent more time by herself under a bed or on a chair.

Last year, we noticed that something was wrong and took her into the vet. She had diabetes and needed insulin shots twice a day so we gave her those shots daily. Most recently, we noticed that this cat, who was content to be by herself most of the time, started being out more, wanting our attention. Even if she wasn’t in our laps, she would be near, lying in the doorway or hallway so she could see us and we her.

Yesterday, my wife picked her up and noticed her stomach seemed somewhat hard and distended. There were other signs that all was not well with our sweet Kashi. We felt this was a call from Kashi in which she was telling us she was tired and in pain. It seemed like the time was near so we contacted our vet to take her in today for possible euthanizing.

On the way, Kashi knew nothing other than she was in the car going somewhere, and like previous trips, she’d eventually return home to her bed and food. That was not to be the case this time. Kashi didn’t really like the car, but this time, she sat on my wife’s lap, wrapped in a towel instead of being in a crate.

When we arrived at the vet, we signed the necessary forms and when the doctor came in, we pointed out Kashi’s stomach. She did a brief exam and noted that it was definitely some type of mass/tumor. There was no telling if was benign or malignant but it wasn’t good and the fact that Kashi was almost 16 left us with little choice. Trying to treat whatever that mass was, would cause undue stress for Kashi and at her age, with her issues, it could make what remained of her life miserable. We did not want her to suffer more than she was suffering. Still, I hate playing “God” because I don’t know everything and even when the vet tells you that you’ve done the right thing, it still feels strange and it’s certainly not pleasant.

At roughly 10:50 am today, Kashi went “over the rainbow” as they say. They gave her a sedative first to help her relax deeply so that she would not be scared or feel pain when they gave her the contents of the syringe that stops her heart.

It’s never easy saying good-bye to a loved one or a beloved pet and there is a huge part of me that would like to believe, even though animals have a body and soul but not a body, soul and spirit, that somehow, they live on in some recognizable form. I have no idea really and I know theologians have tried to answer that question. Seems that the Bible is relatively silent on the subject. We know that there will be a plethora of animals in the Millennial Kingdom over which Jesus will reign. You can bet I’ll be hanging out with as many dogs as I find! We just don’t seem to know what happens to animals when they die though. I’m sure I’ll find out when I get there, but at least we have them here. They make life better.

In the meantime, we value the pets that God has given us to care for, to love and to appreciate. What you give for your pet, they return fourfold. It is another aspect of God’s tremendous graciousness.

Just think…if humanity had not ever sinned in the first place, there would be no death, would there? It’s humanity’s fault that death exists and has a place in this life. One day, death will be no more. The last enemy of God’s Creation will be summarily thrown into the Lake of Fire where it belongs, never to escape, never to haunt dreams or threaten the living.

For the believer, death is not final. It’s simply a doorway to the next life, free of sickness, death, pain and sin. Ah, what a glorious time that will be.

Entry filed under: Atheism and religion, christianity.