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The week before Christmas our chuch choir performed a beautiful Advent cantata which I had the privilege of participating in as a reader. I was struck by a few passages from Isaiah which were featured in the arrangement and how much application the book has, not only to us as followers of a Messiah who came as a humble baby in a manger, but also to God's creatures and the hope He has in store for them.
We've been running a few posts on companion animals, and it seemed high time in general to share some uplifting and cute stories about our four-legged friends ...
- First, a heartwarming video of Winston the cat taking care of his canine buddy Zeke just home from the vet and a bad allergy reaction. Winston licks him clean and then straddles on top of him to sleep (from Purina Animal All Stars).
- This is a cute video of a baby cuddling with an unbelievably amiable and patient cat, one of several clips if you look to the right on the YouTube page:
Updated on May 8, 2011 by
Ben DeVries
In honor of all the moms in our lives, I thought we might pay tribute to some animal mothers who went above and beyond the normal call of duty. The following heartwarming report features a shelter dog named Lily whose own puppies were adopted out, but who still took on some very special charges in their stead (thank you to John Laukkanen of Ahavafriend for sharing):
In yesterday's post, Cal DeWitt pointed us to God's affection and care for the hippo, a creature which we weren't meant to try to hunt, control or domesticate. But this real-life story of Jessica the Hippo might just be one special exception to the rule, because of a bond she formed and chooses to maintain with the South African family who rescued her as a baby. It might even be a glimpse of the peaceable kingdom, in which we'll be able to live and play even with the majestic hippo!
It's your typical scene: two rabbits are mixing it up when two motherly hens come along and break up the melee. As my wife suggested, it's hard to avoid the sensation that you're watching recess monitors break up a schoolyard fight between a couple of scrappy boys, with a dose of muted threat directed at each of the boys before the monitors indignantly walk away:
Updated on November 6, 2011 by
Ben DeVries
This post was first shared a little over a year ago. In addition to following up on an absolutely heartwarming story of interspecies bonding, it mentions one of the best reflections I've come across for establishing a God-centered approach to creation care by Michael Bullmore, as well as an excellent book on caring about God's creatures and our consumption of them by Stephen Webb ...
Earlier this year we had a post on "The Incredible Elephant," which featured a number of stories about this majestic mammal and their vast emotional capacities. One of those stories was about Tarra the pachyderm and Bella the canine, unlikely but inseparable friends at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. I've been meaning to share a follow-up to their powerful story and the incredible attention it's received (thanks to Susan and Matt Halteman for passing it along):
Just a lighthearted video to close out your weekend, which I hope was a restful and enjoyable one. It's of Buddy and Theen, a family's dog and rescued baby white tail deer playing and roughhousing together like only siblings can:
The brief background story on the family's thoughtful adoption and raising of the fawn is well worth reading as well. Thanks very much to Alison Carmack (@lilmeezer) for sharing.
Here's a little levity before launching into a series on animal experimentation. Both videos were shared by LOLcats, and the first one of a group of penguins chasing a butterfly at Philadelphia Zoo is a gauranteed smile-inducer (by Marty McGuire):
After a heavier week of discussion defending a Christian concern for animals, the mood seemed right for some humor with no strings attached. Thanks as always to the very funny LOLcats:
I bumped into this delightful little review by Christy Tennant, a performing artist and worship leader, on Culture Making, a blog "celebrating and informing those who cultivate and create" from a Christian perspective ...
(In January) the author and artist Jerry Pinkney was awarded the highest honor for an illustrator of children's books: the Caldecott Medal. His wordless retelling of the classic Aesop fable, The Lion and the Mouse, contains stunningly beautiful renderings of this heartwarming story, set in the African Serengeti, that reminds young and old alike that no act of kindness is ever wasted. In this video he invites us into his studio to get a bit of background on this remarkable work of art: