Life Is A Highway

"...Our Master can see it all. If you drive down a long curvy road, you don't see the twists and turns until you are on top of them. But when you see things from a higher perspective you can see the whole road and the twists and the turns and the beginning and the end. In Heaven we can see where you are in relation to where you're going and we can make things happen at the intersections of life. We can create the right time and the right place and we can already see how it all ends. We can see the whole story of your life while you live it in little bits and pieces..."  

"Jack McAfghan: Return from Rainbow Bridge"

https://amzn.to/3cPKCAl

We Are All Lost Until We Are Found...Losing Immy

Tonight I was walking Immy and Joey in the tiny artist colony of Tubac, Arizona. As we headed up the gravel road to the Montessori School I stopped to take a photo of the cranberry colored monsoon sky. In that very moment a cottontail rabbit sprang from the nearby bushes and Immy took off like a rocket after it, the leash flew from my hand, catching me totally off guard.  

Joey and I raced after her, but she was going 45 MPH and we were going maybe 8 MPH. She was absolutely nowhere to be seen as we came to the crest of the sloped gravel drive. A giant field, the frontage road on one side of it with Highway 19 just beyond. My mind was taking me to crazy places. I called her name over and over. Almost crying. "Hey Immy, Good Girl Come On! Let's go home!"  I whistled, the same whistle I would whistle to bring Jack home. No luck. She was nowhere to be found. 

Joey and I then ran as fast as we could all the way home to get the car.  Of course dusk was upon us. It was getting so dark already. I left the patio door open in the event she came home of her own accord. I grabbed my flashlight, stopped to post a Lost Dog post on my Facebook Page and the Tubac Barrio and Surrounding Area pages. I tried to post on the local Lost and Found Pet pages but was I a member? No of course not. I was never going to lose a dog. My hands were shaking so badly and between that and Spellchecker I was about insane already.  We took off in the car on the DARK roads of Tubac. Immy is dark! The roads are dark! My mind, still taking me to terrible places. 

We drove back up to the area where we last saw her. I drove all over the schoolyard, the nearby acreage. I climbed into the deep rocky ditches and the water-filled arroyo with my flashlight. Calling her calling her. Meanwhile the huge trucks are bearing down on the nearby highway. 

"Dear God, not the highway."  She is smart but I do believe she would walk right out in front of a car despite my years of trying to teach her otherwise.  

Then the train.  Whoo Whoo!   OMG. The railroad tracks! The train! Just 1/4 mile away on the other side of the village from the highway. I start hyperventilating. Crying. Driving slowly on all the streets of town, crying her name out. I had no whistle left. To the Frontage Road for 1/2 mile. I refused to consider the highway option.  It had claimed enough canine lives since I moved here so I tried to believe that statistically she was safe.  : / 

I was getting more and more upset. Hyperventilating.  Three times I came back to the house to see if she was there, but no Immy.  Each time I got more upset than the last time. A third drive through all the streets of town. I realized how upset I was getting; sick with it really. 

"Stop." I say. "Where's your faith? God's got this." 

God. The angels. Jack. Anyone else? I asked for help from all of them. 

I started to imagine her walking along the side street with her leash dangling behind her, waiting for me to find her walking along, ever so nonchalantly.
A song popped into my head and I started singing. 

🎶"There she was just a walkin down the street singin do wah diddy diddy dum diddy doo..." 🎶

I turned a corner, got nervous again. Those tears, that fear is so persistent! 

But so's the tune. 

"She looked good, looked fine..... "🎶

"God's got this. He knows what he's doing."
The tears, the fears still trying to get through. My imagination, trying to get the best of me.   

".... and I nearly lost my mind."🎶

We're all lost until we're found

Then I remember my pendulum. I had not dowsed in many years.
It was in the console of my car.  I pulled it out.
No, it said, she's not at the highway. No, she's nowhere near the railroad. Not there. No, not there. She was in the village limits. She was within the 9 square blocks of our quiet little village.
She was safe. She wasn't dead or injured.
🎶"..do wa diddy diddy dum diddy do..."🎶
Around and around the town I went. Visiting all the nooks and crannies.
Coming back along towards our house, I'm crying again!
OMG what if someone finds her and uses her for dog fight bait!  OMG!
Stop.
"Dear God protect her. If she doesn't ever come home, take care of her. Please."
Crying.
"I promise I'll never use my phone again on our walks if you only bring her back."
Entering the Bargaining Stage of Grief now.
Waah!
Stop.
"Get into your faith Kate. It's life. Whatever happens will happen."
I thought of Jack's excerpt from Book 3, Return from Rainbow Bridge...

Whatever happens there's a reason. I have to trust God with His Plan. 

I have to trust myself that she loves me enough that she would want to come home. 

I have to trust her that she is smart enough to find her way home. After all, we walk these village streets every day. She must know her way around quite well by now. She is a hound dog after all.  

Driving up the gravel road to the school for the fourth time, 

did I see two shining eyes up the road in the headlights?  

🎶"Before I knew it she was walkin' next to me...singing do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do."  🎶

No. It was my imagination.  Maybe a premonition. 

Wait. Look! Is that her standing over there?    

No. It's a downed tree that just happens to look like her.

Hey, a rabbit! It looked like the same rabbit she went after. 

Came out from the same place in the bushes. 🐾
I followed the rabbit.

🎶" Whoa-oh, I knew we was falling in love..."🎶

A left turn down into the nearby neighborhood. Into a vacant side lot. 

Drove my car over the bumps and rocks to search the lot with my headlights. 

Did I see two shining eyes ahead?

  🎶"She looked good. She looked fine. And I nearly lost my mind."🎶

From the Archives

🎶 There she was just as natural as can be. Standing perfectly still. Looking at me.
The rabbit was sitting there watching us the whole time.
Immy seemed confused, scared, not moving. Looked like she didn't recognize me.
This sighthound had to get a close smell of me to know it was me.
She often lets fear get the best of her. (Sounds like someone I know.) 

As I got closer I was able to see her dilemma. She had gotten the handle of her 16' retractable leash caught on a nearby mesquite bush. (so strange, we usually use the retractable on the wilderness trails and the regular leash in town, but for some reason we used the retractable one tonight. Divine Intervention?) Not only that but she had obviously tried to get herself loose and had it wrapped around quite creatively on an upside down tree stump beside her. Knowing how she gets when she is scared, I was not surprised to see the rest of the leash wrapped round all of her legs, like a cat's cradle, so she couldn't move an inch. 

The rabbit just watched. Immy was silent. She never complains about anything. She just endures. 

🎶"Whoa-oh, I knew I was falling in love..."🎶

It took about ten minutes to get her untangled from herself. 

Gosh she must've heard me crying and calling for her all over town, from her tangled web on this dark vacant lot. I wonder what she was thinking. Feeling. 

As soon as she was loose I hugged her and hugged her and hugged her. She is not usually tolerant of much affection but she was hugging me back. 

She was thrilled to get into the car. I wish I had a picture of her and Joey when they reunited at the car window.

But no more pictures when I have a dog on a leash. 

We headed home. 

🎶"...and so I told her all the things I'd been dreamin' of..."🎶

I had to be calm. I had to have faith. I had to stop crying and Be Still.
The stress. The adrenalin! Imagining the worst.
The moment I stopped worrying and put my faith in God and all the rest of us, everything turned around. 

I came home to hundreds of prayers from my frantic posting on Facebook two hours earlier (gosh it was only two hours? It felt like ten!) A very kind and helpful call came in from the local Santa Cruz Sheriff's Department who had received a call from a friend in Connecticut about my lost dog, wondering if they could help. (I was a little nervous, I thought they might have been calling me because I had been driving off-road all over the town screaming "IMMY!" and carrying on). I also received a call from an Animal Communicator friend I had met in Sedona who has expertise in Finding Lost Pets, calling to offer to help me free of charge to locate Immy. And one of my home care patients who is now a Facebook Friend offered to drive down with her husband to help me try to find her. Wow. I am overwhelmed with the care and concern and offers to help us tonight.  

What an adventure. She's exhausted. Joey's exhausted. I'm exhausted. 

But we're happy.  🎶So Happy Together 🎶

When you lose something precious and then get it back, you make sure to fulfill your promises. No more taking photos along our walks. It's going to take some discipline for me, based on my history. 

🎶"Now we're together every single day...

We're so happy and it's how we're gonna stay..."🎶

You do what you have to do and you honor your Promises. 

🎶"..Do wa diddy diddy dum diddy do..." 🎶

Night Night Miss Immy.  

Lyrics Do Wah Diddy by Manfred Mann

Songwriters: Ellie Greenwich / Jeff Barry

My apologies ahead of time if this song sticks in your head for the rest of the night too! 

Did God Take Him Away to Punish Me?

Dear Jack,
If it wasn't for my dog I would surely be dead or in prison. He had this little look he would give me like he was saying, You Know You Shouldn't Do That, then he would come up and lick my face like he still loved me. He really turned my life around. He was a God send. I thought at first God took him to punish me for things I've done but a Preacher told me God loves all the things we do and wasn't like that. 
Could that be true? 
Pete

Dear Pete,
Oh my friend it's true. God was not punishing you at all. You cannot lose God and you cannot lose your dog either. They both live in a Place Beyond Time. Try to keep your beautiful dog in the present tense, because Love Never Dies. It's hard to realize amidst your grief and your loss that your dog still is very much alive in spirit and soul. He is not in your past. He is your Now. He is your Forever.  He is your Always. 

It was the voice in your own head that you projected into your dog's head that said, “You Know You Shouldn’t Do That.” Your dog never ever stood in judgment or blame, not for a moment. God was simply giving you a glimpse of Him and His Love through your dog's awareness, forgiveness and acceptance of All That You Are. All. That. You are. You are loved. You are accepted. You are forgiven. This is what we come to teach you and this is why God sends us.  We are His gifts to you so that you can know how much you are Loved. 

I love you too.
Jack

Anger Is Part of Grief

Who has been the source of your anger? 

Yourself? 

Do you blame yourself? 

The vet? 

The people around you who seem not to care? 

God? 

Anger is a part of the grief process and it can be very scary, especially if you were never allowed or encouraged to express anger. 

Feel it. Heal it. Let it go. 

My book will show you how. 

http://amzn.to/2ipa4zE

Jack's Sequel to be Released Soon!

A pet can never be replaced, but often our loved ones at Rainbow Bridge will lead us to the next best friend when the time is right. 

Jack's sequel, "Jack McAfghan: Return from Rainbow Bridge" is scheduled to be released this holiday season. One of the things he shares in our next book is how he brought Immy into our lives. In the meantime, his original book, "Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life With My Master" will help you to process the grief and "The Lizard from Rainbow Bridge" helps you to recognize signs, angels and messengers when they present themselves in your life. They are there, all around you, if you will only open your eyes, your mind and your heart.  

"Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life with my Master" is currently On Sale on Amazon Worldwide (US 9.99). Also available in Large Print and on Kindle. Give the best gift of all this holiday season; the gift of healing.    

www.facebook.com/MyJackofHearts

Amazon Ranked #17 : Still She Grieves

A note from Kate:

Jack made it to #17 in Pet Loss on Kindle today!  Oh Jackie! It makes me so happy! 

It's not about selling a book for $2.99. It's about giving the priceless gift of healing the those who read your story. Everyone who knew you, loved you Jack. They are still meeting you and loving you through the pages of our book. Thank you Jack. Thank you for bringing all the pets who have been loved and lost back for healing for our readers.

But wait. If I'm so happy about it, why am I crying as I post this? 
Me the expert?!  Still crying?  It will be two years in August since you crossed the Rainbow Bridge. I know I am healing because I no longer count the hours, the days, the months since you left....they are getting away from me. Where has the time gone? Why do I still cry?

The process of grief can take a long time when love runs deep.  I see this face, these eyes, this love, the offering of everything he is and was. He wanted to give me everything.  He still does. Just like our Master in Heaven does, He gives all of us everything He is. This is why pets are our greatest gift. They live for their master on earth. We are their Beloved. They are each and every one a little piece of Heaven sent to us to bless us, love us and be loved by us. It's all by Design so we know without a doubt that we are Loved. It's all about the love and the love that is waiting for us at Rainbow Bridge when the time is ripe for us to return Home.  

I am so grateful to the many readers who have become our friends. For the old and new friends who are following Jack's Page. I am thankful for the members of Jack's Pet Loss Group. So many of you have thanked me for all that I do but I thank you for all you do for me. For all you have come to mean to me. I have received so many blessings from the loss of the greatest gift I have been given so far in this lifetime. We are all healing each other, one day at a time.

It's all about the Love. 

Kate 

"These three things remain: Faith, Hope and Love...

but the greatest of these is love."  

1 Corinthians 13:13  

Dear Jack: I Was Told That Pets Don't Go To Heaven. Could This Be True?

Dear Jack, 

I'm so sorry to bother you during your holiday but I'm heart broken. I've just been told pets don't go to heaven because they are all liars and deceivers. Your book still hasn't arrived yet and I'm desperate for evidence that this isn't true. 

I Feel Like A Pest 

Dear You Are Not A Pest, 

You are the second person this morning to ask this question. There are many people who claim to be "religious" but who do not even seem to believe in Heaven. I once posted a post on a God-Oriented Facebook page and the Admin called me a liar and a sinner. I was awestruck. Taken aback. Me with my pure heart that comes from a deep love and reverence for God, my true Master.  They even told me that Heaven does not exist! In their bible it is called "paradise." For them, heaven means something else altogether.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and there are reasons that those with strong opinions have them. Their lives taught them what they now believe. Maybe their parents raised them with certain beliefs that are now ingrained in them. Blessed are they who know their own minds, live from the love in their hearts and do not condemn anyone for their personal beliefs. Indeed, it is tragic when someone who is trying valiantly to heal the grief over the loss of a pet, is told "Pets don't go to Heaven." If someone believes this, fine, but they should not hurt someone else by impressing their opinion onto the one who suffers, thereby making them suffer even more. You have experienced this firsthand. Sometimes "religion" causes a great deal of separation between people who would love and honor and respect each other if only they were not labeled and judged and condemned for their innocent beliefs in the name of religion. 

I don't know what "bible" they are reading, but if they would read most versions they would know that Ecclesiastes talks about all animals and creatures going to heaven/afterlife, yes perhaps called paradise.  Even St. Francis of Assisi (a SAINT who is most well respected and honored) spent his whole life caring for the animals and helping them across the bridge when it was time to go.

You will read about all of this in my book. In the meantime, you must be vigilant about your response to someone who is expressing their opinions to you. Do not take their opinions to heart.  Make yourself so strong that you have your own healthy opinion and faith and let no one shake you from it. My book will help you with this too. If you have a bible handy, read some Ecclesiastes while you are waiting for me to come into you postal box.

“Heaven: God. A state of being eternally in the presence of God after death. A place, state, or experience of supreme bliss.”

Did God Take Him Away to Punish Me?

Dear Jack, 
If it wasn't for my dog I would surely be dead or in prison. He had this little look he would give me like he was saying You Know You Shouldn't Do That, then he would come up and lick my face like he still loved me. He really turned my life around. He was a God send. I thought at first God took him to punish me for things I done but the Preacher told me God loves all the things we do and wasn't like that.
Pete

Dear Pete, 
God was not punishing you at all. He was giving you a glimpse of Him through your dog's awareness, forgiveness, love and acceptance of All That You Are. You are. You are loved. You are accepted. You are forgiven. This is what they come to teach us and this is why God sends them. 
I love you too, 
Jack 

Dear Jack: Who Can I Turn To? No One Cares for Me

Dear Jack, 

Since my dear girl left me I've been very sick both emotionally and physically. Life has no more meaning to me because my sweet girl was my life and I feel so lost without her!!  I'm very very depressed and sick please help me. I need to know that someone cares for me.

Betsy

Dear Betsy, 

     You have written me many times and, despite my sensitive recommendations and encouragement, your pain and suffering continue. 
     Maybe you are looking for support in the wrong places. Many humans are very surprised when their old friends and family members don't understand or honor their grief. They need the love and care and it just isn't there. It's not that they don't care; it's that they don't really understand the level of grief and love experienced with a Heart and Soul pet. This is why it is good to seek out a support group like mine and become acquainted with similar and like-minded others who are grieving too. 

     That aside, do you know who cares the most for you? Do you have faith? Do you know that God is taking very good care of your little girl? He is taking good care of you too, but you can't seem to see that now. These times are designed to take us to the very bottom of depression and loneliness so that we become desperate enough to turn to Him. Most of us forget Him most of the rest of the time! Kate learned this and many other people are learning this too.

     What do people do without faith?  Kate has it now. She hit bottom when she lost me and her father the same day. She felt she had no one to turn to and when you have no one, you turn around and there He is. He is waiting for you! God is ALWAYS there.  24/7. He is waiting for you to ask HIM for help and it's my responsibility now to redirect you to Him. This is how much I care about you. The greatest gift you can possess is that of knowing that God is waiting to comfort you in your time of need and that He is waiting for you to ask Him to do that. 

Go be quiet with yourself. Get in a space where you can have a conversation with God and just see how it goes. I can pretty much guarantee that it won't get worse! Bless you Betsy. You'll get through this and when you learn all you need to learn here on this earth, God will bring you back together again with everyone you ever loved...and if you haven't read my book yet, you need to. This is why we wrote it -- to help people just like you. 

Love,

Jack

A Spiritual Translation of "Goodbye"

Spiritualist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, said it perfectly. If only you would realize that you "are not a human being having a spiritual experience; you are a spiritual being having a human experience" here on this earth, you would not make a big deal out of my leaving. I am now FREE of the discomforts and constraints of my earthly existence and I am so happy!

I miss you, yes of course I do, but I know that I am made of spiritual energy and that we are still connected at a deep soul level. I have faith that exceeds any disruption or emotion and I pray that you will be able to have this kind of faith too. Faith in me. Faith in Him. Faith in something greater than what you now see. Don't you see, you are stuck on the details which no longer hold meaning. They live only in your own tormented memory. What you see on this earth is NOTHING in comparison to the world that is waiting for you! The world where I Am.

If you want a really good spiritual read, pick up something, anything by Paramahansa Yogananda.

Do Not Read This if You Aren't Serious About Healing

This post contains the key to all healing. Are you ready to accept it? Can you bear to read the truth when it is looking right at you? Perhaps you can. Perhaps you can't. Perhaps you will close this up with a grumpy "Huff!" and continue to do things the way you've always done them. What you do with this post is totally up to you.  If you are grieving you will understand a lot of it. If you have faith in something greater than you, will understand all of it. 

Over and over again I hear about it. The guilt. The shame. The feeling like you didn't do enough. Or maybe you even think you did too much!

Over and over I hear how you thought I was the only one. I was the only one who would comfort you and listen to you and watch you and stay with you and not judge you. You thought I was the only one who really truly unconditionally loved you. You didn't think anyone else could accept, and perhaps even love, your quirks the way I did. And now you feel you are alone with no one. Now that I am gone, you feel there is no one who loves you more than anything else on earth. No one who can watch you without judging you. No one who can listen to you without interrupting you.  No one who is there for you to comfort you and stay with you.

When you receive your first pet, no matter how old you are, you are being entrusted with a gift from God.  He is the one who arranges the gifts of life and love and He arranges this opportunity for you to live and learn to love and be loved. He sends you the greatest gift he has to give; the love of another being who loves you more than anything else in the world. This is the closest He will ever get to being in the physical realm with you.

When it's time for that pet to leave, it usually doesn't take too long to get another because when you learn to live with that kind of love, you come to believe that you cannot live without it. So you often dive in and get another pet and once more you learn to love and be loved unconditionally...in a different package with different lessons this time. But the bottom line is that the ultimate lesson is love. Life is the school, love is the lesson. The bottom line is always love.

When you find yourselves alone after your pet has gone you often are surrounded by people who don't understand what you have lost. There are many people who have not experienced love like this with a pet, or with anyone else, for that matter. These people are not capable of understanding. Sometimes they are even afraid of it! Meanwhile you are devastated. You have had love. You have loved beyond love. Now you are alone and you think the light of love is gone from your life because your beloved pet has crossed the Rainbow Bridge. You are desperate for comfort. You long for that love.

Love is not gone at all.  The love you gave and received remains inside your heart for all time.  You know the love you felt for your best friend? Feel it now. Can you feel it?  You are probably crying now because your friend is gone and you think your love is gone too.  How can your love be gone?  It is YOUR LOVE you feel!  YOURS!  You can never lose that. EVER. It's yours.  What you are missing is the love you received in return.

No doubt you remember quite clearly the love your best friend gave to you.  Feel it now.  Can you feel their love?  Once again you are crying because your friend is gone from your sight and you think they took the love with them when they left.  They did not take the love with them. Their love remains inside your heart.

You've heard this all before no doubt.  But have you thought about this?  Do you believe in God?  Do you have faith in a higher power?  A universal life force?  God is the absolute force of love.  God is behind everything.  God sent you a pet to teach you how to love and be loved.  That pet was God Manifest in your life. God lives and breathes through everyone who loves you and through even those who don't love you because even they can teach you what love is and what love isn't.

You think when you lost your pet, you lost the love? You did not lose the love.  God gave you your pet to know what love is so that you would again seek love when love seemed to go away.  He is happy when you seek another loving pet to love.  He is particularly interested however, in the times when you have no pet at all, when you feel lost and lonely; abandoned and alone.  It is these times that are designed to remind you that He is there. He is there when no one else is there; when no one else understands. God is there in the lost and lonely moments and He offers you everything and more.

It saddens your pets and it saddens Him when you cry and wail and dwell on your loss and feel unloved because in reality YOU ARE NOT ALONE AT ALL.  He takes you to the bottom so that you are forced to look up. He allows you to drag yourself through the shadows of your tears so that you get so tired of crying that you will try to find the light again. It's totally up to you how long you stay in the shadows avoiding the light that is meant to be yours.

LOVE IS HERE. LOVE IS YOURS. God's unconditional love surrounded you before you ever came to this place and it will surround you when you leave and return to Him.  God's love is with you every step of the way and He designs your life so that you are reminded of this each and every day.  But some of you don't even think about Him. You don't remember Him. Some of you don't even believe in Him. You don't thank Him for anything. You gripe and grumble and cry and complain about what you have lost rather than looking at what you've been given. While you are seeking love when your best friend leaves you, He is waiting for you to seek Him and His love.

Try to get your Heart and your Head on the same page and everything will be Okay.  

Please think about this as you move forward. Listen to how you talk about your pet. Everything you are saying and feeling is what God wants you to be saying about and feeling for Him. The God-Dog reversal is no mistake.  It is all God's Grand Design to teach you how to love. He brings the gift of love into your life so that you will want to seek it again. You are not alone. You are never forsaken. You are loved unconditionally and without judgment.  He wants to give you everything! All He asks is for you to believe in Him, to notice Him, to make Him important to you too. Bring Him into your world and let Him love you and it will make no matter what happens on this earth... you will know you are loved and this knowledge will bring you the strength and faith to get you through anything and everything.

Love is the most powerful force in the Universe and God is love. When you feel love, you are feeling God. When you see the love pour out of the eyes of a person or pet that you love, that is God's love pouring forth.  He comes to you in your pet so that you will know how much HE loves you. HE.  He is the ultimate Lover!  He loves you. He wants you to notice him. He wants to rescue you. He wants you to adopt Him into your life. He wants your attention, your love, your care, your loyalty, your compassion. He will heal your heart and He will continue to bring you what you need if you can only keep your heart in the right place with faith that everything will be OK. Like a pet, He only wants your love.

This post is a response to those who grieve who keep dwelling and dwelling and dwelling on their "guilt" and their "shame".  Some of it comes from past life experiences that victimized them (then) and makes them believe that they are not worthy (now). If you learn what life is supposed to teach you, sometimes you find out that you not only learn, but you learn that you need to UNLEARN some of the things you learned the hard way. 

I have said it before and I will say again. I will keep saying it and saying and saying it until maybe you will believe it:

He's Been Gone From Here Almost a Year

Have you experienced the loss of a pet and the loss of a dear family member within days, 

or even hours, of each other?

When I crossed the Rainbow Bridge in the wee hours of August 1, 2014, it was no 

surprise to me that Kate's father would be crossing with me nine hours later. 

When he lived on the earth, he really had no use for dogs. He didn't understand that 

I was a thinking, feeling being just like him. The moment that he crossed over, 

he became just like me! He recognized who I really was. He saw who he really was too. 

We met at the edge of the Rainbow and we walked over it together.

Sometimes it happens this way. None of us can do it alone. The moment we leave 

this world, God makes sure that we are not alone. Not ever.