PINTO

I once had a dog and her name was Pinto. Not because she was white and brown like a Pinto horse, but because she was a dull rusty brown like a Pinto bean. I did not go somewhere and buy Pinto or to the Animal Shelter or anything like that. She just showed up one day. She wasn’t skinny, afraid, cowed-down or particularly friendly. She was a midsized dog weighing about 30 pounds. Her hair was slick with tiny shoots of various colors besides Pinto Bean color. I sensed she had never won any beauty or ‘best of class’ contests.

Pinto was not a ‘Christian Dog.’ I’ve had Christian dogs and one soon knows the difference. But, just like people, some are kind of difficult to tell from each other. You can tell some of this by the way a dog eats, sleeps, belches, drools, what they choose not to do privately, the immodest way of sleeping…and like people they can be liars and deceivers or faithful and responsible. But Pinto had the main quality that I judge any dog by: she looked me in the eyes and listened when I spoke to her. I returned that honor to her. We got along just fine…for a long time.

Some dogs are for working livestock; others are watchdogs, guard dogs, cop dogs and such. Then some are just little fuzz balls that live in the house. But Pinto, like a lot of dogs, was a companion. Not worth much for anything else. But she was real good at her job as companion.

One day she had puppies. They were not intentionally bred puppies. Pinto just got with ‘others’ during her season and had various chances for colors and kinds in puppies. After looking them over, I named them Kidney, Cannellini, Garbanzo, Black, Navy, Red, Pink, Butter and Chili. She was not a good or careful mother and all the puppies lived and thrived. I finally got rid of them by paying people to take them. Then I had Pinto fixed. She was around for years. I never knew how old she was. She never told me. This story might be true.

“No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus