I did a funeral a while back for an awesome man who was a dog trainer, a dog lover, a hunter and an outdoorsman. In preparation for his funeral the Lord led me to re-work the 23rd Psalm... from the eyes of a hunting dog... Here is my best effort...
"My Master is my provider,
I trust Him to give me everything I need.
I lie down, and I rise up at the sound of His voice. He teaches me to seek, and to point the quail and the pheasant hidden in the fields, the meadows, and the hedgerows, and along the creeks where we venture.
My soul is most alive when He leads me along the well-worn paths that take us to all of our favorite places, and my heart soars at the rush of the wings as the birds rise from my point. Hope bursts from my chest at the sound of his shot, and it is for His Names sake that I proudly retrieve the birds that are downed and place them into His hands.
Even when I grow fearful, or weary, holding point in dense cover, seeing Him in my memory, His shotgun in hand, remembering the sounds of his approach through the grass, I am comforted, and I am strengthened, knowing that my Master will find me again, no matter where I may be.
Water, food, a warm bed, all this… He prepares for me, and He speaks my praises in the presence of lesser dogs and of their Masters. I am certain he is proud of me as he pats my head and says “Good boy…”
Great memories, of the best of times, that only a Gun Dog can know, will be treasured in my heart… and those memories will follow me all the days of my life, knowing that, in my Master’s Soul… I will dwell forever and ever. And He… by me… will never be forgotten."
- Pastor Rob Schmutz
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