An old cowboy was riding his trusty horse followed by his faithful dog along an unfamiliar road. The man was enjoying the new scenery, when he suddenly remembered dying, and realized that the dog beside him had been dead for years, as had his horse.
Confused, he wondered what was happening, and where the trail was leading them.
After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall that looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch topped by a golden letter “H” that glowed in the sunlight.
Standing before it, he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like gold.
He rode toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side. Parched and tired out by his journey, he called out, ‘Excuse me, where are we?’
‘This is Heaven, sir,’ the man answered.
‘Wow! Would you happen to have some water?’ the man asked.
‘Of course, sir. Come right in, and I’ll have some ice water brought right up.’
As the gate began to open, the cowboy asked, ‘Can I bring my partners, too?’
‘I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t accept pets.’
The cowboy thought for a moment, then turned back to the road and continued riding, his dog trotting by his side.
After another long ride, at the top of another hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a ranch gate that looked as if it had never been closed. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.
‘Excuse me,’ he called to the man. ‘Do you have any water?’
‘Sure, there’s a pump right over there. Help yourself.’
‘How about my friends here?’ the traveler gestured to the dog and his horse.
‘Of course! They look thirsty, too,’ said the man.
The trio went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with buckets beside it. The traveler filled a cup and the buckets with wonderfully cool water and took a long drink, as did his horse and dog.
When they were full, he walked back to the man who was still standing by the tree. ‘What do you call this place?’ the traveler asked.
‘This is Heaven,’ he answered.
‘That’s confusing,’ the traveler said. ‘The man down the road said that was Heaven, too.’
‘Oh, you mean the place with the glitzy, gold street and fake pearly gates? That’s hell.’
‘Doesn’t it make you angry when they use your name like that?’
‘Not at all. Actually, we’re happy they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.’
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What a beautiful story, Thanks for sharing
Nonsense. Just wait till you actually get to Hell…:)
Wow, that is awesome! We run a small rescue and the look in their eyes every day is worth all the sacrifices and struggles to keep it going. God Bless all the wonderful animal people.
Thanks so much for sharing this with us all.
May you and yours, continue to be blessed in all things, always
Great story. Thanks for sharing.
This warmed my heart on a chilly morning. I could never leave my boy behind! I will absolutely share this…
I love that!!! …never read that before and so glad you shared… I truly believe one of God’s test of our character is how we treat all animals… GOD BLESS you Stacy…
So encouraging! I don’t know that I’ll ever walk again once I get to Heaven for all the horses that I’ve loved over the years 🙂 Yep, going to have a menagerie in Heaven if I don’t have one here on earth. lol
I am coming to the opinion that if only the intelligence of man were as great as it could possibly be, that we could, in fact would, communicate with other mammals. They brag about “training” porpoises, I think the word should be “teaching”! You train a dog, a horse, a bird, but a dolphin?
I think they are taught
1
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13, “Love never fails”–so surely God would not fail to care for our beloved friends after they pass beyond this life.
Cute story 😀
This is a great story! Thanks! Merry Christmas!
This story is so fitting today, as I lost my lovely quarter horse Chilli to colic over the weekend. I am sure she is in the right heaven 🙂
This story highlights the fact we need to trust our instincts and not get caught up in the hype, with all the bells and whistles that take us aware from what is genuine and true.
Thank you Stacy for sharing 🙂
Such a beautifull story thank you for sharing it
I love this one. I agree 100%, Thanks for sharing
A beautiful story. I hope and pray that I & my past companions will drink from that bucket of cool water.
I firmly believe that horses have a special place in heaven. In reading the bible it speaks of angles riding horses into battle. A preacher that was a client at a training facility I worked at told me one time that he believed there was a special place in hell for people who mistreat a horse. I agree with totally
my dog died two days ago, he was my bub, my best friend of 8 years. i always knew one day i’d have to shoot him, turns out i was wrong, he was hit by a car while i was out of town. i never got to say goodbye. as i type this his runt pup out of his last litter is sleeping on my hoodie, and he is outside ready to be put to rest. his name was Bacon, an australian blue heeler, and his full blooded spittin image pup is Bacon Bit. i know i’ll see my bub again someday. love this story.
I know that Mormons believe that animals have spirits and go to heaven. A lot of churches don’t. I find in the King James verson of the Bible that it has many refferences to animals haveing spirits and going to Heaven.
never heard it before, but its a beautiful one.
🙂
thank you for sharing!
i hope they accept mules or im just gonna keep on ridin past the gate.
I know my kids will be there. I told them to wait for me.
I have some very special friends I plan to spend some time with once again – horse and dog. God created them to fill a need in the humans He created here on this earth. It only makes sense that if Heaven is all it’s supposed to be that we’ll all be together again – wow, for eternity . . .
soo beautiful! i really hope i`ll see my loved ones when i get there. i know they`ll be waiting fore me…<3
This reminds me of J Parson’s song I Ain’t Leavin Without My Horse.
Great story thanks for sharing.
I firmly believe that we will find our animal friends in Heaven. If GOD is love, how can we not again experience the unconditional love that we have gotten from our animal friends. My favorite saying (and I think it’s original to me) “You don’t know what love is until you’ve been loved by a dog, nuzzled by a horse, and kissed by a tiger.”
The original version of this (the one without the horse) was filmed as a Classic Twilight Zone episode. Personally, I can’t conceive of a heaven where we’re not reunited with our beloved pets. Animals have their own saint, so why wouldn’t they have their place in heaven? God is is love — not cruelty.
When I read this I was thinking of a song. But I was changing the words in my head. “If Heaven ain’t got no horses,then I don’t wanna go”
I want to believe this to be so true as I am a big animal lover and have many
What a beautiful story.
Yup! Made me cry, too. Thanks for sharing. Love you bunches. Mom
In Randy Alcorn’s book Heaven (I am going to paraphrase him – hopefully correctly) He says that God created our pets on earth so why wouldn’t God recreate them again for us when we are in Heaven. Heaven is a joyous place so why wouldn’t God recreate the joy we gained from our animal friends on Earth, in Heaven? I think we will see our beloved animals in Heaven.
How can ya not be touched by that!
What a wonderful story to wake up to today. I love reading your posts each morning before I start my day.
I’ve not heard that one before. Great story !
No matter how many times I hear that story it still brings a tear to my eye….