Hi there, it’s Buck again. After the wedding at Cana (read my first story, here) just about everyone in Galilee knew about the man who turned water into wine. Life got very busy for Jesus and his special friends. He started traveling from town-to-town teaching people about God, and huge crowds followed him everywhere! But I was the only dog, as far as I know.
There was this one time, at the Sea of Galilee, so many people wanted to see and hear Jesus he spoke from a boat just offshore. The crowd lined up several people deep on the shore line. There were so many folks, I couldn’t weave my way through to the water’s edge—even with four legs. “If I can somehow get to the shore, I will swim out to Jesus,” I thought.
It was starting to get dark, and some of the people began to leave. Here was my chance. But then I heard Jesus say, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” Uh oh. I can’t swim that far! It was now or never. I ran down to the water, leapt in, and dog-paddled toward the boat. Ole Buck was alongside in no time. One of the guys on the boat said, “Look at that dog?!” And that’s when I heard the voice I remembered from the wedding banquet, “Hey Buck! How’s my buddy?” It was Jesus!
I could tell his friends didn’t want to take a wet dog on board, but Jesus told someone named Andrew to pull me out of the water. And, just like that, I was on the boat! “I’m not gonna shake off. I’m not gonna shake off.” But I shook off—making everybody turn their backs. The fishermen, that’s what they smelled like anyway, got busy making the boat go. And I got busy finding my friend, Jesus.
He was in the back of the boat, sitting on a big pillow. It was too dark to see his kind eyes, but he scratched behind both my ears, just like before. “I’m tired, Buck. Let’s take a nap,” he said with a yawn. That sounded fine to me; dogs do whatever the pack leader does. I curled up next to Jesus, making myself as small as possible. Those fisher-guys just might throw me overboard.
Then, out of nowhere the wind began to blow hard. Giant waves poured into the boat! Jesus’ friends became frantic, like they thought we were sinking, but he was still fast asleep. “Stay calm, Buck. Trust your pack leader.” The safest place was right next to Jesus. Apparently, his friends agreed. One of them ran back to wake him up, and the guy stepped on my tail!
“Master, master we’re going to drown!” he shouted over the storm. Jesus, awake now, stood up and told the wind and waves to stop. “Quiet, be still!” he said. And, just like that, it was perfectly calm. Looking out over the unwrinkled water, he said to his friends, “Where is your faith?”
“I never doubted you for a second!” I said, wagging my tail. That got me a pat on the head from the man himself. And then Jesus laid back down—like he’d just gotten up to shut the door. His friends were totally amazed and still sounded afraid. “Who is this?” I heard them say to each other. “Even the wind and waves do what he says!”
“Hello. He’s the pack leader, people! Look to him and trust him,” I barked. Silly humans! I hope something other than fish is for supper. Too many bones.
This piece of historical fiction (the dog part, not the miracle) is dedicated to the memory of the real Buck: a chocolate lab who was a gun dog par excellence. That’s Buck below, sitting in a duck blind watching his owner for the next command. It was his intense gaze (in the photo) that sparked this story series. May each of us look to God with the same level of devotion.
The story of how Jesus calmed the storm is found in Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, and Luke 8:22-25.
A special thanks to Beth Alisan, of Lessons from a Lab for helping make this post possible.
Thank you for reading. 🙏❤️ prayers and love.
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