All Creatures Great And Small

When I was a kid, we hosted a Japanese exchange student. She was very interested to learn about our culture and came to church with us when we invited her along.

We got to church and found a place to sit. It was a warm day, and the doors were all propped open to let in the breeze. Right before church started, a huge Newfoundland dog came bounding in through the open door, ran up to the altar, faced the congregation, and barked loudly several times. Then, it sprinted back outside as quickly as it had come in.

No one said anything; we were all too surprised. To this day, in three and a half decades of regular church attendance, the only other dog I’ve seen in a church is a service dog. Our exchange student looked around at people still sitting quietly, apparently not reacting, and then gave us a very confused look.

Exchange Student: “Is that normal?”