Tuesdays With Special Dog

In the Fall of 2016 I had the idea of having two Christian men meeting occasionally at a Starbucks in Manhattan....just getting together for conversation and fellowship. I planned on possibly writing this post as a series but have only done a half dozen or so....always under the title....Tuesdays With Special Dog....a take on the popular 1997 book....Tuesdays With Morrie. What I am doing here is using an older beginning....with a new subject....the timing of the rapture of the church. I'm doing this because I wanted more of a conversational than doctrinal tone on this topic:

Tuesdays With Special Dog

Special Dog already had his latte and was sitting at their favorite table by the window of the Starbucks. John had texted that he was running a few minutes late because there was a big brawl on the subway. A few minutes later Special Dog could see him turning the corner....

John gave a hand signal of some kind to the barista after sitting down and turned back to Special Dog.

John......"So....how you been?"
S.D......."Well....I don't like this retirement."
John....."Still"
S.D......."Yeah still. I wake up at six and write on the computer till about ten....then eat breakfast....and take an hour nap.....and it's already the afternoon." (I actually do this folks)
John......."How's the blog going?"
S. D......."Tough. It seems that every other one I do.....which is every other day....I finish and just ask the Lord if that was the last one. It occupies almost every minute of my day....it's in my mind all the time anyway....and then I check the news and some dog does something funny....they put it on Tik Tok....and it gets a million hits." (and I experience this also)
John......"Well I still read it....and so does Laura."
S. D......"And you're not mad at me yet?"
John......"Oh yeah.....I get mad at you about once a week.....but not Laura.....she thinks you are smart."

Special Dog laughs. 

S.D......"Only one other person in my life told me that I was smart. I was working at the Pitt library while in school....along with another library page....that's what they called us....we had to work at the Pittsburgh Playhouse for a few weeks....sorting material that was donated.

Special Dog took a sip of his latte as John said....

John......"I can't wait to hear this...."
S.D......."Anyway....they had this giant original mural on the wall done by Al Hirschfeld....and were very proud of it! Typical of his work....there were about twenty different caricatures of famous people. The Playhouse director was showing us around and told us a little about the mural that had been there for decades. Every celebrity figure was identified.....except the one in the middle of the top row.....no one could ever figure out who that might be. I looked at it.....and to me it was either Dagwood Bumstead or King Edward VIII.....the king who abdicated. I opted for the king....and the director's jaw dropped upon seeing it clearly. Then the girl I was working with looks at me and said....."You're smart! She went on to be a university professor and author while I went on to work in a coal-fired power plant!" (That is a true story....and I wouldn't have it any other way)

The barista came to take their orders. Three Frappuccinos and two lattes later John and Special Dog had covered about everything in their lives and families....laughed an awful lot....until John said....

John....."OK.....it's time for my Bible lesson."

John knew that their conversations were always going to start easy and then hit the heavy stuff at the end. Special Dog knew it two.

John....."I'll start it out.....question....'Are you pre or mid or post trib'?"

Special Dog looks out the window while trying to get serious and gather his thoughts....which weren't helped by what he saw....as two women walked by....

S.D....."John....are they in their underwear?"
John......"It's the style S. D....I don't know if it's underwear or not."

Special Dog looked up at the church spires across the street....and then back to John.

S.D....."I think that it is important that the Christian does not hold to a pre-trib rapture....because in doing so...much of the rest of Scripture can become very problematic. For thirty-five years now I have held to what is called a....pre-wrath rapture....which means the rapture is sometime later than the mid-point of the tribulation."

John..."Is this stuff all that important?"

S.D....."Yes and no. Let me try to explain it this way. I also have believed this for quite some time.....that as the Second Coming nears.....God will reveal the meaning in a lot of end-times prophecy. Another way of putting it would be that He will remove layers of veils....making it easier to see what God's Word says....kind of like that Playhouse director all of a sudden seeing King Edward VIII."

A man came into the Starbucks wearing a vest and a harness and a sign on his chest and back that read...."SERVICE PERSON....DO NOT TALK TO HIM.....as he had a dog on a leash. Special Dog just looked back at John....and continued....

S.D......"What I am not saying is that we necessarily will understand and know all the answers....but rather that we will have more faith because things are becoming more clear!"

They both took a sip of their drinks and Special Dog continued....

S.D....."So John..., after forty years of studying this....I have come to believe more in a mid-trib rapture of God's church. In this mid-trib rapture....the church goes through a lot....but then the church is gone....and what remains is another three and a half years where....all hell breaks loose."

John....."You know I've thought about the church being raptured....and I've watched movies....but I don't see how the rest of the world just goes on with business?"

S.D....."I would agree if there were as many Christians in America as everyone says....that would be a lot of people all of a sudden gone....but what might confuse you more is if you think about what Jesus and Paul and the others said about giving up everything to follow Jesus...and then look around at America....and the church....and think about how few in comparison might disappear? It might not be as big a deal to the world?"

Both John and Special Dog could hear the name 'Jesus' shouted.....and the word 'Bible?' They looked out the window....and a man....very shabbily dressed....was holding up a Bible and apparently trying to street preach....and being laughed at primarily because of his appearance. A young man came up behind him and flipped his old beat up hat off. Special Dog and John both could hear the words he was saying....and they were sound....but the more he said....the more the people laughed. It angered Special Dog....and he went out.....pulled out his own pocket Bible....stood shoulder to shoulder with the man....and shouted at the top of his voice....

S.D....."Awaken you sluggards! How long will you mock God? If you do not repent....then you will later look at this man in the bosom of Abraham....and plead that he be sent to you with but a sip of water!"

The scoffers were no longer laughing....just growling their words....and then they dispersed. The street preacher and Special Dog shook hands....and then hugged....and then parted....and Special Dog came back in the Starbucks....sat down with John....and simply 

started again from where he had left off.

S.D......"Everyone has Scripture John....to....prove their point....but God wants the heart. He wants our desire to see Him....even though we will stand before Him and answer for everything that we have done. That being the case....we won't be looking for a pre-trib rapture as we are in the middle of a Steeler game....on a Lord's Day....and we won't be experiencing His wrath at the end....surely Man's wrath towards us we will have....but not God's....that's what finally got me on this John."

As happened every time that they met at this Starbucks....they laughed for an hour....and then talked softly for an hour....and then prayed.....embraced each other....pointed up to the sky....and parted.