What does animal rescue have to do with Christianity? Faith? Outreach?

A very dear friend of To Live By Faith exemplifies that questions perhaps better than any illustration we might offer.

She is a physician -- an M.D., in fact. And she's spent her life in service to others, striving for a standard in her clinical practice that is unsurpassed by any physician -- although we've had the pleasure of knowing some excellent physicians -- her compassion and concern for her patients outstrips them all.

And as a young woman, she asked her priest whether or not animals will join us in Heaven. The priest laughed and told her 'Of coures not.'

And she never again set foot in church for the remainder of her life.

Now in her late 70's, she's spent her life in service to humanity. Her dedication is unsurpassed. She didn't have children and those animals she loved so much became her little ones -- those with whom she would share her life.

She funds a private rescue and pays a full time staff to care for her animals -- almost all of which are rescues -- some dropped on her doorstep and others 'donated' by the Humane Society that closed in her region in southern Arizona.

And animals -- to many people -- are family. To some, they're the only family they have. And to still others, they provide a reason to go on living.

Companion animals, after all, have many 'angelic' qualities. And the rewards for reaching out to these animals is truly vast.

And, too, the need to be angels to these 'voiceless souls' that live among us is very obvious -- and so very necessary.

For some, animals are the only beings with whom they are willing to share their lives.

Compromised mentally or physically -- injured or betrayed -- they cannot find within themselves the ability to reach out or to trust. But with these animals, there is the potential to discover a kindred spirit -- someone with whom they can share their lives.

And so, as we seek to live by faith, we recognize that the last thing we should seek to do is to pound square pegs into the round holes of this world. Instead, we seek to serve each person, each soul where they live and breathe today.

And that profoundly enormous task represents an amazing opportunity to reach both human beings and animals with love, compassion and caring.

As Jesus did. As Scripture delineates in story after story.

Could we... would we... as dedicated Christians -- do anything less?