My wife and I try to go for a walk every morning at Festival Park (doctor’s orders). That’s the park that surrounds Gordon Wood Stadium which, in itself, brings a lot of great memories to mind for me. I have noticed some improvements in that park here of late.

First off, I thank the City of Brownwood for the beautiful park itself and, in particular, the recently installed trash containers along the hiking trail. And, a special ‘thank you’ to Girl Scout Karissa Raines for encouraging the City to do their part while Karissa finished things up by painting them (maroon of course). Now, if some people would just learn to put their trash in them, what a wonderful world this would be.

One of the other things I enjoy out there are the occasional sounds from the Animal Shelter. Used to, I didn’t really notice, but now, I’m a little more sensitive to them.

You see, I’m still in mourning.

I lost a good friend named ‘Drake’ a short time ago. He was my cat. He got in a bad cat fight about a week before his passing and, after that, his health went downhill in a hurry. I cried liked a baby for 3 days and, it still hurts. This is from someone who used to hate cats. Didn’t like being anywhere close to them.

But then, Drake came along. Jet black with bright golden eyes. He was a feral cat, born under our storage building but was left behind when his mother and siblings hit the road. He spent most of his life under that storage building either living or hiding. But, he had slowly warmed up to my wife and I.

He took over our back porch and ruled over his kingdom (our back yard). He got to where he loved being petted and loved playing and just loved his humans. And, we loved him and miss him so much. I hope that we will see him again.

Will we? I am certainly no Bible Scholar but I just can’t find proof that our pets will be in Heaven. All of my preacher friends just laugh at me when I tell them what I believe. They think I’m nuts but I really believe I’ll see Drake again. If you say “prove it,” I can’t. So, I just lean on the words of the great evangelist Billy Graham.

“Jesus said that He had gone to prepare a place for me. A perfect place for me. All I know is that if my 2 dogs aren’t there, it’s not going to be perfect.”

I say amen Billy. So, for now, I’ve had to say goodbye to my special little friend. Thanks Drake for loving me unconditionally, for licking my hand, for trying to comfort me … for everything.

I’m not sure where some people are going when they die. I’m not even sure where some of my preacher friends are going. But, I do know where I am going, and I believe with all my heart that Drake and I will meet up again.

After all, Heaven will be a purrr-fect place.

Until next time, so long everybody.

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‘Out of the Box’ with Dallas Huston is published each Monday morning at BrownwoodNews.com. Dallas was the radio voice of the Brownwood Lions and Howard Payne Yellow Jackets for more than 55 years. He currently is Pastor of Center City Baptist Church and hosts a Men’s Bible Study in Brownwood on Monday evenings. Your comments are welcome at [email protected].