Unconditional Love!
The Street Youth Ministry personality seen most often in the photographs we take is not the lead missionary, Terry Cole. It's Rosie, Terry's counseling dog, who seems to know exactly when to find her way into the frame before a shutter release is pushed. She provides untold comfort and companionship to clients and volunteers alike.
When Terry started the ministry, he studied a book on fundraising. There was literally a chapter in the book called "Don't Buy a Dog." It was about not intentionally increasing your cost of living when raising support. Lol!
About that time, Terry's daughter chose a dog breed that would be perfect for the household. Non-allergenic, small, non-shedding, hardy, friendly. But Terry said, "No way. Now is not the time to buy a dog!"
Within a couple weeks, we found ourselves on a family vacation together and riding one of those little tourist trains. The ride owner had two dogs that loved to ride with passengers and one of them hopped into Terry's lap. Low and behold it was the type selected by Terry's daughter. After the ride, the whole family was musing over this "coincidence" when the ride owner came up and said, "We have puppies for sale." The whole family was shouting, "Please, please, please!" Terry kept to his mantra, "Now is not the time to buy a dog. And who buys a dog on vacation, anyway?"
A few days later on the trip, Terry called a family meeting. He shared that if the family would chip in to pay the purchase price, Terry would raise the funds for the medical bills for shots, spaying, etc. Everyone was quickly in accord and we cut short our trip to go pick up our sweet Rosie! Here she is on her ride home from Arkansas!
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