Near Greyfriars Churchyard in Edinburgh, Scotland, stands a memorial fountain and statue to a little Skye Terrier named Greyfriars Bobby. According to legend, in the 1850s, a shepherd named John Gray made his way in from the meadows with Bobby to the local inn each day at one o’clock.

At the café, John would eat lunch as Bobby lay at his feet chewing a bone tucked under his paw. The daily tradition went on for many years, but ended when old John collapsed and died. When he was buried in the Greyfriars Churchyard cemetery, his faithful little dog mournfully watched and marked the spot where his old master was buried.

A few days after John’s funeral, the proprietor of the inn was surprised when the little terrier showed up at one o’clock begging for a bone. The kind man gave him a roll and a bone, but the same thing happened the following day, and the next, and the next. On the fourth day, when Bobby finished his afternoon bun and bone, the owner followed the little shepherd dog through town—to the Greyfriars Churchyard. There, Bobby lay down at his master’s tombstone.

For the next 14 years, day and night, rain or shine, until his own death in 1872, the loyal little canine virtually lived on top of his master’s grave. The little terrier left the site for only an hour at a time to visit his two friends, the restaurateur who fed him and the sexton who built a shelter for him at the cemetery.

A little dog teaches us about God’s loyalty and faithfulness. Greyfriars Bobby followed his master wherever he went, even after the old shepherd died. Do we have a loyalty to follow our Shepherd, even to the end of our lives?

The Lord is described as a faithful shepherd by David in Psalm 23. He provides for all our needs. When we need rest, we may “lie down in green pastures.” When we are thirsty, He leads us “beside still waters.” The Lord leads us in the right pathways when we need direction. Even in the face of death, God does not forsake us. Greyfriars Bobby illustrates such faithfulness.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Psalms 23:4 (KJV)

 

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