Once saved Always saved is a hard addiction for many people to break.

This is where the puppy story can sometimes help people understand.

Do you have it?

Well, here is a short version just in case you don't:

Let’s tell a story.

A man came to town with a box of puppies. He sat in front of the green grocers with his box and a placard that read “free” for all that came out of the market to gaze at.

A woman came by and stood looking at the puppies for a few minutes. She studied them. Weighed them with her eyes in a no nonsense way. When finally her eyes rested on just one of the puppies, she said to the man, “Is aught wrong with them I cannot see?” The man assured her he had found no problems with them.

“Free?” She asked.

He nodded, so she picked up her puppy without even a thank you and carried it off with the eggs and milk.

Another puppy left with a teen boy. He asked many questions of the man, and must have been satisfied with the answers because, finally, he asked ‘Free?” When assured it was he gave the man a hug and took a puppy for his very own.

This went on for the day, a puppy here, a puppy there. Many would pick up the puppies and hug them, or pet them, or talk to them... yet they all had reasons why the puppies were not for them. At least to take home. Some even said they would be back the next day, and if there were any left, get a puppy then.

Many people would pick up a puppy and start to carry it home, but for whatever reason, bring it back and drop it in the box again.

A few took a puppy and then sent their family and friends by to get a puppy too.

One man took a puppy, and then talked another man into taking it, but he never came back to get another one.

Many strange things went on.

And everyone asked “Is this puppy free?”

The puppy man replied every time. “It is free, or You can have it. Or It is a free gift for you.” Some folks who were skeptical took the puppy, and some didn’t, even if having a puppy sounded great! They just didn’t believe him.

Near the end of the day, a man looked into the box and saw the last puppy. He asked the question, “Free?”

“Yes!” Replied our friend with the box.

“Why are you just giving them away?” The questioner wanted to know.

The puppy man said with a smile, “ Where I live EVERYONE already has puppies. These puppies are amazing, and I love this town. I want everyone here to have the joy of a puppy too.”

Unconvinced, he said to the puppy man, “You will probably just be here tomorrow trying to get some money for these puppies, they are too beautiful to be free.”

The puppy man chuckled. He replied, “I live very far away. I will be back when the time is right to see how the puppies have grown, but they will be fully yours. For Free. I have to leave, did you want to take that puppy? You have not put him down since you saw him. He is a free gift from me to you, for your joy!”

With a final “You are sure it is free…..?” He took the puppy and started home. But he took a very circuitous route so the man wouldn’t be able to find his home if he was following him.

The puppy man left. He was gone for a very long time.

The man loved his new puppy.

Most of the other puppy owners showed off their dogs. He was no exception.

When people asked about his lack of a collar, the man said, “That dog is a free gift. Collars cost money! If he cost one penny, he was not free!”

He loved his puppy very much though. He took it everywhere.

He didn’t feed it however. He thought to himself “Food costs money. This dog was a free gift, if he cost even ONE PENNY, he was not free!”

The dog became skin and bones.

People were constantly giving him advice and dirty looks about his treatment of the dog. And he got tired of hearing it. So he bought the cheapest - driest -dustiest food he could. The dog lived, and even gained a little weight back. But there was not nearly enough nutrition to be healthy.

But even though he grumbled about the price of the food. How if it cost him one penny it was not a free gift, well…

He loved the dog.

But the dog was small. The lack of nutrition made him sickly and stunted.

A friendly couple told him he should take the dog to the vet.

He laughed at how silly they were. “You are crazy! That puppy was a FREE GIFT! Do you know how much a vet would cost me? If it is even one penny it is no longer a free puppy”

The couple looked at each other. They were saddened by his misunderstanding. But they had some information for him.

“Every Saturday, there is a free vet that is open as a clinic. You could bring your puppy there!” They told him. He said he might. But in his head he was thinking, “That vet is just trying to sell me books, or prescriptions or something. Beside, I would have to drive over there, and it opens at ten, so I would have to get up early on my sleep-in day. And petrol is not free. If it costs even one penny it will not be free. That puppy is a free gift”

But he was a little concerned, because he loved his puppy.

The couple seemed to understand, they gave him a book on how to raise and care for puppies. That was nice of them. But it was a big book, so he couldn’t see reading it all the way cover to cover. Instead he kind of opened it to the places it opened to naturally, where the last owner of the book had spent the most time.

He didn’t see anything on taking his pup to the vet. It was in there, but he didn’t read that page. So he never brought his pup.

The pup continued to deteriorate. But by this time the man was used to it. He talked as if he had a puppy, but lived as did his friends who did not own one. He would always say to people who asked that his puppy was great. But now whole days would go by without even thinking about it.

Then weeks.

He had no idea how long his puppy had been dead when he finally noticed.

At first he was sad. Then bittersweet.

Eventually he just didn’t care.

Hey, it’s not like he paid for it. It had been a free gift.

Sometimes he would see the couple who he had talked to about the vet.

He told them his puppy was thriving. It was easier just to lie.

One day there was a great commotion by the market.

The puppy man was back.

He had a fleet of limos, some luxury coaches, and a couple old school buses.

He had gathered everyone he had given a puppy too. And he was taking them on a grand vacation to the place he lived. All expenses paid. It was a place the man with the dead puppy always planned to go.

The people all lined up by order of how the puppies had thrived. Some had gotten together and bred those puppies and given the new puppies to many people. They were given the limos. Some had raised their puppies with attention and love. Living for the puppies. Pampering them. Helping the other puppy owners. They were a very happy group. The luxury coaches were soon full.

Some had been less responsible. Their puppies looked as run down as his had. They got into the school buses. Cramped and loud, but they were on the way.

Finally the puppy man came to our friend. He looked sad. He asked where his puppy was. Of course he tried lying, and making excuses. But the puppy man seemed to know the truth.

“BUT YOU TOLD ME IT WAS A FREE GIFT!!!!” He shouted, “I DESERVE TO GO TOO!”

The puppy man got into his car. “If you loved your puppy, you would have given it the best food. You would have taken it to the free vet. You would have helped others learn HOW TO CARE for their puppies, or encouraged them to get one. You would have read the puppy book to learn what was expected of you. And you would have at least gotten it a collar and shown it off everywhere you went…

I know you by your fruits.”

The puppy man drove off alone to catch up to the folks who loved his puppies.