Oregon Lottery Powerball, Pick 4 results for June 7
The Oregon Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Here's a look at June 7, 2025, results for each game:
31-36-43-48-62, Powerball: 25, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
1PM: 2-7-4-9
4PM: 9-1-1-2
7PM: 4-9-8-2
10PM: 0-7-5-2
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
13-26-36-54
Check Win for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
25-28-34-35-38-41
Check Megabucks payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Powerball: 7:59 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 7:59 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday.
Pick 4: 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. daily.
Win for Life: 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Megabucks: 7:29 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Winning lottery numbers are sponsored by Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network.
Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets.
You can also order tickets online through Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network, in these U.S. states and territories: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., and West Virginia. The Jackpocket app allows you to pick your lottery game and numbers, place your order, see your ticket and collect your winnings all using your phone or home computer.
Jackpocket is the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network. Gannett may earn revenue for audience referrals to Jackpocket services. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). 18+ (19+ in NE, 21+ in AZ). Physically present where Jackpocket operates. Jackpocket is not affiliated with any State Lottery. Eligibility Restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. Terms: jackpocket.com/tos.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by an Oregon editor. You can send feedback using this form.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon Lottery Powerball, Pick 4 results for June 7
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CNN
17 minutes ago
- CNN
‘Pawprints on my heart': How bonding with a pet becomes a religious experience
James Taylor is a prominent Canadian theologian who has written 15 books on faith and grief, taught religion at several colleges and been the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. But one of his greatest spiritual teachers was a companion who liked to chase ducks and steal Taylor's underwear — and whose most prestigious award was being honored by a local newspaper as its Pet of the Week. His friend was 'Brick,' a high-spirited, purebred Irish Setter that Taylor rescued with his wife, Joan. During Brick's first night in his new home, he managed to topple Taylor's border lamp, scatter his glasses and sweep his alarm clock off a nightstand. When Taylor awakened the next morning he discovered Brick slumbering, with one hind leg sticking up through a lampshade. Over time, though, Brick proved to be a rock. He stood by Taylor's side when he was ill and loved him no matter what. Taylor says the depth of feelings he gradually developed for Brick showed him that some of the most profound moments in life — falling hopelessly in love; feeling a newborn's baby's hand close around your finger; watching a daughter walk down a wedding aisle — could not be captured by sermons. 'My father was a minister, so I grew up in a world of words,' Taylor says. 'I thought wisdom came to me by the words that I read in the Bible or a book on theology. The thing that animals taught me is that God doesn't speak to us just in words but in our experiences. God reaches us through our experiences, and animals are a part of that experience.' Many books and studies in recent years have explored why so many people are leaving organized religion. But few scholars have explored another trend: The growing number of people who've found that bonding with their pets becomes a spiritual experience. We are in the middle of the Great Pet Awakening — a surge of people who say that owning a pet is a religious experience. In a post-pandemic era when many people still live in isolation, more pet owners are saying their furry friends are not mere companions. They are 'partners in a spiritual journey,' according to David Michie, an author and Buddhist commentator. This awakening is due in part to math. Pet ownership in the US has risen over the past 30 years. At least 66% of Americans say they own a pet, up from 56% in 1988. Virtually all people consider their pets members of the family. The other reason for this trend is more intangible. More people are publicly sharing how owning a pet led them to develop spiritual habits traditionally taught by religion. Pets, they say, teach them about forgiveness and the importance of fellowshipping with others. Pets also embody grace — they accept humans as they are. Pets also prompt many of their owners to confront a heavy theological question: Does Fido have a soul? It's common for pet owners to ask online forums what happens to their pets when they die. That curiosity has spawned a new literary genre: pet psychics who assure people that yes, 'some angels choose furs over feathers.' Books such as 'Yes, Pets Do Go to Heaven' and 'The Amazing Afterlife of Animals' assure people that their departed now frolic in celestial meadows. Some psychics offer pet owners even more consolation: a chance to hear personalized messages from their pets in the Great Beyond. Matt Fraser, a psychic medium and author of 'We Never Die: Secrets of the Afterlife,' says he offers a spiritual connection between people and pets. It turns out that pets have a lot to say. Fraser holds seances to help people connect with the spirits of their loved ones. He says it's not unusual for pets to break through his sessions with humans to communicate with their former owners. Fraser, who starred in a reality show called 'Meet the Frasers,' says he believes some pets in the afterlife find other ways to communicate with their former owners in the physical world. 'So next time you hear a faint bark, see a toy where it doesn't belong, or feel a warm, familiar presence by your side, take it as a sign—your spirit pet is saying hello,' Fraser wrote in one essay. Some people mourn more over the passing of their pets than their relatives, Fraser tells CNN. 'Nobody really understands how these animals really grow on you, how much you love them until it's too deep,' says Fraser, who owns three Bengal cats. 'When we lose them, people grieve and say, 'God, I never expected to grieve so hard.' ' It opens up a whole different side of your heart, just like children do.' If a pet psychic sounds like too much, consider this: Animals have been considered conduits to the spiritual world through much of human history. Ancient Egyptians treated cats as divine symbols and thought they provided companionship to their masters in the afterlife (many were buried with them in tombs). Many ancient religions believed animals functioned as 'spirit guides,' appearing to human beings in dreams and daily life to offer wisdom and guidance. Have you ever heard a person say they saw a red cardinal after someone close to them died? The cardinal is popularly viewed as a spirit guide. The connection between pets and spirituality is not limited to one religion. A Pew Research Center poll released last month revealed that a majority of adults in Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Jewish countries believe that animals can have spirits or spiritual energies. No less of a spiritual authority than the late Pope Francis said there's a place for pets in paradise. While comforting a boy whose dog died, Francis told him: 'One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all creatures.' Another revered spiritual leader, Mahatma Gandhi, also believed that animals are sacred. 'To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being,' said the nonviolent activist who helped lead India to independence from England in 1947. 'I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection from the cruelty of man.' There are times, though, that pets owners feel helpless. That's when many of them say having a pet deepens their spirituality. The faith of Taylor, the author and minister, was tested by a cruel succession of personal losses. His son, Stephen, died at 21 from cystic fibrosis. He watched Non-Hodgkin lymphoma destroy his mother's body. He saw his then 93-year-old father — a minister with three honorary divinity degrees — struggle with pain in his final days. When Taylor asked his father which hymns and Scriptures he wanted read at his memorial service, his father said, 'I don't care. I won't be there.' At one point, Taylor was no longer sure he believed in life after death. Yet Brick had a way of sensing his mood and comforting him, Taylor says. He recalls what happened once when he fell ill. 'I went and sprawled on my couch, feeling sorry for myself,' Taylor tells CNN. 'And for the first time, Brick jumped on the couch and curled up against me. He recognized that I was in pain and suffering. It wasn't just enough to lick my face.' Companions like Brick provide what God also promises, Taylor wrote in 'The Spirituality of Pets,' a book that explores the link between pets and faith. 'Pets probably come as close to giving and receiving unconditional love as we can come in this flawed world,' he wrote. Pets also can provide healing, some owners say. This claim is backed up by science. Owning a pet can lower a person's blood pressure and the release of cortisol, a stress-related hormone. Among people who suffer strokes, pet owners live longer than those without animal companions. Service dogs can sense oncoming seizures in their owners, while some say cats can recognize the presence of cancer. Pets can heal psychological scars as well. Some prisons allow inmates to adopt pets. The experience of caring for another living creature has been found to soften inmates' anger, allowing some to experience warmth and affection for the first time in their lives. A growing number of churches now recognize the spiritual dimension to pet ownership. Many offer blessing ceremonies for pets and others have turned church grounds into dog parks to attract new members. Some Christians have created ministries such as Canines for Christ, which provides dogs to patients at children's hospitals, nursing homes and hospice facilities. Unlike people, pets don't judge. Taylor tells a story in his book about a service dog who was escorted into a hospital room, looked past the burn-scarred face of the patient and 'with the wag of its tail,' conveyed to the man, 'I love you.'' Pets also can help their owners confront the ultimate mystery of life that religion addresses: how to make peace with one's mortality. Pets don't tend to live as long as their owners. For some children, losing a pet is their first exposure to death. For some adults, watching a pet die illuminates their spiritual beliefs. That's what happened to Scott Dill. He and his wife, Tara, are longtime dog lovers. One of their favorites was 'Socks,' a black-and-white Shih Tzu rescue. They clicked with Socks right from the beginning. He had a placid temperament and immediately allowed their two daughters, Hyland and Lydia, to walk him by leash. He wasn't aggressive with other dogs. He liked people. 'He was super chill,' says Dill, director of spiritual growth at Crossroads Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. 'A squirrel could have walked over his head, and he wouldn't have paid attention.' After about a decade, Dill noticed a change in Socks. He lost weight, suffered panic attacks and would abruptly stop and stare into corners. Dill took him to the vet. The diagnosis was a brain tumor. Dill and his family reluctantly decided to euthanize Socks to prevent more suffering. The entire experience — Socks quietly sitting in Tara's lap as they rode to the vet; watching the vet administer a sedative to a calm Socks; touching Socks as he quietly took his last breath — became a religious epiphany for Dill. Christians preach that God loved humanity so much that he sacrificed his son to display that love. Dill knows the Scriptures that commemorate that sacrifice. But the emotional weight of giving up Socks made him feel those scriptures in a new way. Dill shared this experience in an essay entitled, 'We Put Our Dog Down and Saw God.' He wrote that his loss showed him how much God must have hurt when He gave up His Son. 'Through the pain of this loss, God has lovingly reminded me of the incalculable weight of his rescue,' Dill wrote. 'I got a clearer picture of that cost. The cost of love.' After Socks died, Dill says his family carried the dog's body home and buried him in their backyard. They said a short prayer over his grave, thanking God for Socks' life. They erected a gravestone that stands today as a reminder of their loss. 'Even though it was the right decision to put him down,' Dill tells CNN, 'there's just something surreal about being able to choose whether a creature should live or die.' Taylor had to face the same choice with Brick. When Brick was about eight, he started to decline. He struggled to get to his feet while getting out of bed. He stumbled going downstairs. When Taylor took him for walks, Brick's trot turned into a plod. 'I recognized all these symptoms because I have them myself,' Taylor wrote in his book about pets. Taylor took Brick to the vet. Surgery followed, but the operation revealed a litany of maladies that had damaged the dog's internal organs. His decline accelerated. Despite the pain Brick experienced as he hobbled around the house, he never forgot he was housebroken, never whimpered in self-pity or snapped in anger, Taylor says. Brick's condition eventually became irreversible. When he turned 11, old for a dog, his legs stopped working properly. Taylor and his wife decided to take Brick to a vet so he wouldn't suffer anymore. That same day, Taylor says, something remarkable happened. 'Here's this dog who can barely get onto his feet — but he raided our laundry basket,' Taylor tells CNN. 'He did what he loved to do, which was to pull my underwear from the basket and go hide it in the house. He wanted to play, to challenge us and wanted us to laugh in those hours and not go around weeping.' Does Taylor believe he will see Brick again in the afterlife? Taylor is no pet psychic, but he says he's starting to believe animals have souls. He recalls standing next to a friend's poodle who was being euthanized and 'feeling as something was leaving' the moment the dog died. Where that pet may have gone is a place that Taylor calls the 'Rainbow Bridge.' It's a widely circulated poem for pet owners from an anonymous author that depicts animals romping in a lush celestial meadow where they will eventually reunite with their owners. In one variation of the poem, a writer declares her dog's pawprints will 'be on my heart forever.' 'It's very moving because it acknowledges that heaven — whatever heaven is — is not just limited to people,' Taylor says. 'Anyone we love, including a turtle that has lived 90 years, has value that cannot be limited by its physical presence.' In death, Brick left Taylor one final lesson. 'I'm learning from him (Brick) that everything, in the end, boils down to relationships,' Taylor says. 'Brick had no possessions. He was never elected leader of the pack. But he had wonderful relationships. He died knowing he was deeply loved. 'I couldn't ask any more for myself.' John Blake is a CNN senior writer and author of the award-winning memoir, 'More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew.'
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Santa Cruz Wharf broke apart during winter storm. Will it be fully rebuilt? Should it?
The Santa Cruz Wharf, jutting half a mile into the Monterey Bay, offers a cheerful stroll past souvenir shops, fishing boat rentals advertised as "Husband Daycare," and children giggling at hordes of fat sea lions barking below. But at the end of the city-owned wharf, hanging on a flimsy metal fence, are small warning signs. "KEEP OUT," reads one. "DANGER," says another. The signs have been there for about six months — ever since a 180-foot section of the wooden pier collapsed into the ocean after being battered by towering waves during an atmospheric river storm that wreaked havoc along the Central Coast. City officials hope the signs, fencing, orange safety barriers and exposed wooden decking at the end of the wharf will be gone by early next year. Construction is expected to begin this fall on a $1-million partial repair of the structure, which draws more than 2 million visitors a year. "It's shaken us up to see the damage to the end of the wharf," said Tony Elliot, the city's director of parks and recreation. "The wharf is 111 years old, and we want to make sure it's here for another 100 plus years.' On a sunny afternoon late last month, Nick James, a 26-year-old vacationer from Christchurch, New Zealand, leaned over the railing about 30 feet from the end of the pier, laughing at sea lions that he said were just as "noisy and smelly" as the ones back home. He was surprised to learn that the end of the wharf had fallen off. 'I just thought that was the end!' he said of the temporary fence a few feet away. His friend Emily Lawson, 26, of Brisbane, Australia, gave the barriers a discerning look and said: 'There's not really many signs. I'm going to stay away from the end.' The partial repair, at least some of which will be state-funded, essentially will cap and strengthen the broken end of the pier. But it remains unclear whether the portion that fell into the ocean will be rebuilt. That section once held a restaurant, a public restroom building, and several sea lion viewing holes — openings in the decking used to watch the pinnipeds lolling on the crossbeams below. A full restoration would cost about $14 million, Elliot said. City officials have applied for funding through the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services. But it is unclear how much money, if any, the state — which is facing a $12-billion budget deficit in the year ahead — will contribute. Read more: California's piers may not be able to withstand climate change Elliot said that if funding is approved, "it leads to a lot of questions about how we think about rebuilding ... in the context of climate change and sea level rise and knowing that these storms aren't going away, that they may become more frequent or stronger over time." The uncertainty in Santa Cruz comes as cities up and down the California coast grapple with whether to preserve their own beloved but aging piers, which have been hammered in recent years by the increasingly volatile surf of a warming and fast-rising sea. At least 10 of the state's dozens of coastal public piers were closed for part or all of 2024 due to structural damage sustained in winter storms over the last two years. The Ventura Pier and Santa Cruz County's Capitola Wharf were damaged by storms in early 2023 and reopened last year. Ventura's restoration cost more than $3 million, and Capitola's about $10 million. The end of the Cayucos Pier in San Luis Obispo County has been closed to the public since it was damaged in a February 2024 storm that took out several pilings and left 15 feet of decking and railing hanging over the water without supports. The county is taking construction bids for the removal of the damaged section until June 12, Shaun Cooper, assistant director of the San Luis Obispo County Parks & Recreation Dept., told The Times in an email Wednesday. Construction is expected to cost roughly $250,000 and likely will begin around late August, Cooper said. It is expected to take about two months. In Santa Cruz, a full rebuild hinges upon state funding because "we don't have $14 million at our disposal to put toward rebuilding the end of the wharf," Elliot said of the city. In February, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation of a state of emergency for the Dec. 23 storm, making Santa Cruz eligible for state funding of up to 75% of repair costs under the California Disaster Assistance Act. The city submitted its initial damage assessments to the Office of Emergency Services in March. In a statement to The Times, Ed Chapuis, a Cal OES spokesman, said his office is reviewing the city's damage claim to determine eligibility for funding. In April, the Santa Cruz City Council approved spending $100,000 to hire Moffat & Nichol, a Long Beach-based engineering firm, to develop plans for a $1-million partial repair. Elliot said the initial project will replace lost pilings and decking to strengthen the end of the structure. Of the roughly 15,200 square feet of decking that fell into the sea, about 1,100 square feet will be rebuilt, according to city planning documents. One sea lion viewing hole also will be reconstructed, Elliot said. City officials, he said, hope to put the job out to bid by late summer and start construction in October or November, with a goal of reopening the end of the pier by early next year. The Santa Cruz Wharf, built in 1914, was 2,745 feet long before the winter storm. It was supported by more than 4,400 pilings — 70-foot Douglas fir beams driven about 20 feet into the ocean floor. A winter storm in 2023 knocked out about 60 pilings, Elliot said. Structural instability forced the closing and demolition of a decades-old restaurant at the end of the pier called The Dolphin. The weakened pier was under construction for the 2023 damage when the December 2024 storm hit. The city, Elliot said, is forced to do repairs in the fall and winter months, when storms are stronger and seas are choppier, in part because the California Coastal Commission will not allow work that disturbs the nesting season of coastal birds, including common seagulls, that make their nests in the wharf's beams. In December, two men — a city employee and a contracted engineer — who were inspecting the pier were standing on the end of it when it collapsed. They sustained minor injuries. The city employee, Elliot said, was rescued by his son, who works for the city's marine safety division. About 300 pilings were destroyed, with some barnacle-covered beams turning up in the Monterey Harbor, 25 miles south. Two large pieces of construction equipment — a compact loader called a skid steer and a 20-ton crane used for driving piles into the seafloor — tumbled into the water. The skid steer was removed, but the crane has been sitting on the ocean floor beneath about 30 feet of water. The city announced Friday that the crane and other wooden debris will be removed this weekend as part of a joint effort that includes the U.S. Coast Guard and Alameda-based Power Engineering Construction Company. Elliot said the crane will be removed by an even larger crane perched atop a barge. "The good news with both the skid steer and the crane: Neither were leaking or have leaked any sort of fuels or oils or anything like that," Elliot said. "We want to get the crane out as soon as we can. It's all weather dependent." Elliot said structural engineers have assessed the rest of the pier and determined it to be safe. The wharf, he said, "is a huge economic driver for the community." It holds about 20 small businesses that employ about 400 people, he said. It also is a place where people can fish without a permit — and some people use it for subsistence fishing to feed their families, he said. On a recent Thursday afternoon, Leo DeRuntz, a retired plumber from nearby Live Oak, stood close to the damaged edge, smiling to himself as he watched sea lions and sail boats. While waiting for his car to be released from the repair shop, the 64-year-old had ridden his bicycle to the wharf. He has so many fond memories of the pier. Of visiting as a child. Of bringing his three now-grown daughters when they were children, laughing as they peeked through the sea lion viewing holes and barked like the blubbery creatures. DeRuntz said he was "devastated, in a sense," to see his beloved pier ripped apart and hopes it will be fully rebuilt. But he also was awestruck by the ocean's power during that storm. "The strength of it — you have to respect it," he said. Nodding toward the exposed, damaged wooden decking, DeRuntz turned philosophical. "Here's an example of what's not promised," he said. "Everything that you think is stable in life could just crumble upon you. So you'd better get out and just enjoy life." Times staff writer Noah Haggerty contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
CNN
33 minutes ago
- CNN
‘Pawprints on my heart': How bonding with a pet becomes a religious experience
Religion People in entertainmentFacebookTweetLink Follow James Taylor is a prominent Canadian theologian who has written 15 books on faith and grief, taught religion at several colleges and been the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. But one of his greatest spiritual teachers was a companion who liked to chase ducks and steal Taylor's underwear — and whose most prestigious award was being honored by a local newspaper as its Pet of the Week. His friend was 'Brick,' a high-spirited, purebred Irish Setter that Taylor rescued with his wife, Joan. During Brick's first night in his new home, he managed to topple Taylor's border lamp, scatter his glasses and sweep his alarm clock off a nightstand. When Taylor awakened the next morning he discovered Brick slumbering, with one hind leg sticking up through a lampshade. Over time, though, Brick proved to be a rock. He stood by Taylor's side when he was ill and loved him no matter what. Taylor says the depth of feelings he gradually developed for Brick showed him that some of the most profound moments in life — falling hopelessly in love; feeling a newborn's baby's hand close around your finger; watching a daughter walk down a wedding aisle — could not be captured by sermons. 'My father was a minister, so I grew up in a world of words,' Taylor says. 'I thought wisdom came to me by the words that I read in the Bible or a book on theology. The thing that animals taught me is that God doesn't speak to us just in words but in our experiences. God reaches us through our experiences, and animals are a part of that experience.' Many books and studies in recent years have explored why so many people are leaving organized religion. But few scholars have explored another trend: The growing number of people who've found that bonding with their pets becomes a spiritual experience. We are in the middle of the Great Pet Awakening — a surge of people who say that owning a pet is a religious experience. In a post-pandemic era when many people still live in isolation, more pet owners are saying their furry friends are not mere companions. They are 'partners in a spiritual journey,' according to David Michie, an author and Buddhist commentator. This awakening is due in part to math. Pet ownership in the US has risen over the past 30 years. At least 66% of Americans say they own a pet, up from 56% in 1988. Virtually all people consider their pets members of the family. The other reason for this trend is more intangible. More people are publicly sharing how owning a pet led them to develop spiritual habits traditionally taught by religion. Pets, they say, teach them about forgiveness and the importance of fellowshipping with others. Pets also embody grace — they accept humans as they are. Pets also prompt many of their owners to confront a heavy theological question: Does Fido have a soul? It's common for pet owners to ask online forums what happens to their pets when they die. That curiosity has spawned a new literary genre: pet psychics who assure people that yes, 'some angels choose furs over feathers.' Books such as 'Yes, Pets Do Go to Heaven' and 'The Amazing Afterlife of Animals' assure people that their departed now frolic in celestial meadows. Some psychics offer pet owners even more consolation: a chance to hear personalized messages from their pets in the Great Beyond. Matt Fraser, a psychic medium and author of 'We Never Die: Secrets of the Afterlife,' says he offers a spiritual connection between people and pets. It turns out that pets have a lot to say. Fraser holds seances to help people connect with the spirits of their loved ones. He says it's not unusual for pets to break through his sessions with humans to communicate with their former owners. Fraser, who starred in a reality show called 'Meet the Frasers,' says he believes some pets in the afterlife find other ways to communicate with their former owners in the physical world. 'So next time you hear a faint bark, see a toy where it doesn't belong, or feel a warm, familiar presence by your side, take it as a sign—your spirit pet is saying hello,' Fraser wrote in one essay. Some people mourn more over the passing of their pets than their relatives, Fraser tells CNN. 'Nobody really understands how these animals really grow on you, how much you love them until it's too deep,' says Fraser, who owns three Bengal cats. 'When we lose them, people grieve and say, 'God, I never expected to grieve so hard.' ' It opens up a whole different side of your heart, just like children do.' If a pet psychic sounds like too much, consider this: Animals have been considered conduits to the spiritual world through much of human history. Ancient Egyptians treated cats as divine symbols and thought they provided companionship to their masters in the afterlife (many were buried with them in tombs). Many ancient religions believed animals functioned as 'spirit guides,' appearing to human beings in dreams and daily life to offer wisdom and guidance. Have you ever heard a person say they saw a red cardinal after someone close to them died? The cardinal is popularly viewed as a spirit guide. The connection between pets and spirituality is not limited to one religion. A Pew Research Center poll released last month revealed that a majority of adults in Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Jewish countries believe that animals can have spirits or spiritual energies. No less of a spiritual authority than the late Pope Francis said there's a place for pets in paradise. While comforting a boy whose dog died, Francis told him: 'One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all creatures.' Another revered spiritual leader, Mahatma Gandhi, also believed that animals are sacred. 'To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being,' said the nonviolent activist who helped lead India to independence from England in 1947. 'I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection from the cruelty of man.' There are times, though, that pets owners feel helpless. That's when many of them say having a pet deepens their spirituality. The faith of Taylor, the author and minister, was tested by a cruel succession of personal losses. His son, Stephen, died at 21 from cystic fibrosis. He watched Non-Hodgkin lymphoma destroy his mother's body. He saw his then 93-year-old father — a minister with three honorary divinity degrees — struggle with pain in his final days. When Taylor asked his father which hymns and Scriptures he wanted read at his memorial service, his father said, 'I don't care. I won't be there.' At one point, Taylor was no longer sure he believed in life after death. Yet Brick had a way of sensing his mood and comforting him, Taylor says. He recalls what happened once when he fell ill. 'I went and sprawled on my couch, feeling sorry for myself,' Taylor tells CNN. 'And for the first time, Brick jumped on the couch and curled up against me. He recognized that I was in pain and suffering. It wasn't just enough to lick my face.' Companions like Brick provide what God also promises, Taylor wrote in 'The Spirituality of Pets,' a book that explores the link between pets and faith. 'Pets probably come as close to giving and receiving unconditional love as we can come in this flawed world,' he wrote. Pets also can provide healing, some owners say. This claim is backed up by science. Owning a pet can lower a person's blood pressure and the release of cortisol, a stress-related hormone. Among people who suffer strokes, pet owners live longer than those without animal companions. Service dogs can sense oncoming seizures in their owners, while some say cats can recognize the presence of cancer. Pets can heal psychological scars as well. Some prisons allow inmates to adopt pets. The experience of caring for another living creature has been found to soften inmates' anger, allowing some to experience warmth and affection for the first time in their lives. A growing number of churches now recognize the spiritual dimension to pet ownership. Many offer blessing ceremonies for pets and others have turned church grounds into dog parks to attract new members. Some Christians have created ministries such as Canines for Christ, which provides dogs to patients at children's hospitals, nursing homes and hospice facilities. Unlike people, pets don't judge. Taylor tells a story in his book about a service dog who was escorted into a hospital room, looked past the burn-scarred face of the patient and 'with the wag of its tail,' conveyed to the man, 'I love you.'' Pets also can help their owners confront the ultimate mystery of life that religion addresses: how to make peace with one's mortality. Pets don't tend to live as long as their owners. For some children, losing a pet is their first exposure to death. For some adults, watching a pet die illuminates their spiritual beliefs. That's what happened to Scott Dill. He and his wife, Tara, are longtime dog lovers. One of their favorites was 'Socks,' a black-and-white Shih Tzu rescue. They clicked with Socks right from the beginning. He had a placid temperament and immediately allowed their two daughters, Hyland and Lydia, to walk him by leash. He wasn't aggressive with other dogs. He liked people. 'He was super chill,' says Dill, director of spiritual growth at Crossroads Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. 'A squirrel could have walked over his head, and he wouldn't have paid attention.' After about a decade, Dill noticed a change in Socks. He lost weight, suffered panic attacks and would abruptly stop and stare into corners. Dill took him to the vet. The diagnosis was a brain tumor. Dill and his family reluctantly decided to euthanize Socks to prevent more suffering. The entire experience — Socks quietly sitting in Tara's lap as they rode to the vet; watching the vet administer a sedative to a calm Socks; touching Socks as he quietly took his last breath — became a religious epiphany for Dill. Christians preach that God loved humanity so much that he sacrificed his son to display that love. Dill knows the Scriptures that commemorate that sacrifice. But the emotional weight of giving up Socks made him feel those scriptures in a new way. Dill shared this experience in an essay entitled, 'We Put Our Dog Down and Saw God.' He wrote that his loss showed him how much God must have hurt when He gave up His Son. 'Through the pain of this loss, God has lovingly reminded me of the incalculable weight of his rescue,' Dill wrote. 'I got a clearer picture of that cost. The cost of love.' After Socks died, Dill says his family carried the dog's body home and buried him in their backyard. They said a short prayer over his grave, thanking God for Socks' life. They erected a gravestone that stands today as a reminder of their loss. 'Even though it was the right decision to put him down,' Dill tells CNN, 'there's just something surreal about being able to choose whether a creature should live or die.' Taylor had to face the same choice with Brick. When Brick was about eight, he started to decline. He struggled to get to his feet while getting out of bed. He stumbled going downstairs. When Taylor took him for walks, Brick's trot turned into a plod. 'I recognized all these symptoms because I have them myself,' Taylor wrote in his book about pets. Taylor took Brick to the vet. Surgery followed, but the operation revealed a litany of maladies that had damaged the dog's internal organs. His decline accelerated. Despite the pain Brick experienced as he hobbled around the house, he never forgot he was housebroken, never whimpered in self-pity or snapped in anger, Taylor says. Brick's condition eventually became irreversible. When he turned 11, old for a dog, his legs stopped working properly. Taylor and his wife decided to take Brick to a vet so he wouldn't suffer anymore. That same day, Taylor says, something remarkable happened. 'Here's this dog who can barely get onto his feet — but he raided our laundry basket,' Taylor tells CNN. 'He did what he loved to do, which was to pull my underwear from the basket and go hide it in the house. He wanted to play, to challenge us and wanted us to laugh in those hours and not go around weeping.' Does Taylor believe he will see Brick again in the afterlife? Taylor is no pet psychic, but he says he's starting to believe animals have souls. He recalls standing next to a friend's poodle who was being euthanized and 'feeling as something was leaving' the moment the dog died. Where that pet may have gone is a place that Taylor calls the 'Rainbow Bridge.' It's a widely circulated poem for pet owners from an anonymous author that depicts animals romping in a lush celestial meadow where they will eventually reunite with their owners. In one variation of the poem, a writer declares her dog's pawprints will 'be on my heart forever.' 'It's very moving because it acknowledges that heaven — whatever heaven is — is not just limited to people,' Taylor says. 'Anyone we love, including a turtle that has lived 90 years, has value that cannot be limited by its physical presence.' In death, Brick left Taylor one final lesson. 'I'm learning from him (Brick) that everything, in the end, boils down to relationships,' Taylor says. 'Brick had no possessions. He was never elected leader of the pack. But he had wonderful relationships. He died knowing he was deeply loved. 'I couldn't ask any more for myself.' John Blake is a CNN senior writer and author of the award-winning memoir, 'More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew.'
