A small donkey who could barely see and was bullied out of food and water taught himself to unlatch stable doors just so he could be near the one friend who never left his side.
The world has always looked down on the donkey. People saw it as a lowly animal. A beast of burden. Nothing special. But when Jesus needed to ride into Jerusalem He didn’t pick a warhorse. He chose a donkey.
And that one moment took everything the world said about donkeys and flipped it. What was shame became an honor. What was overlooked became chosen. That’s just how God works. And He didn’t forget this little donkey named Whan either.
From a Crowded Pen to a Place Called Home
Whan was stuck in a crowded pen with other donkeys and he was the smallest one there. They pushed him around and kept him away from food and water. He was on track to be sent away for meat. But a woman named Jod and her family stepped in and brought him home.
He didn’t trust them at first. He ran away and stayed away for weeks. “We would just go out and sit in the pasture,” Jod said. They didn’t force it. They just showed up.
Willie Nelson Changed Everything
So the family had goats and slowly Whan started coming around. One goat in particular caught his attention. A goat named Willie Nelson.
Now Whan is mostly blind. He can maybe see some shadows but that’s about it. And somehow he mapped out the entire pasture.
Jod believes Willie Nelson helped him figure out where things were. “I think he helped him with spatial awareness,” she said. This little goat became his eyes basically.
The Mystery of the Open Doors
Then things got weird. The family would put all the animals up for the night and check every single latch. But morning after morning the goats were out walking around free. They couldn’t figure it out.
“We were religiously checking the stalls when we put them up at night,” Jod said. And still every morning those doors were open.
So they set up a trail camera. And what they found was Whan using his mouth to unlatch the stall doors. This nearly blind donkey figured out how to open gates because he wanted to be with his friend. That’s just incredible. Isn’t it?
More Than Just a Clever Donkey
Here’s what really gets me though. Whan doesn’t just open doors. He reads people. Jod said he can sense when someone is nervous around him. And he remembers people too.
Her sister visits a couple times a year and Whan actually hugs her. “He just remembers her. He does not do that with everyone,” Jod said.
A donkey who can barely see recognizes the people who love him. That tells you something about how God wired these animals.
Saved From Death and Given a New Life
Whan was saved from the bondage of death. He was heading to slaughter and someone reached in and pulled him out. Isn’t that our story too?
We were broken and lost and heading nowhere good. And Jesus stepped in. He didn’t just rescue us from what we were heading toward. He opened the door to eternity for us. A door that no one can shut.
This little donkey opens gates to get to the ones he loves. But our God opened the greatest gate of all so we could get to Him.
“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” — John 10:9
WATCH: Donkey Rescued From Slaughter Learns to Open Gate So He Can Be With His Best Friend
