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The Adventures of Great God and Stupid Cat We have a cat at our house that lives outside. She showed up one day, we fed her and she stayed. On more than one occasion I’ve had to climb a ladder and coax her out of a tree. Why or how a cat would repeatedly climb a tree when it isn’t smart or brave enough to climb back down is something that really baffles me. Recently, when the cat hadn’t been around the house for a few days, we assumed she had either found some place else to live or hadn’t been quite quick enough crossing the road. One night while walking toward the front of our house I heard her. She had, ONCE AGAIN, climbed up in a tree and couldn’t or wouldn’t climb back down. I don’t know how long she had been there. We hadn’t seen her for a few days, so I assumed she’d been there the whole time. With much frustration, I set out under the 9 o’ clock moonlight to try to get her down. This time she had climbed so far up, the ladder came nowhere close to her. No matter what I tried she wouldn’t climb back down. After a couple hours of nonsense I decided I was DONE with the cat. “I don’t care if you die up there. I’m not trying to get you down anymore,” I muttered on my way back to the house. The next morning I went to see if the cat had decided to come down. Of course not! Once again I endeavored coaxing the moronic feline free from her wooden cage. I tried using food to entice her. I tried maneuvering a long pole to poke her into moving. I even tried tossing rocks, but no matter what I did she wouldn’t come down. I found her reactions really peculiar. Whatever I tried, not only would she not come down, but she kept climbing higher up the tree. I could tell she wanted down. I could also tell she wanted me to help her down; but instead of cooperating, she kept climbing higher. After an hour or so of this game of my trying harder only to have her climb higher away from my help, I gave up. “I don’t care if you die up there. I’m not trying to get you down anymore,” I muttered again. This time I REALLY meant it. I had mowing to do and NO more time or patience left for this animal. As I began mowing the yard I kept repeating, “Lord, if you want that cat to come down, You’re going to have to help her and show her how to get down because I’m done with it.” Suddenly, He spoke to me, and His response was much different than I would have expected. “Doesn’t that look familiar? She’s stuck and she’s scared, but she won’t climb down to safety. You have a better viewpoint and can see exactly what she needs to do to get down, but she refuses to do it. Instead of climbing down to safety, which is the hard and scary but RIGHT thing to do, she climbs higher because she’s comfortable climbing up. It’s easy and familiar to climb up, but she’s unsure about climbing down because it’s frightening, hard and unfamiliar. So instead of enduring to get to a safe place, she’s stuck in her predicament because she won’t listen to you, take a chance, or trust to get to safety.” To His reply, I had nothing to say but “Wow.” Continuing to mow, I observed that every time I came near the tree, she seemed to be getting lower. In fact, by the time I finished and rode back by the tree, she was sitting on the lowest branch. Once more I fetched my ladder, but this time I had her down in a couple of minutes. God is an amazing God. He can use the most everyday circumstances to reveal Himself, His plan and His ways. From the most wonderful to the most frustrating circumstances in our lives, He can illuminate situations and draw us closer to Him. So keep your spiritual eyes and ears open, realizing that in the midst of the most annoying or mundane acts of life there is something to be learned and guidance given. Every situation, even a cat getting stuck in a tree, is just another opportunity for God to reveal Himself in a way you’re not expecting. Actually, if there is a cat stuck in the tree, give me a call; it’s probably mine… stupid cat…. -Matt Hollingsworth July Newsletter 2005 | Defeating Temptation & Fear | Ministry Minded part 2 of 3 | Weaklings or Warriors part 1 of 2 Pastor's Journal July 2004 | Adventures of Great God and Stupid Cat | Arise - Become - Build and Shine part 1 of 3 |
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