![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/baby1.jpg\" "\\"baby1\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n‘Baby\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> is the kitten of a stray who showed up at our house about twelve years ago to give birth to her first litter. We found homes for all the kittens but one. The stray became \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmomma cat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em>. The kitten, by default, we named \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbaby cat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em>. We have two more recent arrivals down at the barn. They were dropped off by someone who apparently didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mind the idea of allowing cats to reproduce, but wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t keen on taking responsibility for the product. The gray kitten is \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcgray kitty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em>; the black kitten is \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcblack kitty.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> Now you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re getting the drift of our naming system.<\/p>\nMost of our animals are strays. Let me clarify; they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not really strays, they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wander away from home \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re drop offs. Our property is far enough off the beaten path to be \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcattractive\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> as a one way bus stop for unwanted pets. So their arrival doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t reflect the animals so much as their previous owners. Because we know its probable fate Elaine and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore a drop-off. We can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let it die of starvation or predation (the two choices available to strays out here), so we take it in, feed it and, usually, doctor it. Once the animal is reasonably healthy, we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find it in ourselves to take it to the Animal Shelter (that lottery ticket doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t usually pay off for the animal).<\/p>\nAnd that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcBaby\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> and most of the rest came to live with us. She, along with \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmomma cat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em>, is a deck cat. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcoutdoors only\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> cat; she can roam where she wants but usually hangs out on the deck. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a step up from a barn cat, but definitely not house cat status. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a casual relationship but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all okay it.<\/p>\nBaby got sick a few weeks ago. She started dropping weight dramatically and by the time we figured that her condition was beyond a home remedy she had one paw in place cats don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come back from<\/span>. I took her to the vet and the prognosis wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t good. Her liver had pretty much shut down and her own body fluids were poisoning her. At this point, we had two options; a practical one and an expensive one. And the expensive one was a gamble at best.<\/p>\nWe had to make a decision. This is a cat we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talking about \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 technically, a stray cat. At twelve years, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a pretty old \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbaby\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em>; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the prime of her life. And we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not on the Fortune 500 list of America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s richest couples; we had already dropped a significant chunk of change at the vet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just finding out what was wrong. Option A would be practical (cheap) and humane. Option B would be expensive and, as the vet put it, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153like a roll at the tables in Vegas\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> – a gamble at best.<\/p>\nWe didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t (don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t) have the money to spend on \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCat ICU\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> without some pretty heavy consideration. I asked God to give us wisdom about what to do. Elaine asked God to heal the cat. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Elaine\u00e2\u20ac\u201c if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to ask God for something, you might as well ask Him for what you really want instead of what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re willing to settle for. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s God; healing a cat isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a huge request. She teaches me some amazing lessons.<\/p>\nThis was one sick cat. There was a pretty good chance it wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make it through the night. By the next morning, I thought, our decision might be made for us. But the sun came up and the cat was sitting on the deck. Not well \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 not any worse \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 but not dead. We gave it another day. The next morning the cat was sitting on the deck. Not well \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 not any worse \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 but not dead. Time to make a decision.<\/p>\n
I called the vet. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Look,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> I said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is a twelve year old cat – a deck cat. If the cat is going to die and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing we can do about it, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m okay with that. But if the cat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to die because of what we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do, then I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not okay with that. If the cat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still fighting, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to throw in the towel just yet.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> We brought the cat back to the vet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s for four days of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCat ICU\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em>.<\/p>\nThat was a week ago. The cat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s back home. Not well \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 not any worse \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 but not dead. Every morning we medicate the cat (against its will) and force feed it with a syringe and a teaspoon several times a day (really against its will). She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not giving up, so we won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t either. And we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still praying for her. Healing a cat isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t beneath God (I prayed for a roto-tiller once, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another story). God cares about cats.<\/p>\n
God made us in His own image (Genesis 1:27). God made animals for our sakes (Genesis 2:18-19). He made us to care about animals because He cares about animals (Matthew 10:29).<\/p>\n
Without making too much of this, how we care for our pets, may be a shadow of how He cares for us. A stray cat is a stray cat, not a lot of intrinsic value associated with that. But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something in us that makes us take it in. Maybe because we know what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen to it if we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. We care for the stray, give it food and shelter, love it – not because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lovely or valuable, but because it needs love – it needs someone to value it.<\/p>\n
<\/span>John 3:16 says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLoved\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> in this passage is the Greek word \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcagapao\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em>. It describes a love that requires action or a love that assigns value to the object being loved. In short \u00e2\u20ac\u201c God loved us because we needed loving and any value we have is derived from the fact that He loved us enough to act by sending His Son to save us.<\/p>\n <\/span>So, in a way, we love Baby and our other strays because, initially, they needed loving. And by demonstrating our love for them by giving them a home, feeding and doctoring them, they take on value in our hearts.<\/p>\nLike I said, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to make too much of this, but it helps me see God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s love for me; not that I deserved it, but that I needed it. And it cost something.<\/p>\n
*****<\/p>\n
About the money:<\/p>\n
The money for \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCat ICU\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> was there when we needed it. It always is.<\/p>\nI quit believing that I was my own source a long time ago. I work to make a living, people buy books or pay me for my time; I know that. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not my source; neither are the people who write me checks. God is my source. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just spiritual lingo (I hate spiritual lingo), it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reality. And I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come to realize it by some leap of faith or holy epiphany. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s come by experience. We do what needs to be done and whatever is required to make it happen shows up when we need it. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how it is \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and certainly not because of any particular goodness on my side. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s faithful to provide even when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not so faithful in holding up my end of the relationship. I guess that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcagapao\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> – loving me because I need loving.<\/p>\nUntil next week,<\/p>\n
Steve Spillman <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Genesis 2:20) We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a cat named \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcBaby\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Let me back up. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got four cats, six dogs, somewhere around fifty fish (the kind you feed, not the kind that feed you), and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,1],"tags":[515,780,778,781,779],"class_list":["post-373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agape","category-site-news","tag-agapao","tag-cat","tag-genesis-2","tag-pets","tag-strays"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}