He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.
Psalm 146:7 NIV
Now, surrogate cats and distantly related cats are fine in their own way. In fact we could have gone on like that for a very long time. But the final straw, or cat, came in July and in Missouri, where were visiting a possible college for our oldest. As we parked at our motel room door and got out of the car, I heard my husband say, “Well, hello there!” I turned, and running up to me, tail high in greeting, was a scrawny orange tiger cat.
We opened the door to our room and he walked right in with us. Purring, kneading and rubbing, he used every means at his disposal to let us know that he loved us and he wanted us. Evicted from our room (after all, what would Management say?), he spent the night on guard in front of our door. We offered him our leftover sandwiches: he graciously accepted the turkey but wasn’t interested in the roast beef. With his broad face and striped mask, his name was obviously “Tigger.”
But we were strangers in a town hundreds of miles from home, and knew virtually nothing about cats. Tigger’s eyes were mattering, his coat was unkempt. Was he ill? Was he truly a stray or just a savvy beggar who knew a tourist when he saw one? And how on earth would we manage the long trip home if we did take him? We would need to get some cat things. Were was a pet store? And shouldn’t he go to a vet first? Where was a vet in this town?
No, the whole thing was impossible.
I will never forget the look on that cat’s face the next day as we drove away. He just sat there watching us with his head drooping, his whole body expressing his misery. “How can you leave me?” he seemed to ask. “I love you.”
I have never felt so guilty. And I pray that Tigger quickly found a loving, forever home with someone else.
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It’s such a comfort, Lord, to know, whatever may befall,
You’re not surprised by anything, You’re sovereign over all.
And all the things I cannot do, the things I cannot be,
I know that I may safely leave their consequence with Thee.
So to my wise and faithful God I offer all my praise,
For He who sees the sparrow fall most surely cares for strays.