A Cat, A Kind Woman, A Loving Savior

Liz is our next door neighbor. She moved into her house two months before we moved into ours. Her move was from New York City. She lived in a high rise apartment building. Her apartment was about one thousand square feet and on the twenty fifth floor. Liz lived there for over twenty years. What a drastic change it has been for her moving to a quiet town like Wake Forest into a very nice twenty two hundred square foot ranch home. She and her two male cats knew no one except her friend Cheryle who lives behind Sherri and me. Cheryl is also from New York.

Although there are probably more than 600 hundred housing units in our subdivision there is still somewhat of a country feel to our community. Our neighbors come from states pretty much from everywhere except North Carolina. But I’m sure Liz has experienced more of a life adjustment than most of us. Soon after we moved here a feral female cat decided to hang around. She dared not let anyone get near her. The moment someone tried to approach her she ran to the nearest storm drain.

Liz wanted to help that poor homeless, unloved, straggly animal. She put out food for the cat, and bought it a couple of small cat houses which she placed on her front porch. The cat never went into either of the houses, preferring to sleep in the storm drains, but she did accept the daily offer of food. Little by little Liz was able to gain that tabby cat’s  trust. After several weeks and consistent love shown by Liz that cat has been neutered, vaccinated and tamed just enough that she can pet her and love on her. And oh how that cat loves Liz! Tabby Cat, as she is now called, sleeps each night in Liz’ garage instead of the storm drain.

Tabby Cat’s transformation was slow, expensive and even painful for Liz. Painful in that Tabby Cat bit and scratched Liz one day while she was trying to extend a loving welcome to her. Yet, Liz provided a two week quarantine sanctuary in a bathroom for Tabby Cat rather than seeing her put down for her sin. We have been amazed at the love our neighbor Liz has shown to that wayward, seemingly unloving cat.

This story reminds me of a story, that has been repeated hundreds of thousands of times throughout history. It is the story of how a Savior loved wayward, sinful, men and women, who hopelessly ran in the opposite direction from the home he wanted to provide and most importantly an amazing unmeasurable love; a people rejecting the safety, security and peace offered by the only One who could offer a place free from the dangerous storms where no safety exists. This portrays our love story of how we treated our Savior and rejected the one who suffered much, much more severe than a cat bite and scratches could ever inflict. He died shedding his life giving blood so that we might have an eternal sanctuary rather than an eternity in a hellish storm drain of darkness and pain. So today we praise Him and sing hallelujah to our mighty King.