Today I walked our cat, or should I say our cat walked me? We moved to a new place about 10 tens ago and local cat wisdom says you should keep your cat inside for about two weeks before allowing them to roam by themselves. We did this when we moved from Iowa and we didn't lose either one, by straying any way. So we are working at keeping Rusty inside, unless we put him on a leash.
A cat on a leash? I know it sounds strange but we can't keep the cat inside all the time. We are on our third break away collar in those ten days. Sometimes we have attached Rusty's leach to a lead line and so when he wanders we don't have to be holding the leash the whole time. That means if he decides it is time to abruptly run then the collar breaks away and do does Rusty. Thankfully he is still glad to be around us and our new house for both times after he broke free he ran to the back kitchen door of the house to get back inside.
But today I took him for a walk out front. With counsel from Joan, my wife, I found out you can't pull a cat like a dog in the direction you want to go. But what you can do is if they walk in the direction you don't want to go you can just stand there until they try a different direction, hopefully in the direction you want to go without too many tries in other directions
Sometimes we, like the cat, head in all kinds of directions without waiting for God to lead us. And sometimes when God holds us back we have trouble figuring out the exact direction we should go so we try thirty other ways than the way God knows will be best for us. The great thing for us is God will always hold on to the leash for us. God will always be available to coax us or direct us if we are just willing to follow his lead.
I have to admit I felt a bit strange walking, or directing, our cat on a leash in a new neighborhood, but everyone I met didn't seem to have a problem with a 6 foot 3 inch man with a goatee walking a cat on a purple leash. Maybe it was my imposing figure with tea cup in hand that stopped them from making fun of me, but I wasn't going to let Rusty go because Rusty is part of our family and he is very special to me. So are you to God. No matter how foolish you may act God will not let you go, you are very special to him, or as Paul Young says in The Shack, "God is very fond of you." Why not let God lead you, for he had great adventures for you.
Happy walking,
Pastor Randy
