Sunday, October 23, 2011

More Lessons from Chester

It's been two and a half weeks since Chester got out and ran away. I cried and cried over him in the beginning. I still miss him very much! I had to stop putting food out front for him because the sweet gray cat who looks like Chester was eating it. This caused my cats to go nuts. They thought he was Chester and would run from window to window to see him and meow at him. I still put food in the wooded area behind my fence.

Well, I was talking to God about Chester the other day. I was telling Him that if He has the sparrow then He has Chester. I resigned myself to the idea that I might never see him again. I thought about how I would miss having him sleep next to me whenever I took and nap or at bedtime. Monty, affectionately called Fat Boy, tries to sleep by me, but he isn't the same.

Friday I pulled into my driveway and saw a gray cat sitting on my living room windowsill. I opened my car door and called, "Chester". The cat jumped down and ran. I ran after him, but he was quite a bit a head of me. I saw him go into the ravine area behind my house and I know I wouldn't be able to see him once I got there. I called and called out for Chester but I saw nothing and only heard the birds in the trees. I went back to the house, got some cat food and brought it back to put out there for him.

Later I had to run out to put up garage sale signs and when I drove back into the driveway a gray cat took off. I didn't chase after him. I walked back the way he went and looked to see if I could see him. I didn't get a good look at him so I thought it could have been the other gray cat. I went inside.

Later I needed to go outside and when I did I saw a gray cat go around the corner of the house. I walked over there and saw the cat. My hopes raised, it was getting dark so all I saw was a gray cat. The cat meowed and I knew it wasn't Chester. He came over and I petted the nice gray cat and then I went back inside.

I started to wonder about the whole thing. Why did he run? Why did the other gray cat not run? What was the point of this?

I thought about how sometimes people come back, they sneak around, hoping God won't see them. They want the life but without Him. They spend time looking through the window, into Home, just like Chester did. But when the Master comes around they run away. He calls after them, He pursues them but they hide. They live out in the "woods" where it's cold, their exposed to the rain and wind. They live in the bramble of fallen trees and bushes. They could be living in the Home that God has prepared for each of His children, yet they won't.

They are angry with Him for choices they made. They blame Him for the rain, the wind, the cold. They blame Him for making them hide in the bramble. They blame him for being winded from running from Him. All God wants is His children. He wants them Home safe under His protection. He wants to spend time with them. He wants to have a relationship with Him.

I pray that Chester comes home and I pray that those who need to come Home to God will. I will keep pursuing Chester and God will keep pursuing them.

No comments: