Punkin’s Wilderness Experience

1 Peter 5:7 NLT— Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

We lost Punkin last week. Punkin is our cat. Wanda still calls her Cinderella which is her given name, but she is Punkin to me.

She spent a year at the vet’s office as a homeless cat. No one adopted her. Then after we had to put Percy down (our cat who came to live with us a few years ago), Jimmie Stevenson thought we needed another cat. So she went to the vet and picked up Punkin and brought her to the Ashley home. She has lived with us now for about a year and a half. She has curled her tail, not only around my leg, but into my heart.

Having been an inside cat since she was a kitten, Punkin is crazy wild about being outside. Now she has her own digs upstairs in my man cave and comes and goes outside whenever she likes. She is spoiled rotten. She will stay outside until after dark, but she always comes home when I whistle for her.

Last Sunday night, she didn’t come home. We rode around the block looking for her. We kept the neighbors awake whistling and calling out her name. When she didn’t come home that night, I was worried. I know I’m not supposed to worry, but I did.

I kept talking to Papa, “Papa, you know where Punkin is. Please lead her back home.”

But she didn’t come home Sunday night. Or Monday night. I feared that something had gotten her, and that she was not coming back because she always came in at night.

I had almost given up hope when Wanda called me on Tuesday and said that Punkin had been under the house for two days. Joanne Hawkins had come over to return a pot, and she heard a meow while she and Wanda were in the back yard. Wanda opened the door under the house, and there was Punkin meowing to beat the band. She had jumped in behind me on Sunday afternoon as I went under the house to change the water filter. Not seeing her, I closed her up. What a relief to have our Punkin back! But that is not the good part.

Joanne explained that her husband, John, had held her up for a few minutes as she was about to leave to come to our house. Had he not done so, Joanne would have arrived at our house, and Wanda would not have been home. She would have left the pot on the steps, she and Wanda would not have gone into the backyard to look at flowers, and Punkin would be dead under our house.

You might think that was a blessed coincidence. However, I believe a coincidence is when God does a miracle and remains anonymous. He heard my prayer. He knew where Punkin was, and sent Joanne over to our house to find her. He even orchestrated John’s interruption of Joanne’s schedule so that she would arrive at our house as Wanda pulled into the driveway.

You might also think that God doesn’t care about cats and small stuff like that, but you would be wrong. Whatever I care about, He cares about. If it’s important to me, it is important to Him. He delights in delighting me. He loves me like no other. How do I know that? Jesus told me so.

John 15:9 MSG— “I’ve loved you the way My Father has loved Me.”

Now how much do you think Papa loves Jesus? A whole lot, right? And Jesus says He loves us the same way Papa loves Him. WOW!!!

I have grand boys that I would die for in a heartbeat. When they get upset, I drop whatever I’m doing to see if I can fix it and make it better for them. Do you not think Papa feels the same way about us? Am I a better father than He is? I don’t think so.

Papa knows how much I love that cat. And she is a cat. She wants me to pet her on her terms, not mine. And yet I still love her. Papa knew I was upset, and He did whatever He had to do to rescue Punkin and bring her out of the wilderness and back into the promised land. He is like that, you know. He is crazy wild about you today, Beloved.

You may not have lost your cat, but maybe you’ve lost your way. He specializes in helping people find their way out of their own wildernesses. That is why Jesus says, “I am the WAY.” And He will make a way for you when there seems to be no way.

You say, “NO WAY!” I say, “YES WAY!”

Blessings,

Kenny