Caterwauling

Early in the morning, around 4:30 a.m., I was awakened by a cat’s persistent meowing outside my window. It didn’t seem like the caterwauling of a tom, nor the mew of a lost kitten. But it meowed . . . and meowed . . . and meowed. And this was the third night in a row! Each time I was annoyed that it had interrupted my sleep. I didn’t want to get out of my warm, comfortable bed to see about this cat outside my window. I would finally get up, go to the bathroom, perhaps peer out the window at a dark yard where I could see nothing, and then wander back to the comfort of my bed. Eventually, the cat either quit, or I simply fell back asleep.

But this morning as I lay there, annoyed and trying to will the cat to quit or myself to fall back asleep, it suddenly occurred to me . . . what if the cat had fallen into the deep egress window well just below our window! Not only that, what if the poor thing had been there for three days!!! Suddenly, I was spurred to jump out of my bed, find my robe and flip-flops, and head out into the dark. Suddenly, my annoyance turned to empathy, my frustration to action. This could actually be a matter of life-and-death! I rounded the corners of the house to get to our bedroom window and, sure enough, a calico tabby cat hunkered in the window well, frightened and desperate.

As I peered closer, she attempted to jump out—slamming repeatedly into the corrugated steel of the window well, just shy of the upper rim, unable to reach freedom. She crouched in the corner, unsure what to do. I took off my robe (thankful for unseasonably warm temps and the cover of darkness!) and tossed it over the edge of the window well. Maybe she would dig her claws into it and climb out. But she didn’t dare to try again. I decided to get our ladder. Having retrieved it from the garage, I lowered the ladder into the window well and took a few steps back. It wasn’t too long before I saw her hesitantly climbing, one rung at a time. Then she was out, free! She raced off and slipped through the slats of our fence, disappearing into the night.

After putting away the ladder and returning to bed, I lay pondering on what had just happened. As he so often does, the Lord used a seemingly inconsequential event to teach me something, to open my eyes. Isn’t it so often the very same in our faith journey? The cries of the hurting are perceived as merely annoyances or inconveniences. We attempt to ignore them or will them to go away. We make every excuse in order to remain in our comfortable existence—even as they continue to cry for help, hunkered down in the pit, frightened and desperate. It isn’t until our belief in a heaven and a hell and eternity becomes more than head knowledge of Scripture, but rather a fact that warrants reckoning, that we will be moved from our complacency to action. In the moment that we realize unbelievers will indeed perish and suffer eternal separation from God the Father, that is when we are compelled to actually do something about it.

Suddenly, we are spurred to action, leaving our comfortable lives, not caring what others think, desiring only to help those who are perishing. Suddenly, our annoyance turns to empathy, our frustration to action. This is actually a matter of life-and-death! And just like with the cat in the window well, we can’t actually save them. But we can offer that which can. Sharing the gospel is like lowering the ladder into the pit. It’s up to them to accept it, and if they do . . . they will find freedom.

“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her

daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned;

they did not help the poor and needy.”

Ezekiel 16:49 NIV

“And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”

Romans 13:11 NIV

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”

 Isaiah 61:1 NIV

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

John 8:36 NIV