Elijah’s Night Out

Elijah is our year old rescue cat that came to us as a  six week kitten just prior to the loss of our two longtime canine companions. Elijah has helped fill in the loss of Pippin and Jack although he can never replace them. He showed up on the day of my eye surgery, crying on our front porch at 3:00 in the morning, before dashing away when I opened the door. Later that day when Nancy and I returned from the hospital, we heard his plaintiff call from the Japanese bamboo jungle behind our house. It took my daughter, my four grandchildren, and my wife two hours to corral him and bring him safely inside where he was been out of the reach of predators and cared for ever since. That is, until the other day.

As Elijah has grown he has developed the curiosity all cats possess. The windows in our sun room have become his personal large screen TV. He watches the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks at the feeder on our deck for hours–tail twitching constantly. While he never has attempted dashing out an open door, I’ve often wondered what he would do or how he’d fare if he did escape to the outdoors.

Now I know. Thursday close to bedtime, Nancy approached me as I lounged in my chair. “I haven’t seen the cat all afternoon or evening,” she said.

While it is hardly unusual for Elijah to sleep under a bed, hide when someone comes to the door, or disappear into a closet, this time things were different. It was the hour I usually put out his food, give him treats, and settle him down in the back room for the night. Elijah, knowing the routine  would normally be at my feet in anticipation. We checked under every bed and inside each closet while calling out his name and rattling his canister of treats.

I concluded, “The cat has to be outside, but how?”

Nancy’s answer did not assure me. “He  must have escaped through the loose screen by the AC in our bedroom.”

Her answer led me to the fact I had not examined how she had reinstalled the exhaust for our portable air conditioner earlier this Spring. She told me there was a gap and loose screening behind it, but I was just too busy to check it out.

Nancy and I both circled the dark perimeter of our house and yard using lanterns for light. We rattled treats and called out Elijah’s name. Nothing. Ending my futile search, I sat on the bench on our and prayed thanking God for the gift of our feline companion when it came to me to check under the house. I started toward the door to our crawlspace, when through the shadows I caught a glimpse of a small animal rounding the corner of  the house’s foundation. Elijah.

I called his name but still no response, however, I knew now two things. First, Elijah had not strayed far. Second, Elijah was in his primal state and no amount of coaxing on my part would get him to come to me. Nothing to do but leave the porch door open a crack, and loosely close the door to our front entry, and wait for the cat to return on his own.

I went to bed. Nancy puttered about for another hour or so as is her nightly routine. Before coming into our bedroom, she felt the urge to check the front door, and opened it a crack. Elijah stared cautiously at her from the porch. She talked to him as she normally would, and he moved hesitantly until he was safely inside. Elijah had returned to his safe surroundings where he receives shelter and loving care.

Since that night I have thought of our relationship to God our Father, Who sent His Son to die on a Cross so we can have fellowship with Him. We stray in the dark night of sin, stumbling about in our primal state–that of our sinful flesh. Every attempt of God to reach out repels us as did my calls to my beloved pet. We run from the very hand that loves and will provide for us if we will but come to Him.

But our loving Father does not give up. He leaves the door open and waits for the gentle work of the Holy Spirit to accomplish His work. God’s Son has done all that is needed by paying for our sins at Calvary. All we need do is ask Him to come into our hearts. We enter the open door cautiously admitting our sin and our need while God welcomes us to His presence. And, oh what joy there is in heaven when a soul once lost in sin enters into relationship with our loving Father.

However, even after we come to God by receiving His Son as Lord and Savior into our hearts, we stray. We go out an open window and venture on our own. We attempt to solve problems without looking to Him. We seek our own good over that of others. We long for the pleasures of this world until that longing overwhelms us. We have exchanged God’s will for our own judgment and find our fellowship has been broken as we wander once more in the darkness which is sin.

But God leaves the door open.