CHIP COME HOME!
By Christy Lowman
Burke County
Do you remember the three feral kittens we rescued and tamed that we found under our building a year and a half ago? Little Bit is an indoor/outside cat. Chip and Dell have always been indoor cats until recently.
For some reason, they both decided that they were adventurous and wanted to explore the outdoors. It started out that they would go out for only a few seconds, then it progressed to minutes, then hours.
For some reason, Chip, the most timid one, decided to shoot out the door the other night while I was trying to get the dogs in from their last bathroom break before bed. It was 12:30 AM. I panicked and called for him over and over. I slipped my tennis shoes on and grabbed the flashlight. I looked everywhere. No Chip.
I thought to myself, “Maybe he just needed to use the bathroom and he will be back in.”
I went back out a few more times. At 1:00 AM I decided I was going to bed. I could not make him come home and I needed sleep for the next day.
I figured the next morning, when I let the dogs out he would be waiting on the porch to come in. At 4:30 AM I let the dogs out but there still was no Chip. I thought,” Maybe he decided to sleep under the outbuilding where they were born. He had been going there for naps during the day.
Crazy thoughts and bad scenarios ran through my head. “Where was he? Had something bad happened to him? Did he get eaten by a coyote? Is he receiving enough attention at home? Did he wander off too far and get lost?”
Anytime something goes wrong I am quick to blame myself. I did something wrong and it is my fault in my eyes.
I went out and called for Chip off and on all day as loud as I could but he did not show up. We searched everywhere. I called animal services to see if he had been picked up. I asked the neighbors if they had seen him. I walked up and down the road to see if he had been hit by a car. There was no sign of Chip.
He ran out on Monday and on Wednesday the meter reader lady came out to read our power meter. I asked her if she had seen Chip. She said up the road a bit, she saw 2 dogs barking at something they had treed. So off we went, but no dogs were barking at that time.
I was starting to really get worried. Wednesday night rolled around and when it got late I went out and called a few times in the still of the night. Everything was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
When I called for him, I could hear a faint meow. I got the flashlight and we saw him across the road, up high in the neighbor’s tree. Apparently, their cat had run him up the tree. We carried a ladder over. Hubs and Levi held the ladder while Jonah tried to reach Chip. Jonah could touch Chip’s back but could not grab him. Hubs got a long, broken tree limb and put it on the other side. He tried to get Chip to turn around to Jonah or to use the limb to come down the front side. Instead, it spooked him and he ran higher up the tree. There was nothing we could do to help him at that point. We went home and hoped he would stay up there until the morning when I could borrow a longer ladder.
The next morning Chip was not in the tree. I called and looked everywhere again. That evening it started to rain. I got hopeful because I knew he didn’t really like to get wet. Jonah let the dogs out for the last time for the night and behold Chip was on the deck waiting to get in! Praise God, Chip was home!
When he first came into the house, he was very skittish. He wouldn’t let anyone get near him. He finally calmed down, ate, drank some water, and curled up at the foot of my bed. Poor Chip had lost several pounds. He apparently hadn’t eaten the whole time he had been loose.
A few days passed and Chip mostly ate and slept. He was exhausted. When he got some strength back, he started trying to get back outside. He ran out once and I was able to catch him. The next time he ran out. My husband said, “Christy, you have got to trust that he will come back. Trust that after this past week, his traveling days are over.”
Trust. Trust is hard for me sometimes. Things happen in life that make it hard to trust.
Half a day went by, I went out and called for Chip and he did not return. I was about to give up that he was coming back when at dusk he came home.
I was so happy to see him! Now I let him go out when the sun is out and I feel better about him returning. So far, he has not disappointed me.
Deep down in my heart, I knew I could not keep Chip inside when he enjoyed being outside so much. The outside is dangerous, but to make him stay inside, unhappy, was not letting him thrive. So, I knew I had to step out of my comfort zone and trust him, that he would be back each day to see me and of course to eat.
Have you ever had a hard time trusting someone? Has someone broken your trust and you no longer trust them?
When we tell others about Jesus and they don’t want to get saved, we have to trust that the seeds we plant will bring them to Jesus.
God has to trust us that when we walk away from Him we will come back. He trusts us to tell others about Jesus, to do the right thing, and to treat others the way Jesus would treat them.
Sometimes things might happen in our life that we don’t understand. Sometimes we trust that God will do certain things because we think they are best but He doesn’t. Maybe it’s not His will or in His perfect timing. We have to trust that God is in control of everything and that there is a purpose. He always wants what is best for us.
We are guaranteed hard times and grief here on earth, but we must keep our chin up and trust God that everything is going to be okay in the end.
Dear Lord, help us place our trust in You during all times and periods in life. Living on earth is hard, but we know that You are in control of all things. Thank you, Lord, for trusting us to tell others about Jesus and that we will act Christlike in all that we do. In Jesus’s name, I pray. Amen.
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NLT
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding”. Proverbs 3:5
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Christy Lowman is a Christian author and illustrator that lives in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with her husband and two children. She enjoys writing and illustrating books for all ages. Some of her short stories are published with Guideposts and HCI. Christy gives all the glory to God in everything she does. A portion of every book sold from the Small Bible Character Series will be donated to battle human trafficking. If you enjoy her books, “like’ her author page on Facebook and let her know! You can buy her books at //www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AChristy+Lowman&s=relevancerank&text=Christy+Lowman&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1. You can reach her at //www.facebook.com/authorChristyLowman/
or christyssoaps@yahoo.com
You can read more Christian news from Christy here.
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