Not a Stray Anymore

“Life is great when you’re not a stray anymore.”

A friend of ours loves cats, especially cats who are strays or sick or abandoned. I’m not sure if such forlorn felines find Sarah or if Sarah finds them. All I know is that Sarah and the cats find each other.

Being a stray is not an easy life. Neither is being astray from God or others or your own better self. Believe me: I tried it for a long time, and being a stray is not freedom in any sense that is worthy of the name freedom. You can’t relax, you can’t rest, and you’re never sure about anything or anyone.

But when you’re not a stray anymore, when you feel that you belong, . . . what a wonderful feeling it is!

During his earthly life, Jesus seemed to take in a lot of stray cats of the two-legged variety. In fact, Jesus got in trouble for it. “He eats with sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes,” complained the good (?) religious people of that day.

But the strays had a different opinion about Jesus. They were just glad to finally have a home, good food, and a place in the heart of Jesus to rest.

The Bible may not speak of us as stray cats, but it does speak of us as sheep that are terribly prone to straying. “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6, English Standard Version) And Peter writs, “For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:25)

So, I’m not a stray sheep any more. I’m not a stray cat either. I belong.

So do you, whether or not you know it. God has a very big house. There is plenty of room for all the stray human cats in the universe. And if there are stray creatures in other parts of the universe, there is room for them too. Life is great when you’re not a stray anymore.

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