The moving van was coming today! What an exciting time for eight-year-old Kerianne. She watched as the big, empty truck arrived, and busy men began loading the family belongings and furniture. The whole business was a noisy affair, with lots of banging around, taping of cartons and moving boxes. Kerianne thought all the confusion and activity were fun to watch.
But there was someone else who shared her home. Cane, the family cat, did NOT like all the noise and activity. He looked for a safe place away from all the noise and confusion. He found an open dresser drawer in a bedroom, jumped into it and curled up. This was a refuge, away from all the busy feet, and Cane settled down for a little nap. He liked his hideout and was quite contented in that peaceful spot.
But was he really safe?
The noisy movers began loading the bedroom furniture into their big truck. They shut the dresser drawers, of course, and lifted the furniture into the waiting van. In all the noisy confusion, it seems that no one saw Cane. No one heard anything as they shoved and grunted and heaved boxes and belongings.
Then Kerianne noticed that Cane had disappeared, and a search began. She could not find him indoors. Nobody had spotted a black cat wandering outside near the house. Her mother drove around her Hawaiian neighborhood for a long time afterward, looking for Cane. Finally she realized that they would probably never see their frightened pet again.
Kerianne said it was the saddest day of her life when they had to leave their home. She couldn’t bear to leave her beloved kitty behind. “He was family,” she said. And Kerianne’s family was moving a LONG way away. They were leaving their home in Hawaii and moving to Crofton, Kentucky. But Hawaii is an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The moving trucks were not just driving the family possessions over a stretch of road. There was an ocean between Hawaii and Kentucky, and all those crates and boxes had to be loaded onto a big ship. There would be days stretching into weeks as the ship crossed the ocean, then a wait until everything was reloaded onto another moving truck, and then the long, overland trip to Kentucky.
Cane probably thought he was in a wonderful, safe place when he jumped into that drawer. He felt he was okay because it seemed right to him. Sometimes boys and girls think they are okay because they are doing what seems right to them. They know that God does not like sin, so they try very hard to be good. Maybe they promise themselves that they will do things that they think will please God. But even though they really believe this, it does not mean they are safe. Being good is not the way to heaven. The Bible says that “there is a way that [seems] right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 16:2525There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 16:25)). Just because we are doing our best does not mean we are safe, unless we have done what the Lord Jesus asks us to do. There is only one way to heaven, and that is to accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. If we refuse, then “the ways of death” are ahead for us.
It certainly seemed that for Kerianne’s beloved cat, death would be the end for him too. Cane was shut up in that dresser without food or water. The days stretched out into long weeks. Slowly the ship moved across the many miles of ocean, and finally the family reached the United States. When they got to Kentucky, Kerianne’s mother bought her a puppy. Kerianne was so sad about losing her favorite cat that her mother thought another pet might cheer her up. Forty-four days, more than six weeks, had passed since the movers had come to their home in Hawaii. But no one in the family had forgotten about Cane.
At last the day came when a truck arrived with their belongings. Kerianne’s father was going through their stuff. He smelled what he called a “very foul odor” coming from one of the dressers. Right away he thought about Cane. It flashed into his mind that maybe Cane had been trapped in that drawer, and he didn’t want the others to be there when he found a dead body. Preparing himself for the worst, he began opening the drawers of the dresser . . . and staring back at him were TWO EYES!
Completely shocked to see Cane alive, Kerianne’s daddy picked the cat up and hurried to get a bowl of water. They rushed Cane to an animal clinic where the cat was checked for injuries and pumped full of fluids for two days. “He was absolutely skin and bones,” said the vet. The cat weighed less than three pounds, but with food and care, Cane improved quickly. In a few weeks, he was running around the house again, and the family was overjoyed.
What a happy day it was when Cane was found. Kerianne says that even Seikich, their other family cat, was so happy to be reunited with Cane that she licked and licked him. And all this joy was only over a cat. How much more precious and valuable is the life of a boy or girl. The Bible tells us that “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that [repents]” (Luke 15:1010Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. (Luke 15:10)). It is a thousand times more wonderful to think of a boy or girl who is brought back from the dangerous position of being lost. An eternity without the Lord Jesus is a terrible thing! There was an end to the time that poor cat spent in darkness, but there is no end to an eternity without the Lord Jesus. He does not want any boy or girl to be lost forever. He loves you and invites you to find safety and salvation right now. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)).
ML-09/11/2005