Collecting Christians not much different than collecting cats

Pastor Alice Warness

by Pastor Alice Warness & United Methodist Church
| October 3, 2015 6:00 AM

I have six cats and, no, I am not the crazy cat lady.

I didn’t start out to get six cats or even to dream that someday these cats would live in my house. I collected them slowly over time.

Sporty was given to me by my daughters when my tom cat was killed by a coyote. He is black with white paws and a white streak on his face. He likes to touch my face with his paws.

Babeez came to our house with my oldest daughter at two days old. Her mother had been killed, and she had to be bottle fed.

She made everyone love her when she would lay on her back and hold the bottle with all four feet.

I got Mr. Kinky when the salesman at Basin Feed asked my youngest daughter if she wanted a free cat. He said the cat would otherwise have to be destroyed because it cat had a kinky and broken tail. It also had palps in his ears.

Mr. Kinky was supposed to die from his special needs by the time he became a one year old. Under our care, he is fat and happy and five years old. He can also retrieve a tennis ball like a dog.

I was determined that the cats were enough until one night, when my youngest daughter called to tell me that kittens had been dumped, in the dark, on road one.

She was full of righteous indignation about how people treat innocent animals. Her pleas sent my husband out at 10:30 p.m. to help her chase black kittens around a back road in the name of justice.

This is when Penny, Leonard, and Sheldon came to live with us. They all were traumatized by their adventures, but Sheldon has never recovered. He lives in my house, but I am fairly sure he suffers from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome).

Sheldon will eat the food I offer, and he is careful about using the box, but the thought of me touching him sends him into a frenzy.

He interacts with me by laying across the room and watching my every move. I believe he knows I won’t hurt him, but he’s still too scared to take a chance.

People are scared too. In our Christian lives, we bring people to Jesus in much the same way that I have collected cats; one person at a time.

The everyday Christian is not like the great televangelists. We don’t go around converting people in large groups. Instead, we tell people about Jesus and then we pray for them.

It is an exercise in patience and prayer. Take the opportunities that are offered to you. You don’t have to be pushy or preachy. Just talk with people.

Be invitational in your conversations and slowly invite them to church. Then do what I do with cats, look them in the eyes and let them know they are loved and don’t give up on them.

I tell my congregation to just invite people to church, and God will do the rest.