Attack Cat

My friend Janna was blindsided this week by a cat. Yes, a cat. But, it’s no “warm furry” kind of tale. She had noticed a tomcat hanging around their place for a while. She tried to shoo it away several times, but he did as cats do – what he darn well pleased. He hadn’t been a problem except he was eating their cats’ food. Thursday morning when she went out to the garage, their he was sitting close to one of the open garage doors. She spoke to him as she passed, calling him by the name they had tagged him with. “Hey Boot.” She was approximately 20 feet into the garage when she was attacked. She had no idea the cat had stalked her until he grabbed onto her leg, wrapping his legs around her leg and viciously extracting a hunk of meat from her calf. Janna screamed. Somehow she shook him loose from her leg but he then lunged onto her arm with claws extended. Janna grabbed the cat by the tail and flung him. Boots ran out of the garage. Janna realized the wound on her leg was bleeding profusely. Kathy wrapped the wound firmly with gauze and then rushed Janna to the Emergency Room. She was given two antibiotics to combat infections. The wound was cleansed and redressed. The next day, Janna looked like she had been through a bar fight – large bruises, multiple scratches, not to mention the open wound on her leg. (It was left open to drain, decreasing chances of infection.) Needless to say, it was a very traumatic experience for my friend.

Maybe you’ve been blindsided by something shocking in your life too. I know I have. It may not have been a beast but it could well have seemed like it.These incidents that you never expect to happen can leave you traumatized and almost paralyzed with fear. Maybe it was a pink slip you never anticipated. Or a spouse that walked out. Or a doctor that gave you or your child a diagnosis that you know just can’t be true, but is. Maybe it was a call from a jail or from the police or the Emergency Room. Any of theses things can wreck havoc with our emotions and leave us numb and not knowing what to do next.

Did Joseph feel this way when his brother’s blindsided him and threw him in the pit? Did Jonah feel this way when the “big fish” swallowed him whole? Did the Apostle Paul feel this way when he was literally blinded on the road to Damascus?

I believe they did as they were just as human as we are. Did they learn that God is always in control, even through their greatest adversities? And did they learn that God was accomplishing his purposes through their struggles? He not only showed them this, but us as well. We now know that Joseph went on to create a long-term agricultural policy that saved Egypt and his family from the seven year famine. Jonah went on to preach to the Ninevites who received his message and repented. And the Apostle Paul expanded the church far and wide and wrote much of the New Testament.

God is still in control of our lives as He fulfills His purposes, just as He was in the lives of Joseph, Jonah, and Paul. None of us would choose to be blindsided, but be encouraged that God may be using you for a specific assignment when it happens. Hold on – and ride it out – He’s got your back.

Until next time, keep on readin’ and I’ll keep on writin’.