Visitor by Susan L.

  A couple of days ago, a roughly ten week old, pure black kitten was sitting by my car. He looked fat and healthy although a bit cold and shivery. I had assumed he was part of the newest crop of feral cats that live in the neighbourhood. They are all fed by another neighbour. My heart wrestled with leaving him out there but I knew Pumpkin has issues with other cats in his territory.
  As I half heartedly called to the kitten, he slunk away under the car. If he had come freely, it would have meant he probably was a dump. That's when people who have unwanted pets drive out to the country and toss their animals on the side of the road. They believe that they will be able to forage and survive in the wilderness. A terrible and cruel practice.
  And I felt bad.
  I got thinking about the scripture where we are called to entertain strangers. I wondered if a kitten fell in that category.
  Last night as I was driving home from Bible study, a pair of glowing eyes flashed from the ditch. They were small so I spun the car around and stopped. It was the kitten. A black blob in the night. I called to him but again, of no avail. He was hiding in some brush so even if I tried to chase him, chances are he'd have gotten away easily. Not only that but it probably would have meant a trip to the ER by the time he got though clawing my hands if I even got that close. Feral cats do not take kindly to being manhandled and I was ill prepared to catch him.
  When another car pulled up to ask if I was okay, (only in the country) the kitten sped away across a ploughed field towards a farm. There wasn't anything else I could do. Hopefully he will find shelter in the barn.
  Lord, watch over the little fellow.
  Note to self. Put a flashlight in the car.
  "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." Jn 10:3-5