TGIF

Chester is out of patience.

He wants out.

He had always been an outdoor cat before he was arrested for assault and spent time in the pound.

While there, he was diagnosed with FIV, a deadly virus that cats spread by biting other cats.

Chester likes to bite other cats…with malice and vigor.

Thus, he was sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life.

I am both his beloved owner and the warden of the prison.

He has tried to adapt to his new circumstances, but they are now almost more than he can bear.

He howls and cries to be let out and when I’m gone he does everything he can to escape.

He has successfully rooted the carpet around the door up while trying to tunnel his way under it.

I should have named him “El Chapo”…

He thinks there may be an escape route behind the television thus, I came home to find it face down on the floor as he had to move it first.

Perhaps there is an opening behind the bookcases…so he has pushed the contents of them onto the floor as well.

His misery is compounded by living with Miss Kitty.

Miss Kitty scratches on the door from the outside to be let in, and she sits politely by the door to be let out.

She comes in and out as it pleases her.

He watches her leave while I restrain him and cries loudly…for about half an hour.

He is confused and confounded by my dual roles of provider and jailer.

He was finally frustrated enough to spit at me before breakfast.

He has spent the rest of the morning with his back turned to let me know he’s ignoring me.

I understand his frustration.

I really do.

Sometimes it seems like God has us hemmed in from all sides.

No matter what we do we can’t seem to change our circumstances.

To make matters worse, we see His other kids moving about freely and they like to share their “testimonies” about how the Father was the one that freed them.

We spit toward heaven, then turn our backs to it while we try to find yet another way to escape.

What Chester cannot possibly comprehend are all the reasons I have to keep him where he is at the moment.

He ‘s a bright cat, but not that bright.

I have the same comprehension problem with God.

I don’t know the “whys”, but He does.

What I try to communicate to Chet is that everything I do, I do in love for him.

God says the same about where I am…and where you are.

It doesn’t always feel that way.

It still is that way.

Someday, I hope to find a way to let Chester out safely…while I pray God finds a way to do the same for me.

For now, I have to have faith and clean up some spit.

Make your own application…