The Determined Manx Cat, the Rodent, and the Purpose for Living

Bob, the orange and white manx cat, was born in early April of 2014. The last time I saw him was the morning of January 17, 2017. This manuscript was written in 2016 but edited after his disappearance. 
Bob, the Rodent, and the Purpose for Living

When Bob, the orange and white manx cat, was born, my father had suffered a major, debilitating stroke just five days earlier. Then about ten days later, the mama cat disappeared. We did not need four tiny kittens to bottle feed. Angie checked into shelters, but obviously, we would have to relinquish the kittens to a volunteer to foster them until they were old enough to be adopted. Since several of our cats had died or gone missing, Mother campaigned to keep them. She reiterated the necessity of cats for rodent control.

Thus, began Bob’s role of rodent eradicator. By the time, he reached his second birthday, he was the only one of the bottle-fed kittens surviving. Even though Doc Reavis suggested specified food to minimize maladies unique to his breed, he approved of Bob’s strong hunting desire on the farm.

Bob usually stayed out until I got ready to feed the cattle. He responded with rapidity to his name. However, one day, I called and called his name. I proceeded to feed the outside cats. Then I began loading the pellet-filled buckets for the cattle into the back of the pickup.

To my amazement, Bob appeared, lumbering toward the gate. He had an enormous rodent in tow. He seemed to understand the stunned, but living rodent could not be taken onto the screened-in porch where he slept each night. Neither did he try to approach me as he normally did.

Bob retained his focus as one of the farm’s best exterminators of vermin. He glanced at me loading the feed buckets into the back of the pickup, but he didn’t act on the wish to be with me. With lightning speed, he turned back and pounced on the semi-immobile pasture pest. Devouring this rodent remained his paramount mission.

As I drove back from feeding and checking Mother’s little herd, I thought about the earlier experience with Bob. The scripture from Luke 2 about Mary and Joseph accidentally leaving the 12-year-old Jesus in the metropolis of Jerusalem came to the forefront of my mind. When they located him, in the temple, involved in an intense discussion with the leading theological minds of the day, Mary expressed her anxious heart in her initial question to her son. The Savior of the world, in the body of a preteen boy, responded eloquently, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

First a disclaimer – in no way do I equate Bob, the manx cat, with the Son of God, the Redeemer of mankind. But the young Christ was reminding His mother of what the angel had told her before His birth, along with the birth announcement to the shepherds explaining who He was that holy night. Likely,  the extravagant gifts presented in humility by men of renowned intellect when Jesus was just a toddler came to her mind. Jesus knew that he had a specific mission. I draw a simple comparison that Bob knew his purpose on the farm just as Jesus was laser-focused on his mission to the world.

That led me to a personal question for myself. Do I stay focused on what I was created to do? I proceeded in my thoughts to ask what God’s Word says about my purpose. The Bible has many verses about this topic, but here are three:

I want them back, every last one who bears My name, every man, woman, and child

Whom I created for My glory, yes, personally formed and made each one.

Isaiah 43:7 – The Message

The people I made especially for Myself,

A people custom-made to praise Me.

Isaiah 43:21 – The Message

Everything got started in Him

And finds its purpose in Him

Colossians 1:16 – The Message

One of my favorite verses dealing with this subject of our purpose, our mission, or our focus as humans was learned under the teaching of Donnie Linscott, the pastor of the Ralston Baptist Church from 1968-1971. Donnie came to Ralston when the church building was located on the corner of Main Street and First Street. Those of us in the young people’s Sunday night Bible study benefited from the clarity of his Bible teaching.

Connie Linscott with Lance, who was born while they
were pastoring at Ralston Baptist Church. During their
tenure in Ralston, the church facility located at First 
and Garfield was erected.

I can still recall the Sunday evening when he posed the question to introduce that Sunday night session. He asked us, “Why did God put you on this earth?” For teenagers, it has always been a question that has ushered the seeking young person from the carefree days of childhood through the right of passage into those tumultuous adolescent years. Donnie and his wife, Connie, ensured that we memorize Revelation 4:11. The only version of the Bible that we used at that time was the King James Version. Below is that powerful verse that became the foundation for my mission in life:

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power:

For Thou has created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.

Revelation 4:11 – The King James Version

Based on Donnie Linscott’s introduction of this verse, I study the Bible even today with the quest of how can my life, my words, my attitudes, and my thoughts bring glory, honor, and pleasure to the mighty God who created me. Throughout my days and weeks, sometimes even minutes and hours, I pray for insight to know that every aspect of my existence is pleasing Him. Do I achieve this each day? No, but I seek to depend upon Him to enable me to please Him.

My mother, like Donnie and Connie Linscott, taught me a passage that has provided such a basis for pleasing Him. Mother taught me Ephesians 2:8-10 by her frequent quoting of it. Here are the verses I memorized:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-10 – The King James Version

If I have accepted the gift of God, His Son, Jesus Christ, then I have the basis to please Him. But it really isn’t me. Paul said that we do what we do because of His good works at work in me if we are relying on Him as He has intended for us to do.

Just as Bob, the lovable manx cat, accomplished what he was created to do and kept on the farm to do, may each of us truly find our purpose. Seek that gift of salvation through faith and receive the impetus, the very Spirit of Jesus Himself,  to do good for Him so He can be  “bragged on” and exalted in our lives each day.