The Orange Blur on the Farm

How Striker, the Kitten, Got His Name

                Last year, we had three male ginger kittens born. The smallest of the three proved himself to be gutsy early on.

                One afternoon I glanced out the window to discover this small, orange feline snatching a large rodent from his mother. As I stepped out on the back-porch stoop for a closer look, vicious, low-pitched growling sounds were being emitted from the tenacious, tiny kitten.

                This little tom cat seemed to always be on the move. In late summer of 2016, I was shocked to find him on the screened-in back porch with Bob, our beloved orange and white Manx cat. The frantic kitten was frenetically running, jumping, and leaping around the porch. Bob observed the behavior in his nonchalant manner, appearing to be unfazed by the frenzied activity of the “orange blur.”

                I tried unsuccessfully to coax the frightened kitten from its self-imposed incarceration. Finally, my only choice was to leave the ginger kitten with Bob overnight. Bob didn’t seem care.

                The next morning the kitten zipped off the porch when he heard the cat food pinging on the containers outside. His stomach propelled him into the great outdoors.

                But from that morning on, the orange kitten would get as close as possible to me and strike at me with one of his front paws. I always wore gloves so he never scratched me, but it was as if he was retaliating for what he had experienced the night when he was imprisoned with Bob.

                Are we as humans ever like little Striker? Don’t we make choices, getting ourselves into predicaments with unpleasant results? Yet how many times do we blame God for the distasteful dilemma and its disappointing consequences? In Numbers 32:23, He warns But if you won’t do so, look out! You will be sinning against the Lord. Be certain of this, that your sin will catch up to you!

                Secondly, many times we meet human Strikers, people who are dealing with the disagreeable effects of poor previous decisions. These individuals appear to be “striking out” at anyone who gets within arm’s reach. In Isaiah 57:20, we read, “But those who still reject Me are like the restless sea, which is never still, but always churns up mire and dirt.” We shouldn’t  be surprised when these people seem to keep things stirred up.

                In truth, we are all like the cute, orange kitten. Paul wrote in Romans 3:23, “All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.” Then three chapters later, he states the uplifting words, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What a remedy for our sinfulness and a promise for our day-to-day living and our eternal future!