March 19, 2001
CYBERCOLUMN:
Faith and a flying cat
___By John Duncan
___I'm sitting here under the old oak tree reflecting on faith. "What is faith?" is a question zooming around my brain like children circling a roller skating rink.
___What is faith? The writer of Hebrews says faith is the substance of things hoped for,the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Scholars remind us faith has a foundation connected to more than a wish and proof that you cannot see. The ancient Greeks noted conviction as being legal proof in court in the circumstance of an accusation.
JOHN DUNCAN
___So, let me get this right, faith has an invisible foundation and proof that you cannot get your eyes on. I think that's why I struggle with faith, because I don't crave the invisible and I like to see proof.
___Long before the book of Hebrews was written, Jesus said faith is like a tiny mustard seed, Plant it deep in the soil of the soul and it grows.
___Jesus also commended the faith of a man who wanted his son healed. The man told Jesus he did not even need to go see his son. All Jesus need to do, begged the man, was make his son well in that present moment. Whatever faith is, Jesus and the man together hint that faith covers a lot of distance in a short period of time.
___And, of course, my favorite is Jesus calling the little children to him. The disciples tried to shoo the nasty, snotty-nosed kids away. But Jesus welcomed them into his lap and said that the kingdom of God requires the wide-eyed wonder and faith of a child.
___What is faith?
___ When I cannot understand something, a story often helps. Not so long ago, a church member passed me the story of a little girl. The story may be one of those e-mail stories that makes its way into your computer or a story whose details have changed with the telling. You know how that goes. The girl, though, does not have a name. And a pastor shows up in the story--it could be yours, it could be mine.
___ What is faith?
___ A pastor and his family, a wife and daughters, had a kitten once upon a time that climbed up in a tree in the family's backyard. The girls loved the kitty, and the pastor watched the kitty cat as it would not come down out of the tree. The pastor did everything he could to force the cat out of the tree. He offered milk. He chanted, "Here kitty, kitty." He reached high with his hand in hopes that the kitty would take hold.
___ The pastor thought of climbing the tree. The tree, one of those young, budding trees with green wood, was not strong enough to climb. The pastor, ingenious as a pastor can be, came up with a great plan to rescue the beloved kitty cat from the tree.
___ The pastor decided that he would tie a rope to the tree, tie the other end of the rope to his car, then slowly ease the car forward while bending the tree down just far enough to reach up and secure the little cat.
___ Anxiously, the pastor tied the rope to the tree, the other end of the rope to the car just like he planned. He sat down in the seat of the car, fired up the car engine, and slowly eased the car forward … until the rope broke. Now, I do not have to tell you pastors and their ideas can sometimes get them in trouble. But I will tell you that when the rope broke the cat was removed from the tree, catapulted into mid-air like a rocket launch that sends the space shuttle into orbit. The cat took flight, if I may wax poetic, out of sight!
___The pastor, as pastors are prone to feel sometimes, felt horrible. He felt bad for himself, for his daughters and, yes, for the cat.
___ What is faith?
___ Immediately, the pastor turned off the car engine and began to look all over the neighborhood for the cat. The pastor went door to door, never explaining the details of his predicament, but simply asking, "Have you seen a little kitty cat?" As the pastor walked, he prayed, until finally he gave up the search. Only pastors do this kind of thing, so he prayed one last final prayer for the cat, "Lord, I commit this cat to your care." The pastor went home and returned to life as normal.
___ Two days later, the pastor shopped at the grocery store. He met a lady, one of his church members who also was a neighbor, while cruising the aisles and loading his shopping cart. They chatted, and he looked into her shopping cart and noticed cat food.
___ The pastor's mind now raced. After all, this church member and neighbor, he knew and the whole world knew, was a cat hater. He looked, thought, and asked, "Why are you buying cat food when you don't like cats?"
___ She smiled and responded with her story. "Pastor, you will not believe this," she began as she shared the news about her little girl who had been begging for a cat. "Every time my daughter begged for a cat I told her no, repeatedly, until finally I had it up to here with her begging for a cat. So I just told her, 'If the Lord gives you a cat, I'll let you keep it.'
___"Pastor, you won't believe this. I told you this is unbelievable, but I saw it with my own eyes. As soon as I said, 'If the Lord gives you a cat …,' my little girl marched right out the front door and into the front yard and got down on her knees and asked the Lord for a cat. And, then, with my own eyes watching out the kitchen window, a kitten came flying right out of the big, blue sky, it paws spread out, its fur standing on edge, and landed right in front of my little girl."
___ What is faith?
___ Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen and the courage to seek God. Faith is a little girl kneeling in the front yard asking God for a cat, followed by the laughter of God.
___ John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines.
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