CHRISTY LOVE
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TRUFFLE BY PETER LIU PHOTOGRAPHY CREATIVE COMMONS FLICKR.COM
CHRISTY LOVE
It was Wednesday and the scrawny, little kitten was still hanging around the day care center where I worked. Someone said the cat lady down the street, whoever that was, had dumped off another bunch of kittens. I pictured an old, white haired woman with a house full of cats. I liked cats but only one or two at a time. I heard someone say she needed to be reported to the humane society!
This little female kitten was the only one left and I wondered what had happened to the other kittens. I forced myself to ignore her, since she looked really sick and would probably die during the cold weekend. Anyway, our apartment building rules didn’t allow pets. As I walked around the play yard interacting with my bundled-up four-year-olds at play, the little black dot with two black triangles on top, was watching me.
By six thirty, Friday evening, when all the children were picked up and gone, I looked out my classroom window hoping the cat was gone. The fuzzy creature was still on the ramp. I buttoned my coat, grabbed my purse, and left the building before I changed my mind. Sandy was taking me to Bud’s Broiler tonight and I was drooling for a burger and fries! All of a sudden, half way home, I turned around right in the middle of the long driveway to our apartment and went back to the center. Something seemed to be pushing me along and it wasn’t the wind. The front door of the daycare was still unlocked.
Like a coughed-up hair-ball, the wisp of a kitten snuggled weakly into the warmth of the arm of my winter coat. I used my gloved hand to shelter her as the wind whipped up. Every few steps, I checked to make sure she was still there and I hadn't dropped her; I could barely feel her emaciated body. I climbed the stairs to the second floor to our apartment and for the first time I wondered what Sandy would say about me bringing home a cat.
Sandy was in the shower so I had some time to think about what I would say. But first, I warmed a saucer under the hot, tap water, then poured a tiny amount of milk in it for the cat. While she ate, I found a small box and spread a soft, hand towel inside for her bed. Miss kitty licked up all the milk and she was grooming her face with her tongue and paw. My heart liquefied into jello! I was definitely a cat woman. She looked up at me with her opaque eyes and mewed, as if to say, thank you. I picked her up to cuddle and she gave me a little purr.
Oh, Sandy! Pleeeeease, please let me keep her!
When I heard Sandy come out the bathroom door I put the cat down in the box and pushed it gently under the kitchen table.
“Hi, in there! It’s Friday,” I said. “Do you still want to go to Bud’s Broiler?”
“Yeah, if you do,” Sandy said as he dressed. Our apartment was only two rooms with a full bath and sliding doors that hid a small kitchen. Sandy used metal shelves affixed with paneling as a divider to separate the kitchen from the living room.
“How was work today?” I asked him as I cleaned the saucer.
“Okay, I guess! I got really dirty again! I hope I don’tsmell like gasoline! I scrubbed a long time to get it off.”
“That’s okay! I don’t mind the smell of gasoline if it’s not too strong.” Sandy filled the gas tanks of privately owned jets at the old New Orleans airport.
What am I going to say to Sandy about the kitten, LORD?
When I finished and turned around, Sandy was standing in the doorway of our bedroom looking so handsome in his casual, dress clothes instead of those ugly work clothes. Then, I realized the cat was out of the bag, or the box! At least he was grinning and not frowning!
“What is that?” he said as he pointed behind me.
“What is what?” I said stalling for time.“Oh, you mean this little kitty?”
“Lucy, you have some ‘splaining to do!”
“Ricky, I can ‘splain everything!”
I swooped up the little fuzz ball and Sandy came over still smiling which was a very good thing. I lifted the cat to him and he took her.
“She’s a scrawny little thing,” he said as he scratched her itty, bitty head, “where'd you find her?”
"I didn't find her! She found me!" I said.
" 'splain, Lucy," Sandy said.
“Some cat woman dropped a bunch of kittens off at the daycare this past Monday and she’s the only one left. It was so cold I didn’t want her to freeze or starve to death this weekend.”
“You know the rules about pets here,” he reminded me.
“I know, I know! I’ll just keep her until I can find a home for her, okay?”
“Okay then, let’s go eat, I’m starving!”
Of course nobody wanted the kitten because I never mentioned her to anyone. We named her Christy Love after the woman who starred on the TV policeman series back in the 70s called Get Christy Love. Sandy loved the kitty as much as I did, and she loved him, too.
On our way out of New Orleans, three days before Christmas, we made a short stop at Mrs. Feux's house, a deaf lady, to give her something. Because it was warm and muggy that day, we lowered one window a couple of inches for Christy Love who was about two months old.
When we returned to the car about thirty minutes later we couldn’t find Christy Love anywhere in the car! How did she get out of the car through the crack of the window? Sandy and I wandered around the neighborhood for almost an hour, calling her name. The thought of not finding Christy Love was making it hard for me to breathe. I couldn't comprehend another another day without her!
Lord, help us to find Christy Love.
After an hour Sandy held me and said we had to go on without her. We had a 900 mile drive to Hamilton, Ohio. He told Mrs. Feux to keep an eye out for Christy Love. She was very sweet and sad for us and promised she would look out for her. That satisfied me some but not much. I missed her so much already and I was worried how she would survive on her own.
Lord, watch over Christy Love wherever she is. Let somebody find her and love her as much as we do!
I didn't said a word for a long time and neither did Sandy. As I looked out my window, I watched the Florida greenery change into Georgia’s red clay. God seemed to say don't let your loss of Christy Love mess up your Christmas!
LORD, You let Christy Love find me, and now she’s gone! I barely had her… how can I go on without her? I miss her so much already! Please watch over her and let the nice deaf woman find her or a nice family. LORD, Help me have a Merry Christmas because of Jesus becoming a baby and a man to die and save me from my sin.
Four hours passed.
“Kaaathieeee,” Sandy's weird voice shocked me.
“What’s wrong Sandy?” I said as my heart leaped to my throat.
The way he was slumped over to the right of the steering wheel I thought he was having a heart attack! I panicked! It was too dark to see his face. “Sandy! Are you okay? Pull over! Pull the car over!” I cried. The car was swerving back and forth!
Help us Jesus! Please, Help us!
Sandy raised his right hand up and said, “Look! Look what I have in my hand!”
I couldn’t see that well in the dark car so I flipped on the light and I couldn't believe my eyes.
“It’s Christy Love,” he said. “I felt something move against my foot!
“Christy Love? Is she alive?” I asked because she wasn’t moving. Gently, I took her from his hand and cradled her in my arms like a baby. She laid back and stretched her arms way over her head with a big yawn. “She was asleep under your seat this whole time?” Her green eyes sparkled in the moonlight for a split second. I put her across my shoulder.
“You’re here! You were in the car the whole time! You little stinker!” I cried as I nuzzled her face with mine.
“Thank you sweet Jesus!”
It was going to be an extra wonderful Christmas!
* * *
We are all used to having disappointments in our life. It comes with the territory of living in a cursed world full of sin. Things don't always end up positive, the way it did when Sandy found Christy Love under his seat. A little later, in my memoirs, you will read something else that happens to Christy Love that challenges my faith.
God and His angels are always watching to see how we handle our disappointments. They are not for judging us but they are joyous with our growing faith and helpful during doubt or danger. Without problems we cannot grow; without Jesus as our personal Savior and knowing His Word we have no armor to fight satan. Our armor is the Word of God that builds our faith and makes satan flee when we speak it aloud.
Do we always remember pray? No. Do we pray about something but still worry about it without faith? Yes, Do we give satan ammunition to attack us when we voice our doubts?Yes. Or, do we keep our doubts to our self and search for scripture to build our faith and quote to make satan flee? Yes.
What grades (not judgments) are you getting on your tests in daily life? Are your doubts pushing down your faith? The Word of God is mighty medicine for every situation. The Bible says:
Romans 10:17
[17] So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
