Instructive new kitten

We came home about three weeks ago and met a 10 week old kitten waiting at the front door. I picked him up, and he adopted us.

They say that you can pick your friends but not your family. Hospitality means you don't necessarily get to pick your friends either - anyone who comes under the shadow of your roof can likely claim your protection.

So it's true of God that we have not chosen him but that he has chosen us, as Jesus said, and as Paul wrote in Romans 11 and elsewhere. But it's also true that whoever comes to Jesus he will in no way cast out. Just as that kitten got to adopt us, we get to adopt God if we want.

Stephen named him Squeak, which indeed he does. He has also sometimes been called Littledick when he steals Maggie's food, which is bad for him. Maybe he reminds somebody of Little Richard. The color isn't too far off.

He also does furious battle with a shoelace, Gayle's shoe, a piece of plastic wrap, or a scrap of paper thrown at him. When God looks at us, how often does he see us fighting similar battles, and against like things? And does it entertain him as Squeak entertains us? I think so, and I believe that Proverbs 8 backs me up.

Squeak likes to sleep behind me on the chair when I'm working. When he climbs up, it's better when I'm wearing a shirt. He thinks I'm Dad. Never mind that I'm overlarge and have only two feet, among other ways in which I differ from his kind. He takes a broader view of such things than many people, who fail to recognize kinship due to such differences as degree of suntan, language spoken, citizenship in some national entity, or whatever.

As Isaiah says, the ox knows its owner and the ass his master's manger, but that's more than God's people know that really don't know him. And like those animals, Squeak, too, is a good example.