Little

It was just a normal Tuesday morning as I drove to work. A bright sunny morning is a great way to start the day, and I’m a morning person, so there’s that…

I was behind a car on the highway and it was about 5 car lengths ahead of me. Suddenly something fell from the bottom of the car and started thrashing on the highway, before it ran from under the car onto the shoulder of this busy road. I was still trying to see what it was, and the little tail went up as he ran and I said “ it’s a tiny kitten!” I immediately made a U-turn to go back to find it but by the time I got there, the kitten was already in hiding in the small wooded area alongside the highway. I went back after work, but no kitten. I didn’t work the next day but drove over there anyway and spent another good hour walking through the trees and tall grass , meowing in hopes of the kitten responding. Nothing. Another cold night, and a terrified kitten alone in a wooded area along the highway tugged at me as I went to bed and laid there, thinking about how afraid that kitten must feel. The next morning I got up and headed to work for paperwork, and I stopped close to where I saw the kitten fall off of the car. I spent about an hour meowing and walking back and forth . Nothing. I signed my paperwork at work, and as I walked to my truck, I heard a voice, clearly and just as plain as day, say,” go back and get the kitten.” So once again. I parked my truck nearby and walked to the wooded area. But this time I played an audio that I found of a mother cat calling her kittens. It took about a half an hour of playing it and walking back-and-forth until I heard a little meow. It took about an hour of being still and playing the audio to convince the kitten to come close enough to me so that I could touch it, and after I rubbed his back a couple of times he decided that I was not a threat. And I was able to calmly get him by the scruff of his neck and carry him to my truck. When I got him home, I put him in a large crate with all the accessories he needed and a heating pad. A couple of days later, someone I know saw my Facebook post about the kitten and said that they would like to adopt him. So that night they came and picked up, and he’s now a part of their family.

This kitten is like a walking miracle. How he was able to ride on the undercarriage of that car and then fall off right in front of me, and then manage to run out from under the car without getting run over by the back tire is beyond amazing. And then he survived from Tuesday morning to Thursday morning on his own with no milk or food, and didn’t get eaten by a predator. His whole story is just a series of little miracles. When I think of everything that had to happen for this kitten to be saved, it’s hard to fathom.

First of all, I was running early that morning, which is why I decided to follow the car rather than pass it. And as I was following the car, instead of looking at my speedometer or looking out the window, I was looking at the car in front of me, and so I saw the exact moment that the kitten fell off of the undercarriage onto the highway. I saw when it hit the pavement and then I saw it running. And I was shocked that it didn’t get run over in the process. So then because I was running early I had time to go back and look for it. And because I saw it run through the drainage ditch and up the hill, I made a mental note of what was around there so I could go back. And on Thursday. When I heard the voice say, “ go back and get the kitten”, it didn’t tell me to go back and look for the kitten. It told me to go back and get the kitten. A whole series of events transpired to put me in the right place at the right time to rescue an anonymous little emaciated kitten that the world would never have known ever existed. There’s a hymn called “ His Eye is on the Sparrow” that talks about God seeing every sparrow and knowing when it falls, and that if He sees them He sees us too.

People are rescued the same way and often it’s a series of events leading to the rescue, whether it’s a meal, a ride somewhere, a smile or maybe a seemingly simple word of encouragement. Rescues come in many forms and it’s not really just a “ random act of kindness”.. it’s you being put in the right place at the right time.

I had an old vet many years ago, his name was Doc Thomas, in Sarasota Florida, and I took an elderly stray cat to him that was sick. A test confirmed that the old cat had feline leukemia, a dreaded disease that normally ended with euthanasia. When I asked him what we should do, he just looked at me and said.” Every life is worth saving.” He treated the cat and it lived several more happy years as a feedstore cat and loved “coworker”. So the next time you see someone who needs something, and you can give something, even if it’s a kind word, give it. Think BIG…

Be kind to all you meet

Inspire others by your actions

Give something away

Because every life is worth saving. And this little kitten? His new family has named him Angus.