Pastor's Notes
The MacDonalds were our neighbors in Washington. They were dog people. Well, at least Wayne was a dog man; he brought two German Shepherds into his marriage to Lisa. As neighbors have been known to do, we asked the MacDonalds to take care of our cats while we traveled to faraway California to visit my folks. Lisa said, “Sure!”
A few days later, as we were playing in Solvang, we got a phone call from Wayne. He had noticed that one of the cats was having trouble with his bowel movements. We had confined the cats to an area of house with linoleum floor. Wayne said there were marks, brown ones, on the linoleum. He studied the cat to find –- yep –- dried up and tangled in its fur.
Wayne said he had combed the fur and tried to clean it up as best as he could. Of course that task would have been relatively easy on a nice, obedient dog; however, on a large, long-haired cat, it was borderline dangerous. We thanked him profusely, as he was clearly doing WAY more than we had expected.
The next day, he called again. The cat wasn’t better. In fact, he had spent a good deal of time cleaning up the linoleum and some furniture cushions because of all the …um… well, you know.
Wayne had found the magnet on our fridge that named our vet. He took the cat in. He said he was sorry because it was going to cost us $75 per day just for the boarding, but the cat needed attention. It did end up costing something close to $400 to get the cat back. However, with a lesser steward in charge, the whole fiasco could have cost us the friendship of our dear neighbor, as well as the companionship of our cat!
I often think of Wayne when stewardship comes up. This dog lover didn’t even like cats (I’m pretty sure his experience with ours didn’t change his mind), and yet he did everything he possibly could to take care of this one. And he didn’t even sign up for the job; his wife enlisted him!
Many of the stewardship passages in the New Testament are about the good or the wicked stewards. These folks have been left in charge of something -- often a vineyard, though occasionally another treasure -- while the master goes away. If we had left anyone else in charge, I think we would have come home to a disgusting mess and a very sick, if not dead, cat. But Wayne was faithful. When we returned, our house was clean and the cat was healthy.
I’m sure God was smiling, and maybe getting a good laugh, as Wayne combed that cat’s behind. But I’m also sure God was pleased to see how faithful Wayne was to his task, and to his neighbors. Faithfulness is what stewardship is all about. It’s what we were created to be: faithful stewards.
God created the world and everything in it. And then, according to Genesis, God created us to care for it. That is our job, our purpose in life. We are faithful stewards when we take care of whatever God has called us to take care of: house, family, congregation, the gospel and much more! According to Wayne’s actions, that includes cleaning up after a constipated kitty.
It’s easy to forget our purpose in life. If that weren’t so, I doubt The Purpose-Driven Life would have been an all-time bestseller. And, if we forget our purpose, we certainly can’t be faithful to it. So, next time you are moping, wondering those big questions in life: "Who am I,” and “Why am I here,” remember Wayne and be faithful to your God-given purpose!
Yours in Christ,
Pr Marj