“Angie” the Cat

The most unlikely events can be used by God.  

Angie is a beautiful cat.  She belongs to Martha who lives across the street from Pastor Zara in the city of Henderson, Argentina.  

Pastor and Mrs Zara are well known and loved by practically everyone.  

Their beautiful church planted early in last century is said to be the second AG church ever founded in Argentina.  It was packed with 500 faithfuls last Sunday night and has obviously made a powerful impact on this small town. 

Here are the Zaras with their daughter. Mrs. Zara is a great cook.  I sat at their table today, enjoying a marvelous homemade lunch. 

At the table the conversation went to their neighbor, Martha, because for four days now, her beloved cat, Angie, had been stuck 35 feet high in a tree in Pastor Zara’s yard. Poor Martha had called and called to her for four days... even going out to try it in the middle of the night, but Angie the cat would not try to come down and seemed doomed to die up there.  

Pastor and Mrs. Zara had previously felt rejection so strongly by their neighbor, Martha, that they had given up on trying to make friends with her.  I encouraged them to try again because “Martha needs the Lord, too.”  And I even prayed to that effect.

Then, like a typical Hiatt, I decided to stick my nose in this “none of my business.”  We were still at the dinner table.  First I asked Pastor Zara if he would shut in their three dogs… one of which had apparently “treed” the cat in the first place.  Then with the pastor’s permission I crossed the street and knocked on Martha’s door, told her that the pastor’s dogs were locked inside and perhaps her cat, Angie, might respond to her calls and descend now.  She came over below the tree and pleaded with Angie, but obviously Angie was terrified and was not coming down.

Someone called the volunteer fire department and a fire truck with three fire men came to the rescue. (That is Martha's little flat-roofed house across the street.) But this is not a city with tall buildings, so they did not have a 40 foot ladder available to reach Angie.  By now the neighbors were standing around discussing the problem and a fireman was up in the tree cutting off dead limbs, but with absolutely no hope of approaching Angie who was swinging back and forth in the breeze in the extreme top.  All of us were offering our “wise counsel” to the frustrated firemen. 

Martha was terrified thinking that with all this rumpus her beloved cat might fall to her death.  She told me that an acquaintance had witnessed his cat fall to its death in a similar situation when firemen sprayed it with water.  

Now, in the middle of this stressful time, with a fireman in the tree and limbs crashing to the ground… I observed something and believed God was secretly at work.  Angie, the cat high in the tree, had brought the pastor, his wife and their daughter, (nicknamed... would you believe "Kittie"?) to discuss this situation together with Martha. Down inside I was smiling, because I was witnessing that icy communication barrier starting to melt before my eyes. And I'm praying that it was broken down… forever.

Finally the electric company brought out their truck with a 40 foot elevator.  A fireman in the box almost had Angie in his hands when she leaped to another section of the tree.    

After moving the truck with the elevator to a neighbor’s driveway and an hour or more of effort, Angie was finally within the reach of the fireman in the elevated box once again.  He reach out to retrieve her, but she leaped again and this time fell almost at my feet… landing like cat’s do, on all fours… and she ran away down the street like a streak... with Martha calling and running after her. 

Then I saw it happen from a block away.  A large black dog came out of nowhere and ran after the cat… Oh! Suddenly now there were two dogs!  The large black dog trapped Angie in someone’s yard, grabbed her in his jaws and carried her to the sidewalk where he set the dazed cat down… unhurt, almost at Martha’s feet.  She scooped her beloved Angie up into her arms and carried her home.

We all realized that without the inter-vention of that black dog, Angie would never have been seen again alive.  Many dogs run loose in the cities of Argentina and a loose cat without a tree doesn’t have a chance.  

How many big, black dogs do you know that might catch a fleeing cat in its powerful jaws and bring it near to its mistress and set it down uninjured?

Angie is resting safely inside her house tonight after drinking lots of warm milk and water.  

And I am naive enough to believe that God has used a cat named Angie to break down a communication barrier that will hopefully very soon result in the miraculous conversion of a neighbor named Martha.  Will you help me pray to that end?

At my request the Heroes posed for their picture.

Can you see that car coming with headlights on way down that street? That's where I saw the black dog chasing Angie, the cat.

   

Good days sometimes end with a beautiful sunset. This one did anyway.

Ralph