Gratuitous Cat Post #4

This is Lulu, who is one of the most awesome felines ever to walk on four legs. She's also a very gentle critter, unless you happen to be a chipmunk or a mole or some other small rodent who lives in our neighborhood. She's got just enough of her predator instinct to be bad news for those guys. But hey, we live in a fallen world.

If you haven't ever done so, check out John Wesley's sermon, "The General Deliverance." It has a beautiful expression of hope for the final redemption of all God's creatures.

Cats included, of course.

[Update on 11/5/09: CNN is reporting the first cat to have contracted the H1N1 flu virus. See this link for the story.]

Gratuitous Cat Post #3

Hospice Kitty or Furry Grim Reaper?

Oscar may be a little of both. My wife alerted me to this story, which you have simply got to read.

It tells about a two-year old cat named Oscar, who grew up in a nursing facility and has developed the knack of knowing when the facility's residents are about to pass away. Apparently, he curls up at their sides just hours before death. And he is so accurate that the staff knows it is time to call the family when Oscar comes calling.

One of the interesting things about the description of Oscar is that he doesn't seem to be sentimental at all about his duties. He doesn't want to be cuddled, but instead goes about his "rounds" in a businesslike manner.

Oscar presents some interesting questions: Should he do a unit of CPE for more training? Could he benefit from a pastoral care class to improve his bedside manner? Would Duke's Institute for Care at the End of Life be interested in having Oscar as a speaker on campus? The possibilities seem endless.

Gratuitous Cat Post #2

So why is the term "cat owner" a misnomer? Read on...

The Washington Post carried a fascinating article about the domestication of cats a few days ago, called "Why do cats hand around us? (Hint: They Can't Open Cans)." The story reports the conclusion of scientists about the history of cats' domestication.

Researchers argue that cats were domesticated in a much different way than other animals such as dogs, horses, cattle, and goats. All these other critters served important functions of either food or labor for our prehistoric ancestors. So we sought them out for domestication, and we selectively bred them to be more docile and more willing to submit to our control.

Not so with cats. Our furry feline friends don't fit the profile of other domestic animals. You can't slap a saddle on them and go for a ride (like horses). You can't get them to pull a heavy load (like cattle or oxen). They're not much good in the way of hunting or protection (like dogs). And the darned little critters are just too tough and stringy to eat.

So why did they ever get domesticated? The story reports that cats were originally drawn to grain stores that prehistoric people gathered once they became settled farmers. Grain draws rats and mice. And mice and rats draw, well, cats. People like for cats to eat the vermin that civilization tends to attract, so we kept them around. But the article argues that people didn't selectively breed them (at least, not originally). Cats wouldn't allow it. What cats did, though, was selectively breed themselves. More congenial cats could count on a bowl of milk or a night indoors, and those are helpful things for survival. But cats are, according to this story, still much closer to their wild cousins than other domestic species. That explains why the average housecat can fend for itself in the wild, whereas the average Cocker Spaniel just won't last that long.

Genetic research shows that domestic cats today are all descended from a single wildcat species that existed in the Ancient Near East. Unlike other species that were domesticated independently of one another, in different times and different geographical locales, cats were really only domesticated once. And when humans moved to new areas, they didn't re-domesticate new cat species. They just carried their cats with them.

So are you a "cat owner"? Of course not. There's no such thing!

Gratuitous Cat Post

I tend to shy away from personal posts on this blog. I like reading personal posts on other people's blogs, but that isn't why I created Gen X Rising.

Then, of course, there's my cats. The Typist over at Dogblogger allows her dog to have an entire blog to itself. And John the Methodist at Locusts and Honey has long chronicled the daily habits of his rabbits.

So I figure Lulu and Ruthie deserve at least one decent post. My apologies in advance. And thanks for the indulgence.

When Emily and I married, we were both single parents raising feline children. So there was a certain Brady Bunch quality to the whole thing. I had Ruth, a tempermental and skittish gray tabby. And Emily had Lulu, who sometimes acts so sedated that we are afraid she's secretly addicted to tranquilizers. (Side story: When we moved to North Carolina, we got some actual kitty tranquilizers from a vet friend of ours. We figured 12 hours in the car would be tough on them. So we put the pills in the middle of a delicious meal of Fancy Feast, per our vet's instructions. Ruthie ate all around her pill without touching it, and then got extremely agitated when we tried to force it down her throat; Lulu dutifully gobbled hers up and spent the next 9 or 10 hours in a coma.)


So that's Lulu above. I love this picture because it looks like the Holy Spirit is being poured out directly onto her. (And hey, who's to say that it isn't??) She is a serene animal. For you Myers-Briggs types, she is whatever combination of letters equals "calm, agreeable, friendly, and generally takes life as it comes."


Then there's Ruth. Unlike Lulu, Ruthie spent her first few months on the streets. I rescued her back in 2003, but she's never been able to fully shake the feral nature that her early kittenhood gave her. She's a great cat, but she spends a lot more time outdoors (and she has a disturbing tendency to kill small animals like birds and moles and then leave them on our back doorstep). She's a good cat too, but she plays by her own rules. Lulu would never think of spending the night anywhere other than at the foot of our bed; Ruthie, on the other hand, often spends all night wandering the neighborhood.

In the picture above, Ruthie has managed to get herself up on the roof of our garage and is trying to figure out a way down. Typical.

Ok, so I feel better now. Thanks.

New like Newby

What can a 20-year old cat teach us about annual conference? A lot, if you ask me. In my column this week, I write about Newby, an elderly feline who experienced a rejuvenation when she was turned into an outside cat after 16 years of living indoors. (This is all a true story. Newby lives in Jackson, Tenn, and I heard her tale directly from her owner.)

Newby's personal renaissance was not a miracle. She simply rediscovered the telos of cathood - namely, chasing small animals, basking on sunny porches, and generally catting around the neighborhood. And when she got in touch with her inner cat, Newby's numerous physical problems disappeared practically overnight. She had spent 16 years on the couch, so to speak, and she just needed to relearn what it meant to be a cat. And that made all the difference. For the past four years, she has had a new lease on life.

So what does this have to do with annual conference? Or General Conference, for that matter? I think everything. The Wesleyan idea of holy conferencing could be a great way for us to support one another and equip one another for ministry. It could be a place of powerful prayer, enthusiastic evangelism, charismatic conversation, and wonderful worship. There are elements of that in conferences now. But we still allow bureaucracy, legislation, reports, and Robert's Rules to dominate.

Like Newby, we need to get back in touch with our inner cat. We need to remember what we have forgotten, namely, what the purpose of Methodists gathering in conference is supposed to be about. I plan to work on that at the Arkansas Annual Conference session, which starts tomorrow in Russellville. I know there are others out there. But it is going to take a grassroots movement, and no large ship can be turned on a dime.

I am, by the way, standing as a candidate for election to General Conference 2008. I haven't written about that at all on this blog, because I do not want to 'campaign' in the traditional way. But it has been a matter of prayer for me for several weeks now, and I plan on engaging some of my lay and clergy colleagues in conversation around General Conference issues this next week. Regardless of whether I am ultimately chosen, I do find it heartening that several Gen-X clergy and lay delegates are standing as candidates. I think this is a sign of hope.