Evangelism basics
Starting with tip from a cat
By Frank G. Honeycutt M
y college-age son, Lukas, recently rescued an ema- ciated and homeless cat wobbling through a dark parking lot near Spartanburg, S.C. T e poor thing
hardly had enough energy to purr. “I couldn’t leave her, Dad, she was almost dead. Would you have leſt her?” he asked. An inner voice said, “Well, yes, I would’ve,” having
read just that week where a cat’s upkeep for a lifespan came to several thousand dollars. Lukas stood there in the doorway that night with his
cat. My wife melted at the scene. And I was sunk with no real vote. Lukas decided to call her Raney aſt er a charac- ter in a Clyde Edgerton novel. As I could have predicted, Raney soon belonged to my
wife and me, as our compassionate and literature-loving son was immersed in academic pursuits where felines are forbidden. I really thought we were through with pets and their accompanying expense, so I resentfully tried to keep my distance. Raney was undeterred and wormed her way into
my heart. Even now, when I enter the shower, she hops between liner and curtain, fearless around water as she perches on the porcelain, waiting for me to emerge. Raney even jumped in with me once, which was interesting. You might be familiar with a lower spine stretch
known as “the horse.” On all fours, one stretches opposite extremities (an arm and a leg) in diff erent directions in a position that resembles a superhero takeoff . Raney has taken to mimic me in this stretch, her back leg stretch- ing when mine extends. I’ve never seen a cat behave this way. I think we could both make it on the Late Show with David Letterman as a team. She’s a constant companion
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whenever I’m home, almost like a faithful dog. She’s grateful, I suspect. Grateful to have been found
and given a home.
Making disciples I’ve been a pastor for almost 30 years, entering now into the home stretch and newly pondering the practical gist of Jesus’ Great Commission in Matthew 28: to go and make disciples. “Disciples are made, not born” said the wise Christian
author Tertullian many centuries ago. And if he’s right about such a seemingly simple declaration, then a rather complex follow-up question always tags along: “Well, how are disciples made?” T e author of 2 Peter asks a related question: “What
sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God ...?” (3:11-12). T ere will always be a profound interplay (and pal-
pable tension) between justifi cation and sanctifi cation in any congregation that takes discipleship and Jesus’ Great Commission seriously. Our cat Raney exhibits specifi c (albeit feline) characteristics of gratitude, aff ection, loy- alty and even mimicry as a result of getting found when she was once lost. Should congregations require these traits as a litmus test of authentic discipleship? Or, minimally, expect them? I’ve served in Lutheran congregations for
my entire pastoral career and have noticed that even using the word “expecta- tions” in conjunction with
SHUTTERSTOCK
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