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Squawker's managed to do it again. I don't know how he keeps getting himself into trouble, but he's done it again.

The other night I was lying down, about to go to sleep. In the quiet, though, I heard the sound of Squawker meowing--and it seemed far away! I called him, and heard his reply; I followed the sound outside onto the balcony…but he wasn't on the balcony. My first thought was that he had somehow slipped onto the balcony below me, and this was not a pleasant thought: it was after midnight, and Squawker was meowing loudly. I would have to go downstairs and wake my neighbors--assuming Squawker didn't do it first. But then I took a closer look, and discovered--to my surprise, amusement, and great concern--that Squawker wasn't just on the balcony below me: he was on the ground! Outside, off a third-story balcony. How he landed without breaking something, I don't know; but it must have been quite a fall.

I had suspected that something might happen when I first opened the balcony to the cats. Wanting to wander outside, they would both walk to the edge and look over. That first time was filled with anxiety--"They aren't going to jump, are they?" But they didn't. They would look, they would lean over…but then they would back away. Good cats. Smart cats. Well, one of them, anyway. Apparently on this night, Squawker leaned too far, and over the edge he went. He should have heeded Jesus' warning in Matthew 26:41a, "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation"; or Paul's warning in 1 Corinthians 10:12, "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" Unfortunately, he didn't--which meant I had to go downstairs to bring him back home. Sort of like what Jesus said in Luke 14:5--"If one of you has a son or an ox [or a cat] that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?"

The Bible often refers to sin as a fall. Indeed, we call Adam and Eve's first transgression, which brought sin into the world, "The Fall." It is why we live in what we call a "Fallen World." Paul tells us in Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." But have we fallen too far? Paul asks, and answers, that very question in Romans 11:11a--"Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all!"

Jesus Christ came to Earth to pick us up and recover us from our fallen state. Leaning on Him and His promises, and staying far away from the edge of sin, we stand on solid ground. 2 Peter 1:10 - 11 advises us, "Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Jude 24 - 25 tells us, "To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy--to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."

Amen indeed.

In Christ,

--Pastor Dan