Animal Experimentation

Cats have nine lives and I know how to tuck-n-roll.

When I was a kid, my dad had a flat roofed shop about eight feet high attached to the back of our house.  

When I was a kid, my neighbors had a big white tom-cat named E.B. I have no idea what the letters E.B. stood for, but that’s what his name was.

When I was a kid, my brothers and I (along with the neighbor kids) had far too many unsupervised hours filled with curiosity and mischief.

They say that curiosity killed the cat. I’m thankful I’m not a cat. But they also say that cats have nine lives and when a cat falls, he always land on his feet. (I should add here when dropped or thrown, but I think the correct term is fall.)

So, what do we have here?

8’ high flat-roofed shop + 1 cat (with 9 lives) + 6 Mischievous kids = Multiple Animal Experimentation*

I couldn't tell you how many times we dropped/tossed poor E.B. off Dad’s shop, but we were all shocked…cat’s really do land on their feet. Not only that, but sometimes they manage to even run away before all four feet hit the ground. Amazing, huh?

This line of experiments led to many attempts by my brother to see if he was part cat. He didn't land on his feet, but he could tuck-n-roll like a pro.

Looking back on my childhood, I see now that I’ve always had a creative imagination. One time I thought I could be Mary Poppins and float with an umbrella from Dad’s shop roof and land on my feet like E.B. It’s a good thing I could tuck-n-roll, because even with the assistance of the umbrella, my cat skills were non-existence. (Click here if you want to read a 'fictionalized' story I wrote about that incident.)

I feel like poor E.B. He didn’t choose to be the source of our decision to use live animals for experimental purposes. While I believe God can intervene in answer to our prayers, I’m learning that free will does indeed exist. Sometimes people make choices around me or for me and it tends to feel similar to being thrown off that shop roof.  It is a struggle, but I'm learning to rest in the Truth that God has a plan for me. Despite what man’s input is into my life, His purposes will be fulfilled. 

I may not understand the what’s, where’s, and why’s of the choices that send us into mid-air, but sometimes I believe God gives us supernatural ability to land on our feet. Maybe this ability comes from the multiple times I’ve had to tuck-n-roll.

So tell me…any of you feeling like E.B.? 

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.                                                                                        Proverbs 19:21   

*no animals were harmed in the creating of this post...but in the living of it, that's questionable.