The Crazy Cat

When I was a kid, my family had a cat named Anthony. Anthony was a strange cat. He liked to chase our dog. He liked to clap his “hands.” And he liked strange things.

Have you ever tried to give a cat or a dog a ride in something? Most animals hate rides and run away fast. But not Anthony. My mom had a 60-cm stainless steel mixing bowl. One day, the bowl was on the floor for some reason and Anthony climbed in. So, we decided to give him a ride. We slid the bowl along the floor, expecting Anthony to jump out. But he didn’t. He stayed in the bowl, purring.

After that, the bowl became Anthony’s bowl. My family and I would slide the bowl along the floor from one person to another with Anthony in it, and he loved it. Then, someone got the idea to spin the bowl. Faster and faster we spun the bowl until Anthony became really dizzy. Then, we dumped him out of the bowl onto the floor. At first, he was so dizzy that he couldn’t walk or even stand up. But as soon as he could, he staggered over to the bowl and climbed back in. Again we spun the bowl and dumped the dizzy cat out. Again he got back in. Over and over we did it until we were afraid that Anthony would get sick. Anthony was a crazy cat.

Another thing that Anthony liked was water. Now, cats aren’t supposed to like water, but Anthony never went to cat school and he never learned to hate water. Anytime one of us took a shower, Anthony would get into the shower with us. He liked to lie on the drain and dam up the water. He was a crazy cat.

One day, my dad decided to put Anthony’s hobbies to the test. He got an inner tube and put Anthony’s bowl in the center opening. Then, he took the inner tube and bowl to the pond near our house. He put Anthony in the bowl, and floated it on the pond. He figured that since Anthony liked the bowl and liked water, he’d like to ride in the bowl on the water. But Anthony didn’t like it.

The bowl drifted for a while. It was too far for Anthony to jump, and he didn’t want to swim, so he stayed in the bowl. Eventually, the bowl drifted closer to the shore, and Anthony thought he was close enough to jump. So, he did. But when he jumped, instead of going forward, he pushed the bowl backward. Then, he splashed into the water.

Now, Anthony was angry. He quickly swam to the shore and climbed the first tree he came to. He stayed there for three hours, refusing to come down when we called him. And Anthony never got into his bowl again.

Anthony was definitely a crazy cat. He was really different from the other cats. And people are kind of like Anthony. God made each one of us to be different. We like different things. We’re good at different things. But unfortunately, sometimes we say bad things about people who are different from us.

The Bible says in Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me” (CEV).Let’s remember that God made everyone the way they should be. Even if we’re different. Even if we’re crazy!