Chapter Eight of Cats are Cool

Baby, the Sheep

“Run, Baby! It’s our car.” And there goes Baby streaking down the steps like a bullet to arrive at the front door before his “master”, my husband gets there.

He is so cute, because it’s just about the only time he moves really fast. Baby likes to lie around, especially close by me. When I am working on the computer, he likes to lie in my lap, or in the chair right beside me. When I’m not home, he lies right on my husband’s feet. The thing he hates most in the world is when we are both gone. When we leave, he follows us to door, tries to go with us and when he can’t, he jumps up onto the windowsill and watches us leaving, crying the whole time. As soon as we get home, he is at the door, doing his little “coming home” dance.

One of the things we noticed is that Baby knows the sound of our car. When any other car comes up the hill where we live, he could care less. He only budges when he is sure it is our car. I don’t know how he does it. For a short time, one of the neighbors had a car just like ours. Whenever I heard it, I was sure it was my husband coming in the driveway. Not Baby. When he heard that car, he would lift his head, cock his ears, then lie back down. The sound may have fooled me, but not Baby. He only runs downstairs to the front door when it is our car.

Sometimes, when the house was all closed up, with the air conditioning on, and Baby was sound asleep, I would be startled to see him jump up and go to the door. I didn’t know why until I heard my husband calling out his greetings a few minutes later. I didn’t hear a thing, but Baby did. He knows the sound of our car and when we are arriving home.

Jesus said in John 10:14: “"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” (NIV) The shepherd cares for his sheep and the sheep know the shepherd’s voice. That’s like Baby. We take care of him and he knows us. He can distinguish the sound of our car from all the other cars on our street.

Jesus doesn’t really talk to sheep, however. He’s talking about his followers, those people who believe in Him. He’s comparing himself to the shepherd and the Christians to the sheep. The Christians love and know Jesus, like the sheep love and know their shepherd. Jesus cares for the Christians like the shepherd cares for the sheep. The sheep know their shepherd, so the Christian should know Jesus.

How can the Christian know Jesus? There are a lot of ways. How does the sheep know the shepherd, or how did Baby get to recognize the sound of our car? By spending time together and association. That is to say, Baby paid attention to the sound of our car every time we arrived, because that was important to him. He waited and listened for us. After so many times, it just became easier and easier for Baby to recognize the sound of our car.

We can spend time with Jesus by reading the Bible, which is one way he “talks” to us. We can spend time with Jesus talking to him, through our prayers. We can even learn more about Jesus through classes and worship services at our church. The more time we spend with Him, the better we get to know him and the more our friendship grows.

So, how well do you know Jesus? Would you like to know Him better? Go for it! Just like Baby knows us well, we can know Jesus well and feel like He is our best friend.

Every time I see Baby at the door, waiting for me to come in and play with him, I am reminded of the fact that Jesus is waiting for me to spend time with him. Baby is my “sheep” waiting for me to care for him, and I am Jesus’ sheep that cares for me. Works out nicely, don’t you think?