No Pee-Yew
Give all your worries and cares to God for he cares about you. 1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)
I have a confession! We feed the nocturnal critters our left overs and mix in dog food. Our regulars are two raccoons (roly-poly ones), two beautiful skunks, Flower and Tulip, and a cat that I have named Porch Cat because it sits on the back porch and looks in the door. Gabby and Carrots (our cats) go nuts but not Porch Cat. All that to say I was awakened about 2 AM this morning with the strong, distinct aroma of skunk. Some poor critter caught its wrath last night. Oh my! Cathy Mayfield (All God’s Creatures) shares her skunk adventure with no pee-yew.
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“Grandma, I don’t like the black and white thing outside.” My husband and I followed our grandson outside to save him from what I assumed was a bug. Then I heard his older brother, “Help…help.”
We hurried to the yard and saw “the black and white thing”—a skunk! We watched as it circled our grandson where he stood, and before we could reach him, the skunk stood up on its hind legs and bit him! Our grandson screamed. We yelled for him to run, which he did, but not before the skunk bit him again. It chased him onto the porch, ignoring the stick my husband swung at it. We ran into the house without anyone else getting bit or the skunk spraying.
As we checked out our grandson’s leg, I worried about how we’d get to the car to take him to meet his parents at the ER without getting sprayed. After doing so, the next hours dragged while we awaited word on our grandson’s fate (eleven injections as a precaution in case the skunk had rabies), help from the game commission in capturing the skunk, or the return of the skunk. I prayed for no complications for our grandson, for his parents not to blame us (they didn’t), and for Jesus to fix this somehow so that the grandkids wouldn’t be afraid to come back to our house.
And did He ever answer! Our oldest grandson not only wasn’t fearful to return but he couldn’t wait. Despite the trip to the ER and all those shots, he thought the whole episode was a cool story to share. The next visit we enjoyed several days of good times, albeit inside! And the skunk? We never saw it again.
Thank You, Jesus, for caring about all our needs—physical and emotional. AMEN.
Photo: Michael Johnston