 “Up a Tree”
While an athletic boy of twelve I stepped into a “cat up a tree” situation on a hot July day.
A neighborhood girl was pleading frantically for her large orange cat Pookie to come down out of a massive oak tree. The horrified tom-cat had his claws dug in. He was in the uppermost part of the tree.
I decided to rescue the poor thing. When I got to within reach of the ridged feline, I reached out only to be hissed at, scratched and bitten. There was a person behind me to grab the flailing creature and carry the orange monster safely down.
When I saw how high up I was, I suddenly became part of the tree with a passionate death grip on the branch I was on. Meanwhile, I became the cat up the tree.
Forty-five minutes later, my father appears in white shirt and tie, coming back from work. He pleaded with me to come down, to no avail. Loosening his tie, he shinnied up the tree to my feet causing his white dress shirt to be chafed green and brown.
“Let go, I will guide you down”, he begged. Inch by inch he would say, “Trust me, I will catch you”.
He would tug on my pant leg until finally my feet touched the ground.
The words of Psalm 91 stand out: “Abide in the shadow of the Almighty; My refuge and my fortress; My God in whom I trust. |
