This is Fred.
He started to show up around our house several weeks ago... and he wasn't alone.
Back in the fall, my in-laws were passing through town on their way to Florida for the winter. They thought that since we now live in the country our house might be a good place for their "outdoor" cat (Maggie) to spend the winter.
Apparently Maggie knows how to make friends - or at the very least, attract other cats - as we've had no less than 6 other cats that now frequent our front porch or back fence... (I'm starting to fear our new neighbors might think we are 'crazy cat people').
While most of them will come and go, Fred (as I've started to call him - creative, I know) has almost become a permanent fixture on one of the chairs on our front porch. He is there most hours of the day and seems to be a bit on the rugged side. I don't know where Fred lives, or where he goes on the increasingly rare occasion that he's not on our front porch... and to be honest, I don't really care. I don't often give Fred much consideration (not being a cat person and all) unless he looks like he's about to try and enter our home. Then Fred gets a lot more of my attention than he wants!
The past few days Fred has had me wondering about the "Freds" in our worlds.
Are there some who have become so commonplace in our ministry settings that we unknowingly pass them by without much consideration?
Are there students who seem to always be around, yet because they have never engaged us, we don't bother to reach out to?
I find myself today needing to pray for fresh eyes to see the "Freds" in my midst. Those who I have overlooked... those whom God may very well have brought my way for a specific reason.
I think it might be a stewardship issue... and if I... if we, are not proven faithful with a few "Freds" than we will likely not be given the chance to be faithful with many more.
Is it possible that the key to unlocking the flood gates of our ministries might have more to do with reaching the overlooked than it does reaching the well-connected?
I'd love to know what you think!
