I would catch sight of him but only after he had been watching me for sometime longer. He was smarter than the smartest rat in the city sewer. I had seen him hunt and in the woods but never seen an hunt with such intelligence. I figured he killed between 400-600 birds on our property within the last year alone, and I that is a low estimate. I thought of doing away with him the easy way but than I decided to try another route.
I personally fried him some chicken placing it in the live trap near the edge of the woods just to see if I could draw him in. I had my doubts as just moments earlier he caught yet another Songbird in his mouth, quickly running into the woods.
It was my habit to fill several bird feeders on our property, one of which was a large cast iron bowl which rested on a metal stand. I was told it used to be a hog oiler which now was cut in half and served as a bird feeder. It just happened to hold an entire 40 pound bag of bird feed. I had seen this cat crouched down inside the bird feeder on several occasions hiding, buried under the bird feed. He would spring up out of the feed snatching his victims. He met his match though that particular night as I now caught him in my live trap.
This is the first time I got to see him up close and personal. He had long hair with a black and white “clown” face. Now he sat growing and hissing at me from the metal cage. I wore thick leather gloves as he fought and almost won pushing the door open. I could tell he had been wild all his life with not a domestic cell in him. He wanted to kill me as much as I did him.
I put him and the cage in the back off my truck and drove him off about six miles and released him. He jumped about five feet high over and over again as he realized he had more lives ahead of him. Unfortunately, his singing victims did not; their voices now gone. I hope to never see him again. This cat, the serial killer who hung around my property was now miles away.
I could not help but draw some spiritual connections. I always liked the connect the dots puzzles as a kid and still do as an adult, except now I find connections between God’s Word and everyday life. I’m still connecting the dots. Satan, like that cat does not hide in the bars and nightclubs as I once thought. He already has many of those places within his grasp. He hides in the church pews which I call the bird feeder. This is where the seed of God’s Word is poured out in abundance to overflowing and the church songbirds gather to eat and sing. It is also where the Word that is sown can be snatched and not allowed to conceive in the heart of the Songbird. He hides like this cat beneath the words in order to steal, kill and destroy. For if the enemy can steal the Word he can kill the song of the songbird bringing death to its spiritual life.
So how does the church songbird escape the clutches and mouth of the enemy? Stay close to the group. Belong to a church body despite the enemies tatics. There is protection there under the watchful eye of Godly leadership. Do not be a loner around the feeder or elsewhere. Take the high ground to feed. Associate with those who aspire to develop Godly character; who sound the alarm and do not lead into danger. Take to the high wire; not of gossip or slander but of praise and worship, seeing all that is beneath you and here sing your praises to God little songbird.
1 Peter 5:8. “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”