It's Never Too Late To Come Home

In all of the hustle and bustle of the week, I could not for the life of me come up with today's blog. 

I had a couple of good thoughts, but they got carried away before I could get them down on paper.

And then this morning on Facebook I saw it.  

A very short story that just touched the very core of my soul as I have so often in my younger years felt the longing for a place to call home.

From the HuffingtonPost.com:

Jennifer Noble's Cat, Scrub, Returns Home Five Years After Hurricane Katrina

BILOXI, Miss. — Five years after wandering away in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, a gray and white cat named Scrub has been reunited with his Mississippi family.

The Humane Society of South Miss- issippi says Scrub was identified by an implanted microchip. 

The 7-year-old cat was brought to the shelter by a Gulfport woman who'd fed him as a stray the past couple of months but worried about his safety during a cold snap.

Scrub's owner, Jennifer Noble, tells The Sun Herald newspaper that she was skeptical at first when she received a call from the shelter. 

But by the end of the first night back, Scrub had snuggled in bed with one of her boys.

The woman who'd been feeding him lives about 15 miles away. Noble says Scrub is in excellent condition.

If cat years are anything like dog years, that poor, sweet cat has been wandering 35 years looking for home!

When I read this story, I instantly heard in the back of my mind the old hymn from my days of boarding school: 

Softly and Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling 

Softly and tenderly 
Jesus is calling - 
Calling for you 
and for me;
Patiently Jesus is waiting and watching - 
Watching for you and for me!

Come home!  
Come home!
Ye who are weary, 
come home!
Earnestly, tenderly, 
Jesus is calling; 
Calling, 'O sinner come home!'

Why should we tarry 
when Jesus is pleading - 
Pleading for you 
and for me?
Why should we linger 
and heed not His mercies;
Mercies for you and for me?

Come home!  
Come home!
Ye who are weary, 
come home!
Earnestly, tenderly, 
Jesus is calling; 
Calling, 'O sinner come home!'

*******

What better time then at Christmas to ponder these words and think of Jesus giving up the sweetness of heaven to come to this broken down world to make it possible for us to all find our way home?