Permission Granted

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones. – Psalm 115:15 (NRSV)

If “Sweetie” could talk, I wonder what he would say? Well! Sweetie is a 2-year-old tomcat. The household pet of the Shipp family that behaved in a bizarre {strange; odd} way when the Rev. Ralph A. Shipp, Pastor of Morrow’s Chapel United Methodist Church, the Lake Norman District; died on this past Thursday February 4, 2010. Upon visiting the family shortly after the news, Mrs. Edith Shipp shared with us [my wife and I] an interesting chain of events prior to and after her husband’s death. Here is what I gleaned from her comments.

On the previous day Wednesday [February 3, 2010], Sweetie had done something that was highly unusual. He showed up in the bedroom where Rev. Shipp was lying on the bed recuperating from his recent dialysis treatment at the hospital. Sweetie just stared at him with the intent to find out what was going on. Many times before, he would know when Pastor Shipp would be gone from the house but this time Sweetie knew a change was about to take place. He looked and looked into his master’s eyes as if to send a message. “Edith,” “what’s the matter with the cat? It has never been in the room before!” “I don’t know,” she replied. Rev. Shipp’s impression was that the cat didn’t want to be bothered with him at all but rather to be close to his wife who would feed it and give it special attention. Sweetie would always curl up on her lap at times.

It was customarily for Mrs. Shipp to sit just opposite her husband {always positioned in the rocker recliner} in a chair just a few feet away as they talked about the affairs of the day. Sweetie would play nearby. As the last hours of his life would play out, Rev. Shipp had to be rushed to the hospital on Wednesday. Late Thursday evening, he died. Strangely enough, Sweetie had stopped eating the very day he left the house for the last time.

The cat somehow knew early on that death was knocking at the door, so, he just stared first – no doubt to grab attention. In order to vent his frustration on the next day, Sweetie leaped onto the window drapes in the living room and torn them down. In thinking about this, several things come to mind. Did Pastor Shipp know that he was going die? How relative was Sweetie’s role in the whole matter? Since animals don’t speak verbally as do human beings, can we rely on their instinctive behavior to alert us to a spiritual concern?

In the Old Testament, there is situation where God allows an animal to speak orally to one of his servants in order to get an important point across. In what was called the Balaam cycle, God entreats his servant on three important instances. The first meeting recorded in Numbers 22:1-14 relates to the mission of Balak’s messengers as they try to convince Balaam to come with them. God told him not to go to Balak whose intent was for the prophet to curse Israel. Balaam’s strict obedience was to speak only what God would tell him. In Balaam’s second meeting with God (22:15-20), God reverses the earlier decision and this time commands Balaam to comply with the messenger’s request and go to Balak (Verse 20). Balaam saddles his donkey and begins the journey. Now, in what rises to be the third confrontation, God seems again to reverse the decision to allow Balaam to go. An angel of God stands in the road to blocks the way. Only the donkey sees the angel. Balaam is blind to God’s emissary and so angrily beats his animal that has turned off the road to avoid the angel (22:24-25).

As they continue on the journey, the donkey sees the angel a third time and simply lies down in the road since there is no way to go around the angel. Balaam angrily beats the donkey, and the donkey opens its mouth and says: “Have I ever done anything like this before in my entire life?” the donkey asked. “No,” he admitted. – (22:30). Then God opened Balaam’s eyes, and Balaam sees the angel of God. The angel chastises Balaam for beating his animal so harshly, since it was the donkey that saved him from being killed. Balaam begs for forgiveness, and the angel instructs him to go ahead with his mission to Balak. Balaam is to speak, however, only what God commands him to speak (22:31-35). What is the hidden message? Simply that the experience of Balaam and his donkey is parallel to he experience of Balaam and Balak. The donkey was caught three times between the angel’s sword and Balaam’s stick. Balaam is likewise caught three times between Balak’s demand to curse Israel and God prohibitions. Moreover, in each of the three incidents with the donkey and the angel, the intensity rises at each stage toward a climax. Balaam becomes increasingly frustrated. In the same way, the anger of Balak grows with each of the three oracles of blessing that Balaam pronounces upon Israel.

As in the incident with Balaam and his donkey, God as the apparent arbitrator (one having the power or ability to make authoritative decisions) is simply evidence of his control of Balaam and Balak and his resolve to bless Israel in face of all outside pressures to the contrary. In much the same way that God presented himself as an arbitrator between the prophet Balaam and the Israelites, He allowed the describable movements of a housecat to serve as a reminder of his ultimate control over all living things.

Isaiah 55:8,9 puts like this: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” I particularly like verse 11, “so shall my word be that goes from my mouth; it shall not return until me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” It is certain that God manifested himself to Pastor Shipp and alerted him to his home going. I believe strongly that Sweetie acted, as the voiceless witness to God’s numerous ways to bring glory and honor to himself. In the upcoming days, Mrs. Shipp will no doubt call to memory the extraordinary circumstances surrounding her husband’s last hours in this physical world. Through it all, she and her family will cherish God’s word when he said through the Psalmist: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones. The following words came to mind as I reflected on the matter. In my spirit I envisioned Rev. Ralph A. Shipp as he instantly saw Jesus on that Thursday evening as he was shown the results of faithful service. This is Rev. Shipp's response.

Hallelujah!

The victory is truly mine! I see it totally at last!
Victory future; victory present; victory past!
In the struggles of life that you said would come,

I bring presently the rewards of some; deeds and acts

spelled out just as in the name, character after character, the same.
With the Holy Spirit’s guide, I was destined to change, the lives
of a precious few you would bring my way. Faith secured I held to the task,
I saw then the rewards they would envision someday.
Oh! How great the privilege; to you the praise is due even now and back when,
I see now I was working for you, my savior and friend.
Let me see once again, my life’s span - the gifts and graces bestowed,

Precious Lord, everything to you I owe.
Ah! Yes! R-resilient, A-Amiable, L-Learning, P-Perseverance, H-Humility,
A-Admirable, S-Sensitivity, H-Honorable, I-Intercession, P-Patient, and
P-Persistent linked to spell the character and the trait.

Praise you Lord for keeping me straight.

Ralph A. Shipp is the name; on earth it was former;

yet in heaven it is in domain.

Hallelujah! Praise you Lord! Oh! Sweet victory is mine!
Written in blood, my life was a sign. Lord, do me a favor!
Remember that my family is one of a kind. I love them you see.

Keep them always at the knee; never unswerving from their predetermined

deeds, for the rewards will last for all eternity.

Amen

Signed: Ralph A. Shipp, Thursday evening, February 4, 2010.

... "Ralph, my beloved child…I know you and will reveal your plea;

it they will, like you, serve only me.”

Selah