An Adventure For Gus

A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

“I’M AFRAID IT’S NOT GREAT NEWS,” the veterinarian said to Chris and Mary, giving their cat, Gus, a sympathetic ear rub. “The tests confirm a significant heart defect.”

After discussing the pros and cons of a complex surgery and experimental medications for Gus, the vet looked apologetically at the recently retired couple. “Why don’t you take a few days to think things over, and we can talk next week.”

It didn’t take Chris and Mary long to reach a decision about the cat who had mysteriously appeared in their barn a month earlier. They would let him enjoy whatever time he had left without putting him through the ordeal of surgery or side effects from strong medications.

Two days after letting the vet know their decision, Chris ran an idea past Mary. “What would you say to giving Gus a grand adventure and making every day count for him?”

“You mean you want to take him with us on the boat?” Mary asked in amused disbelief. “The boat we are going to live on for the next several years?”

“Well . . . why not?” Chris said with a chuckle, excitement brimming in his eyes. “I mean, how many cats can boast they’ve circumnavigated the world?”

Mary agreed.

The next few months were full of final preparations—the culmination of five years of planning. They sold their house, stocked up on provisions and equipment, said their goodbyes to friends and family, and then finally stepped aboard the Aquila, their fifty-two-foot Santa Cruz sailboat—with Gus in tow.

After exploring every inch of the performance cruiser’s hull and cabin, Gus pawed at the rigging, sashayed across seats, and then lay regally in the bow.

“I think he approves,” Chris said, motoring out of the marina to begin their maritime journey.

The first few days were rough for Gus as he struggled to adjust to life on the water. When the sea got choppy, he refused to eat or use the litter box. He crammed his body into the small, round stainless-steel sink in the aft head whenever the winds picked up. And he left lots of little messes to clean up in the middle of the night. But eventually the cat and the humans settled into a routine.

As the days turned into weeks, and months, and years, Gus experienced moments many humans have never witnessed: fishing from a dinghy in the middle of the Caribbean, watching an annual canoe race in Tahiti, enduring a lengthy required animal quarantine in New Zealand, playing with dolphins off the coast of Tasmania, watching sea turtles swim in Fiji, and surviving a harrowing storm off the coast of Australia.

During the trio’s time at sea, Gus became well-known by the sailing community—a small group of fellow circumnavigators who traveled within a few hundred miles of each other. At least once a week, the floating community would anchor their large vessels and congregate in their dinghies, tying them together while they watched the sun sink into the sea. Gus—who often attended the sunset soirees—would jump from dinghy to dinghy, greeting the people and accepting tidbits and treats.

“That is one happy cat,” Chris would often hear people remark about their feline companion. It always made him smile. For the fact was, no one knew how long Gus had to live. But the cat embraced each moment as his own great adventure. And in the process, he inspired a small fleet of others to do the same.

PAWS & PONDER . . .

Do you share Gus’s view of life that each day is a great adventure? Or does each day feel like a struggle you simply must endure? How would you describe the current state of your heart and spirit? Tell God how you honestly feel and ask him to breathe life and adventure back into your spirit.

Paws & Pray

Lord, my spirit can feel crushed under the weight of daily responsibilities, hurts, and fears. And yet I know this is not how you want me to live. You invite me to give you my burdens and walk in your strength. Please lighten my heart right now. Remind me who you are and who I am to you. I want to experience the grand adventure you have in store for me.