Maybe someone left a door open, maybe he slipped out when groceries came in from the garage, maybe he joined a gang of alley cats who dropped a rope down the chimney at midnight...

At first, we were hopeful.

We placed food outside for him, but it went uneaten.

We placed ads on social media, but they went unanswered.

We took neighborhood walks calling his name, but that went nowhere.

So as the days went by, hope began to dwindle in the household... Mom, dad, the kids... Everyone except the 4 year old.

Weeks after the cat left and miles from where he could have possibly gone missing the 4 year old would, all of a sudden, quite randomly scream the cat's name out the window of the moving car.

He would wake up in the morning asking for him, and he would ask to go outside after dark looking for the cat, which he never found - until, one night, he did.

Skinny, hungry, and chatty, he was ok - which sent joy sweeping through the house: the cat had been found!

But would he be here, were it not for the hope of a 4 year old after everyone else's had fizzled out?

This Sunday you and I will hear a story of a dramatic healing amidst a sea of doubt.

We will hear the doubters, the mockers, and a believer - whose faith parallels the 4 year old's - and comes to us in the midst of our hopeless, apathy, and doubt:

Take courage.

Don't give up.

Don't assume you've got it all figured out.

Be open to the unimaginable. 

With God all things are possible.