A New Perspective on the Sky Angel Cowboy Story

It might come as little surprise that I, the Christian Cat Guy, got a somewhat different message from this story than most people do. I certainly don’t dispute the message that God is using little Logan to send: that His Son was special and died for a purpose. However, this seems to be the ONLY message people are getting out of this story and I see several more messages the Lord is sending.

Toward the end of the video Pat Robertson says “. . . a cow has a broken back and they have to put it down. And I mean, that was, you know, he lives on a farm and that’s the way it is.” Is it? We are being invited to accept that “that’s the way it is” but I ask you: “whose way is this?” First off, this is a cattle ranch, so I’m going to assume (and admit it) that the cattle are raised to be sold as beef. We Americans love our hamburgers and steaks, so of course the whole rancher thing goes by us without so much as a blink of the eye on our part. We don’t consider that the only reason this calf is alive is because Logan’s father breeds them so they can be killed and eaten. Let’s face it: this calf wasn’t going to be a pet, it was going to be raised to a certain age then killed so we could eat those hamburgers and steaks we love so much. I also questions why an “old cow” is being bread in the first place. We might be gracious and assume that it was an accidental breeding because cows that old aren’t bred intentionally for the very reason played out in this story. I honestly wonder why, if the cow was that old, she hadn’t already been slaughtered if she was no longer good for breeding? The calf was roped and broke its back last night, but it wasn’t put down until this morning. So in the meantime the calf . . . just laid there and suffered? The people in the video (and most viewers I imagine) are touched by the little boy’s tears but most, I would offer, have lost sight of why he’s crying in the first place: because one of God’s innocents has suffered and died. Everyone in the video marvels at how God uses Logan, yet I’m willing to bet they’ve all missed the fact that it started with God using that little calf in the first place: if it hadn’t died, Logan would have no story to tell.

I see a parallel here between the calf and Christ: both are special (as presented in the story), both have suffered and died at human hands, both have died “for a purpose”: their deaths are used by God to spread His message of love and compassion. Even more important, when Logan tells God “she was special,” God answers “My Son was special too.” God doesn’t say “she was just a calf.” Yet, without God’s presence in Logan’s story, how many of us would expect Logan’s dad, upon seeing his son’s tears over the death of the calf, to say “buck up son, it’s only a calf, that’s just the way it is.” How many of us tell this to our children when they get upset over the death of a pet? It’s just a dog, it’s just a cat. Take very careful note: it isn’t “JUST SOMETHING” to God.

Let’s make one small change to the story, for the sake of argument here, and hypothesize about its impact. Let’s say that it’s not a calf, but a child in Africa who has died of starvation, that Logan is upset about. Would we hear the minister at the end of the video inviting us to accept “well, that child lived in Africa you know, and, well, children die all the time over there from starvation, it’s just the way it is.” (Sad to say, but lots of Americans would accept this without giving it much thought). I’m willing to bet that somewhere along the way some fund would be set up to collect donations for the deceased child’s village, perhaps even by one of the agencies (Sky Angel, CBN) in the story. The focus of the story would then not only be God’s message to Logan, but how we can do our part to help prevent such tragedy in the future.

So in the end, this is a tough one for me. I certainly don’t question God’s message to Logan and I don’t argue that this message needs to be shared. Like others who view this video, I am awed by God’s ability to use anyone He chooses for His divine purposes. I know that, given the emotional impact of the nature of this message, ANY criticism directed at this story will most likely be received negatively. However, I also believe that God has gifted me with this compassion for His animals for a purpose. It is this compassion that allows me to see in this story what most others don’t, and it is God’s purpose for me to share what I see. It’s what makes me the Christian Cat Guy.