When Bob Armstrong gave his wife Pamela a Valentine's Day bouquet, he never imagined that the flowers would endanger the life of their tiny kitten, Elvis. A few days after receiving the bouquet, Pamela noticed that Elvis the kitty was lethargic. He even refused to eat his treats at night. When Bob and Pamela took Elvis to the vet, blood tests showed that his kidneys were failing due to a poison in one of the plants.

But the Armstrong's, who rescued Elvis after he had been abandoned, would spare no expense to save their pet. They took Elvis to the renal transplant program at Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine. For the next month, the Armstrongs drove Elvis two hours each way three times a week for dialysis treatment. At the end of the month, a team of veterinarians at the Penn School completed the kidney transplant for Elvis. "We practically lived at the ICU," Mr. Anderson said. They also spent $15,000 for the surgery and the dialysis.

Mrs. Armstrong said, "We have friends who think we're crazy to do this for a cat, but this cat was worth it to us." The Armstrongs spent extravagantly to save their kitten's life. But they probably would have drawn the line at some point—like willingly sacrificing their lives for a cat.

Editor's Note: Of course there's one major difference between human beings and a cat—Elvis was innocent. He didn't sin by chewing on those flowers. But we were rebels and even enemies of God's grace, sinners in flight from God, when the Father sought us and the Son laid down his love for us.