OK, if you made it here after reading my newsletter, here's the rest of the cat story. Before the story, here's a great photo of us on Thanksgiving day over at Nathan's apartment. The girl with the dark hair is Becka, his girl friend. The 2 older grandsons did Thanksgiving with their dad. We had a really good time with them and ate so much turkey, much like you in America I suspect.
OK, the cat. I've discovered that cats are inherently devious, perhaps even evil. Our cat is particularly weird. She loves to crawl into my lap (she knows I don't like her much) and sit, purr and rub on me and then bite me. I'll hit her in the head a few times and then she'll repeat the process. Jackie picks her up and she just bites her and runs away. Jackie said she'd get another cat but she's afraid it would like me more than her just like this stupid one does.
I have one of those flip cell phones and it's fairly small and easily fits into my pocket. Her mouth too. Anyway, I laid it on the dresser Sunday night and went to bed like normal. When I got up to go for yet another job interview/interrogation (church school story from the email I sent most of you) I couldn't find the phone. I looked on the dresser, under the dresser, in the drawers and all around the dresser. No phone. I went by Jackie's work to see if she maybe grabbed mine and hers (they look alike) but she didn't have it. Oh well, I had an interrogation to go to so I booked.
After being interviewed for the third time and assuring my future boss I really was able to teach grammar school (I know, it's more difficult than the university students--I'm not making light of the job), I had to go and get some papers processed before starting work December 2nd. I got home around 2:00 and worked on lesson plans and such until 9:00 and thought I should look one more time for the phone.
So I got Jackie, who can find anything, and we crawled around on the floor and looked under the dresser and this time even pulled it out away from the wall. Found some treasure back there but no phone. Then I had a revelation. The cat had been sleeping under another chair in our room for the last couple of days so I looked under it and there was my phone. She had knocked it off the dresser and somehow carried it 8 feet to the chair and hid it underneath.
I was glad I had found it and noticed a voice mail. And that's how I found out I had been un-hired from my new job. A friend of mine told me the church was a bit on the flaky side--I guess I should have figured out that the flakiness trickled down to the school too.
So what has all this taught me about loving God and being conformed to the likeness of Christ? I'm not sure. I do know that cats are sneaky--sneakier than I ever knew. I also know that when someone tells you "yes" it could mean most anything even if they tell you "yes" three times you are the one we want for the teaching position. More than that, I learned that to follow Christ through the sneakingess and plotting of cats is well worth the hassle it may cause. There were times when losing a phone would have made me angry. Now, I've learned most things are my fault anyway so I might as well be thankful that God didn't just melt me like an ice cube on a hot sidewalk. What about the school deal?
I got the voice mail around 9:30 or so and then went to bed. Jackie asked me if I was OK with it and I said "sure" and we went to sleep. Of course I woke up a 12:15 AM and my mind took off like the cat when I squirt it with the water bottle. I thought of everything I'd been told, the job I turned down because they "hired" me, the interview I declined for the same reason, the money they've cost me, the books I bought to supplement the curriculum with, the double-mindedness of the head of the school and then God reminded me, after about 2 hours of this circular, insane thinking, that I am, after all, an unpfortibable servant and I should be praying for the kids that are being taught that abortion is OK and the gay life-style is just a way of expressing yourself. I should be giving thanks that He has something bright for me over the horizon, brighter than the rising sun I so often go watch at the beach.
Like this morning when the sky was just on fire with reds and oranges, yet just after all that "glory" came the true Sun that lights the entire universe up and I was there to bask in its warmth and light. That's how these disappointments are that seem to be coming my way lately. This is the 2nd job I was hired for and I've yet to start working. I just figure we don't need the income and I need God to keep working in my life because more than anything else on earth, it is Him we desire, love and long for. Come, Lord Jesus, come....
Here's some really good and fun news. Look at Jackie riding her bike along. Doesn't she look strong and healthy? Well, she isn't. She's getting weaker and weaker for some reason. Our bike rides aren't going as far as they used to go and she's feeling tired much of the time. Maybe I'm around too much! She had a heart doctor appointment yesterday but the doctor wasn't in and no one let her know that she wasn't to come in since her appointment had been canceled. Please pray that whatever is taking her strenght, stamina and energy goes away. Meanwhile, how hot does she look on that bike?!? Very...I am one fortunate man to have a wife who loves God, loves me and looks so nice even when you are up close!
Guess that's about all for now. Christmas time is coming and we will hopefully get cards in the mail and presents bought and bills paid and retain our sanity. We pray the same for you. Many blessings dear friends...
Bob and Jackie
