CATS, RATS, SNAKES, AND BOBCATS

When I was young, my aunt had a well in her backyard. It was the kind you have to lower a bucket down into and draw up the water. She built a shed over it connecting it to the house, then she closed it in with tin siding. She stored a few things in there like firewood, gardening tools, and miscellaneous things she didn’t want in the house. She left the ground for the floor and eventually, the grass all died and it was a dirt floor.

One day, I noticed several large holes in the ground behind the kitchen. They were tunnels leading under the house. There were big piles of dirt in front of them where something big had been digging. I asked my aunt what it was and she said it was Gopher Rat holes. Then, my uncle said the rats were so big that he had to use a stick of firewood to kill them.

My aunt had several cats and dogs over the years with weird names. She had a cat named Blackie, and one named Brownie, because of their color. She had a cat named Tom because he was a Tomcat, and a dog named Snowball because he was white and fluffy.

There was a rectangular hole in the floor under the kitchen sink where the big drain pipe ran under the floor. It was big enough for the cats to climb through, so my aunt put a piece of wood there like a ramp to make it easier for the cats to come in and go out of the house. Her cats were not the only thing that could come through the hole, and they weren’t the only things that did.

One day, we were at her house and she went into the kitchen for something. All of a sudden, we heard an awful commotion and she started yelling. Of course, we all ran to see what was going on. There on the floor by the stove and the back door was a big, long, black snake and it was squirming all over the floor trying to get away from the broom she was hitting it with. For some reason, I don’t remember if she killed it or if it got away, probably because we ran out of there.

I also found a baby mouse there one time by that stove behind the door. It didn’t have any hair and it was so cute, but knowing what they grow up to become, my grandmother wouldn’t let me keep it. She told me to put it back where I got it because the mother was probably looking for it.

My aunt told us about another time she went into the kitchen and found an uninvited guest. She said she got up one morning and went to make coffee and found a bobcat sitting there eating her cat’s food. Of course, he ran back under the sink and escaped through the hole her cats went in and out of. She said he came in several times. I wanted her to catch it so I could have it as a pet, but she said, “That thing’s wild. It’ll tear you all to pieces.” She said she prepared some hot water to dash on the bobcat one morning, so he would stop coming in and eating her cat’s food, and after she did that, it never came back again. I thought that was mean of her, but I think it can be a good spiritual lesson.

Sometimes sin sneaks into our lives. But, we don’t always recognize it as sin because we've let our guard down. Sin is often disguised as something other than what it truly is. Sometimes, it keeps coming back again and again. Maybe we need to dash some hot water on it and get it out of our lives for good.

The Bible says that God is able to keep us from sinning (Jude 1:24). We need that close, personal relationship with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit living in our minds to lead, and guide us. Staying in constant contact with God is a very important part of that relationship (1 Thessalonians 5:17). That includes listening as well as talking. It’s a relationship between created human beings and our loving Creator. What a beautiful relationship.

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TWO OLD MEN, TWO OLD TRUCKS, AND A GRAVEYARD

I was probably around ten or eleven years old when I did my first odd Job. There was an old man in our neighborhood who wanted me to help him cut some firewood. Actually, he just wanted me to help him pick it up and put it in the back of his truck. He talked to my grandmother about it and she sent me to help. He had an old white Dodge that had seen better days. Well, I climbed up into his truck and we drove a few miles and he turned off the road and just drove off into the woods.

We got out, and he fired up that old chainsaw and started cutting. He cut the trees into small sections about a foot or two long, so they would fit into a heater. I don’t know if he was cutting it to sell, or for himself. That really didn’t matter to me anyway. I didn’t care what he was doing with it. I just wanted to get his truck loaded and get out of those woods. I helped him for what seemed like all day long, but I only remember loading the truck once, so it was probably only for a few hours.

A few years later, my cousin and I were walking by the house of an old man we had known for years. He had owned the store in that community up until a few years earlier. He called us over and asked if we wanted to make some money. We asked him what we would be doing. He said he needed a little dirt put on a few graves at the graveyard. He said, “It won’t take long, and I’ll give you both Ten dollars.” We said we would do it, and he told us to come back early the next morning when it was cool so we could finish before it got hot.

We arrived early the next morning and knocked on his door. He came out and took us to an old step-side pickup truck that had been sitting in that same spot for years. It was filled with trash that had been there just about as long. We had to clean all that mess out first. That probably took us thirty minutes. That truck was so old the start switch was on the floor, and it didn’t want to start. He had to get some gas and raise the hood to prime it, and all sorts of stuff. It took a while, but it finally started.

Then he drove the truck twenty or thirty feet to his old garden spot that was overgrown with Bermuda grass and handed each of us a shovel. The ground was hard and the grass was thick. It took about an hour to fill up that truck with dirt. I thought he wanted a “little” dirt on a “few” graves. We had enough dirt to completely fill up a couple of graves. We threw the shovels and a wheelbarrow on the truck, then we headed to the graveyard. It was a few miles away and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry. When we got there, it had already been about two hours since we got to his house, and it was getting hot.

We worked in that graveyard for two or three hours, filling up the wheelbarrow, pushing it around from grave to grave, and then back to the truck for more dirt. We were hot and sweaty and soooo tired. As we watched the dirt level drop in the truck we grew more and more anxious. We were ready to go. It wouldn’t be long now.

Finally, the truck bed was empty, and we were working with the last wheelbarrow full of dirt. Just as we finished spreading the last shovel full, the old man said, “I think we need some more dirt.” Ughhhhhhhhhhhh!!! That’s what was going on in my mind.

To make a long story short, we spent the whole day working, until it was almost sundown. When we finally got back to his house, we were ready to get our money and get out of there. We thought we might get paid more than Ten dollars each, since, what we thought would only take a few hours actually took all day, but it was right the opposite. The old man held out a ten-dollar bill and said, “Thank you, boys. Here’s your ten dollars. Y’all will have to get it changed at the store.” Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

All that work, all that heat, all that sweat, and the blisters, and the tired aching body. All, day, long, for five dollars each. When he said he would give us BOTH Ten dollars, he really meant ten dollars for BOTH of us. We said a few mean things about him to each other on the way home, and we both vowed to never work for him again, as long as we lived, and that was one vow we both kept.

Looking back, it really wasn’t that bad of an experience. Since I’ve been an adult, I’ve done harder work for nothing. We did get paid something, and we did get a “Thank You” to go along with it. I learned an important lesson that day and I told my children this on several occasions. To make good decisions, people need all the information available. So when negotiating, always make sure you have all the information available, and always give people all the information you have so they can make good decisions as well. This is very important when making any kind of deal, especially when it involves money and labor. Ask questions until you’re sure you understand what you’re agreeing to, and you won’t be surprised in the end.

The same principle applies to our relationship with God and his holy scriptures. I’ve talked with many Christians over the years who don’t read and study the Bible for themselves. They just get fed once or twice each week by the preacher, and he can only provide a small portion in the few minutes he has each time. These people don’t have all the available information, so it’s harder to make the right decisions for all the problems Satan’s forces throw at us every day.

It’s very important to know what God expects from us. His instructions are in his Holy Book. There are also many promises from God and many encouraging words from his servants to help us every day. We all need to read and study the Bible every day, and of course, we need to stay in constant communication with Jesus, through prayer. Life is tough, and we all have a lot going on, but a close, personal relationship with our Lord Jesus will make it bearable and will fill our hearts with joy.

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© 2017 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
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