Weapon of Choice

Anyone who knows me will appreciate the irony of this story...

Preparing the guestroom for Christmas, I was putting away extraneous "junk" and tidying up a bit, trying to make space for the soon-to-be arriving "guest" and her luggage. In a little nook in one corner of the room I keep a stack of Concordances and other reference books on the floor. I give them out to the SS kids, who earn them by consistently doing their Quiet Times every week. It's cheaper to buy them in a 5-pack from CBD, so I often have a nice little pile patiently awaiting their future owners. As I cruised around the room picking up I happened to notice this pile was not flush with the wall, so using the side of my foot I gave it a quick smack to push them out of the way.

After the holidays we noticed an unpleasant smell coming from the guest room, which we attributed to gases from the septic system backing up into the house. We have had a similar smell over the years, usually when it gets really cold out, and for years had decided this must be the source of the odor.

Time passes on...the smell goes away.

Recently Beth and Niam came to visit. Beth, who turned into "Super-Smell Woman" with her pregnancy, picked up the scent, though we were no longer able to smell it. She tracked it down - to the pile of reference books on the floor in the nook. After carefully moving the books away from the wall she discovered an extremely thin, extremely dead mouse with bulging eyes - smooshed up against the wall! Yes, friends...it was death by Concordance! MY weapon of choice!

News of My Demise Greatly Exaggerated

I received an interesting call yesterday. A friend I had not spoken with for some time is currently attending Seminary with Tim - out there on the other coast. He had called to ask me how I was. Now, I found that to be quite considerate. Believing he was asking about my long-term cerebral dysfunction, I was pleased to tell him that I have had fewer sensory seizures and migraines since we had last discussed it. At this point I'm thinking..."What a good friend! I haven't emailed or called HIM in months and here he is, busier than I can imagine, calling me all the way from the other coast to inquire into my health." Guilt would have set in, except that we were soon chatting away about various subjects, just like we always used to do. [I even got a good book recommendation out of it!]

After his free phone minutes must have certainly expired [I can't get used to keeping track of how long you talk to people!], it finally came out WHY he had called me. It seems that in a chapel service for the entire Seminary, prayer was requested for Tim's mother, who was seriously ill and in need of saving faith! This was certainly news to ME ... and I'm the only mother he's got, as far as I know. My friend later went up to the man who had requested the prayer to be sure the gentleman had correct information, but the guy insisted he was in a class with Tim and had personally heard it straight from him!

Sooo...my conclusion is either:

1. Tim has had a vision and I am apparently NOT in the place I had thought I was.

2. Tim has not seen a recent entry on my blog and has concluded the worst.

3. The gentleman did not write the request down clearly enough - it was really for Tim's GRANDmother.

I can hardly wait for the reception I will receive from those Seminarians when I go out for graduation in a few months. They will be thrilled to see their prayers have been answered...and to discover it was retroactive by 27 years!