A Cat From Above

About a year after the Mrs. and I were married, we made a trip home to Missouri to visit the folks.  While there, we also dropped by to see a very good friend, who was engaged to my sister-in-law (SIL).  I will call her Nurse SIL-ly, which seems appropriate.  As our visit was wrapping up, Nurse SIL-ly showed us a litter of kittens that were ready to be weaned.  They weren't very pretty, just plain old farm cats.  But wouldn't you know it - we took one of those critters home!  On the way back to Omaha, the Mrs. asked me what we should name him.  I suggested Dufus, and thus it was so.

Dufus was our first pet.  I think he was also our dumbest pet.  I guess he lived up to his name.  I have always heard it is easy to house-train a cat, because it is natural for them to want to use the litter box.  Not Dufus.  He was OK during the day, but he was likely to leave his "feline feces" anywhere in the house at night.  After a few nights of that, we started shutting Dufus in the utility room for the night.

Dufus didn't really like the utility room, but he didn't have much choice.  We put a little basket in there with a towel in it for him to sleep on and his litter box was in that room.  It was the only unfinished room in the house, so he couldn't damage it.  The utility room was in the basement of the house, which was finished like most houses of that time period.  The basement was where our family room was located.  It had carpet that had been glued to the cement floor, and had a drop-ceiling.  It used fluorescent lights hung just above those clear plastic ceiling pieces.

One night we were sound asleep when we heard a loud crash downstairs.  Being the brave and macho man of the house, I grabbed a baseball bat and headed for the basement.  I was Tarzan and GI Joe, all rolled into one - I was going to protect my bride!  When I ran into the family room, there was Dufus standing in the middle of the room with broken pieces of clear plastic all over the floor around him.  He had climbed the walls of the utility room, then walked across the drop-ceiling above the family room.  He was doing fine until he decided to walk across that flimsy, clear plastic underneath a light!  I wonder what he thought when he came crashing down into the family room!

Matthew 7:24-27 talks about the wise and foolish builders.  The wise man built his house with the foundation secured to rock.  The foolish man built his house on sand.  When the rains came and the wind blew, the house on the rock stood easily against the storm.  But the house on sand fell with a mighty crash.  Jesus gave a simple explanation for this story - those who build their life on His Word is like the man who built on the rock.  His life will be anchored to the Truth and will withstand the storms.  But those who anchor their life to anything else are headed for a mighty crash.

Dufus thought he was walking on something solid, but he was fooled and he came through the ceiling with a mighty crash.  When we put our trust in our jobs, our government, our families, education, etc., we are in trouble.  At first glance everything seems solid, but only God's Word can carry us when the storms hit our life with their fullest fury.  Don't be a Dufus - trust your life to Jesus and live it according to His Word.