No Way!

"Dad, guess what?  You'll be so surprised!" My eight year-old daughter Celia said breathlessly on the phone this morning.

"What?  What is it?"

"We found the lizard!"

"No way!"

"Yes way!"

Celia went on to explain that our cat was chasing something around the boots stored by the basement stairs this morning.  She and Miriam lifted a boot, the lizard popped out, Pippin grabbed it in his mouth, and they quickly retrieved from the cat a skinny but alive Smokey (see my earlier report - last item).  That means for over a month he survived, loose and undetected, in our home.  Celia reports he is now safely in his cage, eagerly drinking water, surrounded by the ready food of crickets, and enjoying Smarty's (our wiser lizard who stays in his cage) companionship.  This whole past week she has been angling to get me back to the pet store to buy another one, so at least now I won't have to do that.

When hanging up, I couldn't help but think of when I was in fourth grade in Waynesville, NC.  A summer vacation to my great aunt's in Florida had meant my mom had to travel nervously all the way home with a chameleon (actually known as the Carolina Anole) in the backseat of the car.  (Yes, Celia gets it honest.)  A terrarium became its home, but it had to stay in the garage because my mom _did not want it to get loose in the house. _Her fears were warranted, for one day I sadly discovered it had escaped.  However, about a month later, while playing out in the front of my house, there was my chameleon in a bush by my front porch!  I re-caught him, returned it to its home, and even used him for show-and-tell at school one day.  My teacher, Mrs. Worsham, wasn't too happy about it sitting on her desk all day.  She especially didn't like it when I interrupted our math lesson with a yell because my lizard was eating a cricket and I wanted everyone to see it.

Writing this, I guess the kid in me could not help wanting everyone to know Smokey's back in his home.  And hearing how the cat nearly killed it but chased the lizard back to his proper abode got me to thinking.  The pastor in me cannot help but hope that the Lord will use whatever means - even the evil one - to chase some sinners on my heart back home.  When He does, I'm sure my response will be similar.