YA THINK GOD HAS A SENSE OF HUMOR?

If he does and I do believe he does, then he probably got a chuckle out a prayer emitted from a tiny house in North Central Arkansas this past weekend.

A gaggle of tornadoes were bearing down on my area which had been so hard hit in February of 2008. I was glued to the TV and watched a variety of twisters take the same path they did that particular year. Normally, I do not get concerned but when you are once burned, you are twice shy. I wasn't directly hit in 2008 when it struck a town quite near me but I had some tree damage and was without power a long time.

Then I got the call from my tornado warning service telling me to scurry to my hidey hole and that I shouldn't lolly gag about getting there. I have an ancient tornado shelter in my back yard that came with the house. I keep meaning to get inspected and refurbished if possible. A rotting door is just one concern. However I am pretty much like the person with the leaky roof. I really don't think about it till it is raining or in my case, the winds are blowing.

The shelter's iffy condition makes it off my radar as a safe place, I'd rather be buried in lumber than concrete. So I have settled for a hidey hole inside my home. My house is small and all rooms have an outside wall which is not ideal. The bathroom is the best choice as it only has one small window and the walls are reinforced to accommodate the plumbing. So that is my current hidey hole till I get off my duff and see to the storm shelter. I know, I promise.

I tried to herd my animals into the bath room but it was like herding cats. Oh that's right, they mostly were cats. I put Minnie in first which was just wrong. When I opened the door to add Mickey, out popped a wired up Minnie. I grabbed her by the tail as she whizzed by and put her back, only to have her pop out again when I put Mighty in. Too late I realized I should have put her in last. By now she was quite wary and I had to crawl under the bed to fetch her. I felt I had time but was beginning to feel a bit of urgency.

Finally, I have my pets in a row, battery radio, my motorcycle helmet( which is now my tornado hat), blankets and pillows to fend off the glass, all in the small room. The storm was getting noisier and Mighty was panting and shaking while the cats were wild eyed . What claws they had left were drawn and ready for action.

I was basically just uncomfortable on the floor under the sink but felt I had done the best I could and just waited. Then I looked at Minnie and a horrible thought struck me. What if she lets loose one of her eye watering gas attacks? It had been a while since she had had a full blown attack but perhaps the stress would stir things up. A bit frantic, I contacted my Lord and asked him if he couldn't please keep her digestive system calm for about an hour.

Then I started to giggle. Did I just pray for our safety and for the safety of all those in the path of these storms? Did I just send up a prayer for world peace or to plug up that oil well in the Gulf? Nope, I just sent a prayer to God to please let Minnie be able to hold a tight sphincter for an hour.

Some how I could imagine God chuckling as he received that prayer. "Finally an easy one." he must have thought. I'm convinced He granted it for Minnie stayed sweet smelling for the next hour.

Feeling guilty for my frivolous prayer in a time when many were in harms way, I quickly added an appropriate PS to my prayer to include everyone in the storms path but felt a bit foolish with my "Oh by the way----". Guess I had assumed He would know that part of the prayer I had omitted was implied, but it never hurts to be sure.

When I sent up my "thank you" prayer after the storm passed and we could leave the little room, I thanked Him big time also for sparing our area and keeping us safe. Do you think He got a chuckle about my wanting Him to put a cork in a cat's behind? Somehow I hope so.


This is just a quickie bit of good news. I had my cystoscope this week to check for new bladder cancers and got a clean bill of health. Since it has been 2 years since my last surgery, I am now able to go 6 months between checkups as opposed to the standard 3 months. Nice to know I don't even have to think about it for the next 5 months and 3 weeks. Life is really good. Hope it is for you also.