Snake or Fish?

I recently asked the Father for a fish. There for a while, I thought I’d been given a snake.

Now, I don’t mean a Snake like one of my favorite Tom Clancey characters. John Clark was a former Navy SEAL, code-name Snake, and a CIA operative. A real nice guy – until you got on his bad side by being an abuser of women or a drug-pusher. Then you don’t want to back alley with him.

No, my wife and I recently had our faces shoved in our poor financial situation. I asked the Father for greater income and asked our pastor to do a series of sermons on Kingdom financial responsibility. I was already working a fairly easy job on the on again-off again Ford side of the factory where we assemble frames for car seats. Then I was transferred by management to a challenging job on the Dodge Ram side of the plant.

It was dirty. It was exhausting. It was fast-paced. The first day, I couldn’t keep up and had to suffer the humiliation of the Shift Supervisor helping me out. Later I looked in the mirror and my face was covered with grime. I looked like I was joining the Navy SEALs. (Combat camouflage) I felt like I’d been through Hell Week. (That’s when they weed out the quitters.) My neck and arms ached from the unaccustomed exercise. At least I wasn’t sleep-deprived. I thought I had a snake.

Then I realized. My easy job was given to a brand-new employee while the boss was expressing approval of my hard work with a greater challenge. I was working on the DR side which is too busy to be laid-off. We’ve been so busy that we don’t work four ten-hour days a week but five. Think of the overtime pay! And July’s annual, month-long shut-down just might not apply to our side of the plant. Some snake! What am I going to do with all that extra income?

For one thing, I’m going to start taking NutriLite food supplements and XS Energy drinks again. I’m going to need them.