amos learns god s ways

Gary Mitchell: CNJ columnist

Editor’s note: Amos is a church mouse, who types by hopping on the computer keyboard, but he can’t operate the capital shift keys, and he shuns punctuation marks – except hyphens and dashes.

amos learns god s ways

boss being a christian mouse

in a world of heathen alley

cats ain t easy to do

last sunday pastor

leroy beetle preached

about loving one

another and sharing with

those less fortunate and

the moment he said that

something inside my

little mousy heart went

pitter-pat pitter-pat

and i knew that

message was for me

that afternoon boss i

decided to show my love

to trigger the trap-door

spider by being nice to him

and giving him some of my

hard-earned cheese

it wasn t easy boss

you see i never really

liked trigger to start with

he was always playing

practical jokes on folks

like trapping freddie

the flea on his way

to tea with miss sally lee

or scaring little flies

and honey bees on their

way to biology

anyway i was supposed

to love trigger so i gathered

up my cheese and headed

for his place in the weeds

trigger says i

i want you to know

that jesus loves you and i

do too so here s some cheese

it s guaranteed to please from

your ears down to your knees

all right he grinned his

impish little grin thanks a lot

little tot now here s a plot

that s really hot try to leave

if you please you re in my trap

cause you got zapped and

looky here why it s marcellus

the cat fancy that

and boss in the wink of an eye

he flipped his trap and

snared my tail i was hooked

with nowhere to go staring in

the face of a hairy hell -

the mouth of marcellus

the hungry and ugly cat

but with a laugh trigger let

me go just in the quick of time

i jumped in a hole as the

menacing claws of marcellus

swiped away at my dusty trail

why me oh lord i moaned

and wailed i tried to do

your will why did i

have to face this hell

just then on the rim of my

hiding hole sat virgil the

praying mantis the most

spiritual creature i know

virgil uttered a few little

phrases but it started

me thinking in mazes

god tests whom he

chooses to bless says he

what does that mean says me

is this how he blesses me my

hiding in a hole from adversity

it s not over yet says he trust me

you ll see remember when jesus

was baptized - god spoke -

gave his approval on his son

then the spirit drove him to

the wilderness - to the other

side of kingdom come

i m sure his situation didn t

look too bright virgil said

but he stayed faithful and

god blessed him alright -

in wisdom power and might

that s right says me that s what

i ll do now how did you say it

that first time through

god tests whom he

chooses to bless says he

so now boss it s just a

matter of faith - trusting

him and running the race

amos