What the Devil?

As fall approached in my first year at Brooksville I drove down to the Sunday school superintendent’s home one evening to do some planning with him about our fall Sunday school attendance drive.  Ralph and Dot Engle lived in a rural area about twenty miles south of the church toward Tampa.

It was a warm evening and I left the car windows down as I went into their home for a dessert and our planning time.  I stayed longer than expected, but it was a good and profitable time in getting better acquainted with the Engles and getting some definite plans made for our Sunday school.

It was dark when I finally got in my car to head back to the parsonage.  About ten miles up the road, while driving through the rural area which was very dark, something suddenly hit my seat and brushed against my neck and right ear.  The hair on my neck stood up and I felt a chill run up my spine.  I quickly turned my head to discover that a large white cat was sitting on top of the seat next to my right shoulder!

I rightly assumed that the cat had gotten into the car while parked at the Engle’s house.

I debated whether to turn around and take the cat back home, but since it was so late, I was more than half-way home, and I was not really sure it was the Engle’s cat, I decided to take the cat home with me and once home I  called and told them about the cat.  Mr. Engle had a good laugh about the situation and said, “Just keep the cat until Sunday and we’ll bring her home then.”  This of course delighted our children, but Winona and I had to unwillingly take care of a cat for three days.

As their new pastor the experience helped me to bond with the Engles, but I remember it as a night when I got the Devil scared out of me!