The Cassie Chronicles

In today’s episode of The Cassie Chronicles, our heroine is going toe-to-toe with divine powers as she faces one challenge after another. Who will prevail?

The Plagues of Bella Vista

Lately, God’s been testing me with a progression of plagues. First, it was The Plague of a Thousand Flies swarming inside a near-finished home when I unlocked it for the buyer. Last week a mama rat crawled into a model home cabinet to have her babies, and they all died there – The Plague of Rotten Vermin. Yesterday a rattlesnake slithered across the walkway in front of me and I ran face first into a giant spider web trying to avoid the snake – The Plague of Creepy Crawlies. And all week long blobs of yellow stuff and little bee bodies have been dropping out of the vent above my desk – The Plague of Many Falling Bees.

Then God sent me the Springers. At first I thought they were my reward for enduring all these recent trials. Darrell and Jessica Springer, a likable couple in their late thirties with four children, had prayed about it and were ready to buy their dream home. (Thank you, Jesus!) The only hitch was that Jessica had credit problems, but from the information they’d provided, we determined Darrell could qualify alone. We were all thrilled.

I was surprised when Darrell showed up for the contract appointment with his parents, Marge and Lenny. Each carried a fat file folder. I showed them all into my office.

“Darrell,” I said, “are your folks here for moral support?”

“Nope,” he said. “They’re buying the place with me.”

“Oh?” I said, getting nervous. “Why?”

“We thought this would work better – with the loan and all.”

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s see your paperwork.”

“Here’s my loan application,” Darrell said, pushing a crumpled form across my desk. “And bank statements, tax returns and pay stubs.” He paused a moment before handing me a manila folder. “And here’s my bankruptcy.”

“Bankruptcy?” I said, feeling sick. No one had mentioned this.

“That’s why I thought it would be good to have my parents in on this, too,” he said.

“Maybe,” I said. I asked for their financial information.

“Here’s mine,” Lenny said, handing me his file folder. “My bankruptcy papers are there, too.”

Dear God, could this get any worse?

“Marge?” I said, “What about you?”

“Yes, sirree,” Marge said proudly, opening her file folder. “I have my bankruptcy papers, too.”

Oh, Lord, were they joking? But I could tell by the naïve expectant looks on all three faces, they were serious. I took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry. You can’t qualify for a loan with all these bankruptcies,” I said.

“So we can’t buy the house?” Darrell asked.

“Not unless you’re paying cash,” I said.

“But I know God wants us to have this house,” he pleaded.

“But you’d be in over your head,” I said.

“God will provide,” Darrell said, smiling peacefully.

“Amen,” Marge and Lenny said, their eyes turned toward heaven.

As I told them I couldn’t sell them the house, no matter what God wanted, a blob of bee poop and two dead bees dropped down from the vent onto all the bankruptcies. Clearly, God was displeased. I added the Plague of Three Springers to my list of trials.

Copyright 2010 by Liz Zuercher