Just a thought

I have told the story before but many will not have heard it so let me share with you the story of Princess and Coco.

In 1991 most of the Thornton clan was heading north from Melton in Victoria, to Coffs Harbour in New South Wales. Our eldest daughter Michelle, having already left home, was remaining in her home state; but the rest of us, John, Veronica, Jeremy, Amanda and our two cats, Princess and Coco were about to set off. Now, you will all know that some forward planning is always advisable, particularly when animals are involved. We have learnt since but at the time considering the two creatures – cats not children – we decided to make do with just the one pet cage. Logically we decided that the older critter, Princess by name and Princess by nature, would be in the cage to keep her from the very placid and gentle young Cocoa. A good plan does not always have a happy ending.

The moment Princess was placed in the cage in the boot all hell broke loose! She was not a happy Feline. As we began to back out the driveway, Coco safely ensconced on my wife’s lap, leapt across me and began clawing at the window to get out. As Veronica reached across to pull her back, our dear sweet, placid Coco did number ones all over her skirt. But worse was to come as only a couple of kilometres along the way and some 1,600 kilometres to travel; our young, now thoroughly angry kitten, having cleared her bladder made her final protest by clearing something else!

An enduring memory of that trip was of Amanda spraying hair spray around to sweeten the air! At the first service station that we came to mother headed off to clean up and while all doors and windows were opened, the manic cat in the cage was taken out and the ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ youngster took her place. For the rest of the trip Princess curled up under Veronica’s seat and was a contented little pussy while our sweet gentle Coco was more than happy with her private suite in the boot. Go figure.

I share the story because in a kind of way it makes some sense of my journey here in the North West of Sydney as we go about establishing a new Christian community in the area. The first and obvious thing that comes to mind is that when you do something new you have to expect some occasions where the poop hits the fan. The thing about this is not only the mess that the fan can make; but the simple fact is that it doesn’t stop the minute you hit the off switch! Sometimes doing something new is really messy.

Another learning point is that just when you have things figured out someone switches the script! We put the wrong cats in the wrong places. Sometimes what seems to be the obvious turns out to be something bordering on disaster and you find yourself questioning your own sanity.

One of the other things that I have learnt over a number of years now is not to pre-judge or make long term plans about people. When I first started this church planting caper I read a book that said that within five years most of those who began the journey with us would have moved on. I was puzzled by that statistic and somewhat doubtful about it; but here we are five plus years down the road and most that commenced the journey have now left us. I have learnt over twenty years of ministry that it is great to build friendships and grow community networks; but the best place that you can put your confidence and hope is in God!

To finish the story of our long journey north, we did arrive safely and the Princess seemed to very quickly accept her new palace and settled quite well. Coco; the one who almost scratched through glass to be released from her steel coffin of a car took much longer. As a matter of fact so fearful was she of her new surroundings that for many weeks after our arrival I had to be careful when taking the car out of the garage. Coco had found that the car wasn’t so bad after all and was regularly discovered sprawled across the top of the drivers side tyre snug and safe from the world.

Some people, after initial fears and even trauma, find that the new place is okay after all. While others will find some safe place to hide away and take a long time to feel secure again. We are all different and all need be treated as unique individuals.

Incidentally, 11.5 years later we travelled south to Sydney and a new adventure. Our Princess had gone to Pussy heaven some years previously; but Coco lived on, her sweet placid nature unchanged. We still had two cats for the journey as we had inherited Minty and Coco was now the senior Feline. Had we learnt from our previous journey?

We had two cages and two cats travelled peacefully south after a visit to the Vet made sure that they were well drugged for an eight hour journey. Now that’s a thought?? NO!! You can’t do that to humans!

Cheers - John