How Jerry Became a Saint

How Jerry Became a Saint

Jerry’s room was in disarray, yet interestingly, had a cheerful atmosphere.  What gave it its cheerfulness were the kinds of things in it—clothes of a laidback style like an oversized grey plastic windbreaker two sizes too big for him, more than one bright orange and bright green T-shirts, hung randomly and loosely in a wide open closet, three unopened gallon-size sodas in a shallow, topless cardboard box that fit four gallon-size sodas, a Smart and Final size package of toilet paper with most of the rolls still in it, and empty gallon-size drinking water bottles stacked in the left front corner of the room, by the foot of his cot.
            The computer on his desk was of an outdated model, but had three Internet accounts, each of which needed a password for access.
            Miscellaneous papers were scattered around the computer, the topmost of which were several pieces of graph paper which Jerry did not use for math but for other spontaneous scribbles, like a calculation of his monthly expenses, and personal inspirations supposedly gotten from his rigorous reading of the Bible, like “Our new world is advanced and joyous.”
            A black soft plastic bound Chinese bible the size of a four inch by six inch photo album was on the left side of the computer, and a black hardcover English bible twice the size of the Chinese one was on the right side.  Sundry Chinese books on how to improve or manage life, which some women from his church gave him, and several different kinds of Chinese dictionary, including a dictionary of professional terms, lay there as well. 
         At around eight-thirty in the morning, Jerry was awoken by loud knocks.
         Jerry did not ask who it was.  He intuitively knew it was probably just one of the old ordinary people he knew who came into his life everyday.
         Jerry walked to the door, released the dead bolt above the doorknob, unlocked the door, and opened it.  His friend from high school, Jimmy, stood outside. 
         “Hi, how are you?”  Jerry said with affected kindness.  In his heart he was uninterested in his friend Jimmy and wished it was a beautiful young woman standing before him instead. 
         “Hey, Du Du, how’s it going?”  Jimmy called Jerry by his nickname from high school and glanced around the room.  Then he said, “Can I borrow your computer?  I need to finish my application for law school.” 
         “Why go to law school?”  Jerry said.  “If you want to learn about law, I have this dictionary here.”  Jerry walked to his desk, which was right by the door, picked up the dictionary of professional terms, opened it to the section on legal terms, and showed it to Jimmy. 
         “It has every term on law,” Jerry said. 
         Jimmy decided to fill out his application elsewhere later and changed the subject.  “How’s living here?” he asked. 
         “The landlord wants to kick me out,” Jerry said.  “I am looking for a new place.”
         “Where do you plan to move to?”  Jimmy asked, and then as if suddenly remembering something, said, “I have to go and finish my application for law school.  Bye, Jerry.” 
         Jerry’s landlord, Mark, had just about had it with Jerry’s lack of respect for his property.  Jerry hardly cleaned his room, and had people knocking his door at all hours of the day, disturbing the other residents in the house he was renting out to.  Who are those people who come to visit Jerry, anyway?  Mark didn’t care.  He’d teach the little rascal a lesson by giving him a surprise eviction.  Any day now, he thought. 
         That night, Mark came to Jerry’s room.  “This morning the neighbors told me they heard loud noises from here again.  I give you one week to move out,” he said. 
         Jerry didn’t argue or even act surprised.  He saw it coming for a long time.  He simply said, “Okay.” 
         Jerry looked in the newspaper for an affordable room.  He found one that was bigger and better than the one he lived in before, that cost slightly more, and moved in. 
         After Jerry settled down in his new place, he decided to take a walk down the street to check out his new neighborhood.
         When he walked out the door, an attractive young woman walked by. 
         “Did you just move here?”  The young woman said.  She was surprisingly friendly. 
         “Yes,” Jerry said.
         “Me too,” the young woman said.
         “Do you want to go have dinner?” Jerry said.
         “I can’t.  I have to go home now.  Maybe another time,” the young woman said and walked away to her own apartment. 
         That night, the Holy Spirit visited Jerry. 
         “You have learned to be magnanimous.  You offered to treat a young woman to dinner,” It said
         Afterward, Jerry did not literally have to treat anyone dinner.  The important thing was his heart became magnanimous.  Because of the trials the move put him through and the lesson he learned from it, he became a saint and helped others by recounting his experience.