We met another man moving into a nearby cabin (the equivalent of a city block away). We exchanged greetings, saying we’d get together and visit sometime.

Entering my girlfriend’s cabin, I suddenly realized the rent on my mobile home was due the next day, and I exclaimed, “My rent’s due tomorrow and I’m fifty dollars short. I don’t have the money, so I’m gonna let God pay the fifty dollars!”

“But how are you going to earn the money?” Roberta asked.

“How CAN I earn it? I’m way out here in the woods with you. It’s God’s responsibility. GOD owes the fifty dollars!”

“What if you get evicted? What are you going to do? Live on the street?”

“You’re unclear on the concept! It’s GOD’S responsibility if I get kicked out on the street. It’s HIS job to take care of me if I lose the mobile home. I don’t owe the fifty dollars. That’s God’s share of the rent. GOD owes the fifty dollars!”

Roberta threw up her hands in exasperation, and we dropped the subject completely.

Five minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Roberta opened the door, and the new neighbor was standing outside holding up a fifty-dollar bill.

He looked past Roberta, and said to me, “This is your fifty dollars.”

Roberta’s eyes opened wide, and I was also was taken aback.

The neighbor persisted, “You DO know what this is about, don’t you?”

I reached out for the fifty dollars and replied, “I certainly DO. Thank you very much. I really need this. This money will be put to good use.”

The neighbor told us he studied with a Zen Master in Big Bear, California.

He said, “The Master gave me a koan. Do you know what a koan is?”

“Yes, I’m familiar with the concept.”

“I meditated on the koan, and I astral projected. Do you know about astral projection?”

“Yes, I’m familiar with that too.” “I figured that was the answer to the koan. Next time the Master asked me the meaning of the koan, I replied by leaving my body. He yelled, ‘Get back in your body! That’s not the answer!’”

We talked awhile, then the neighbor left. I never saw him again and promptly even forgot his name, but I paid the rent on my mobile home space with a few hours left to spare!

“There are 800 acupuncture points in the palm of the hand.”