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I can still see the little girl with the blonde pixie haircut sitting in the front row on a small wooden chair. All of the children had taken their seats in order by age as the Sunday School superintendent called all to order. She straightens her pink flowered dress and takes one last glance at her new, shiny, patent leather Mary Janes before the music begins to play. A big smile brightens her face and she sings out lustily the words to one of her favorite songs.

I grabbed my 5-gallon bucket and joined a group of workers headed out into the field. Scanning the horizon I saw a hundred or more laborers carrying buckets, driving John Deere Gators, and pulling trailers. Each had the same purpose in mind - to support our friends and neighbors after a violent tornado had taken a path of destruction through their homes. For miles remnants of the houses and barns along with the contents were strewn across the newly planted fields. When I arrived much of the large items had been picked up and thrown into piles where backhoes were pushing them into huge pits and burning them. Yet there was still a good deal of smaller pieces of sharp metal, glass, and other construction materials to be gathered from the fields.

How many times have you ignored a warning? I've done it. Just a couple of days ago despite the tornado warnings that were all over the news I headed out the door to go to the school for Abigail's band concert. Upon arriving at Cedarville High School I parked the car and ran to the door to escape the impending rain clouds that threatened a severe storm. We were all immediately sent to the enclosed instrument practice rooms to wait for the all clear signal. Even then I toyed with the idea of just going home, but thought better of it when the principal suggested I wait in the school office.

Have you ever prayed long and hard for something and not seen what you consider an answer? Maybe you are praying about a decision that you need to make, a loved one who needs to come to Jesus, or a relationship that has gone bad. When praying for difficult things we look and look for God's answer. When it seems that nothing tangible has changed in our situation it is easy to start thinking that God hasn't heard us, doesn't care, or maybe we are just asking for the wrong thing. It is tempting to give up and only pray for "easy" things. This is not what God wants from us.

For the past week I have enjoyed watching a mother robin attending a nest of baby birds. On Monday I locked myself out of our office and had to go around to the back door to get in. When I turned the corner I heard loud persistent chirping and saw the male and female flying around and around in panic. That is when I saw the nest. They had built it on top of the electric meter by the back door. I stood on tiptoe to peek inside and the little featherless bodies were hardly moving. I could tell they had just been hatched by the egg shell remnants and the way they lay there exhausted from their entrance into the world.

I looked around while we stood waiting in the big post office for our 10 o'clock appointment. We were alone except for the bald eagle that scrutinized us from the poster on the wall as if to determine our acceptability as US citizens. My thoughts were interrupted by a pleasant woman who appeared from behind the screen at the back of the desk. She directed us to a door where we entered a tight room and sat at a large table to wait some more. Soon she reappeared and we handed over the packet of information needed to apply for our passports. We had carefully gone over the list of essential items - original birth certificates, driver's licenses, applications, and, of course, the checkbook.