What is "a powerful faith"?
    When we get nothing but sunny days, people dart from one shady spot to another talking about the need for rain. When we get three rainy days, people begin looking depressed and emotionally drooping. When the snow and ice are here for a week, people whine for spring. And, then there are the spring rains that cause folks to hope for the dry August lull.  We often have suggestions for our God…improvements that we're sure He needs to make.

    There's a pattern of seasons that repeats itself over and over. It is God's plan working in spite of us... in spite of our momentary discomforts. It's a balance of Nature staying balanced in spite of us. I find myself content with God's seasonal plan. You won't hear me bashing His seasonal gifts but that's not to say I understand all of God's plan...

    But I sometimes do have a problem. It began one day while driving in the country. I saw my first Sparrow dead along side the road. It was then the thought came to me..."maybe God wasn't watching all the Sparrows". It was then I concluded that just maybe special Sparrows had God's attention. Others were left to "fate" and chance…and, I might be part of the "others".

    It was a mid-life struggle. It was an issue facing those who can no longer reasonably double their age and see possibilities. The Sparrow smacked one in the face with the issue of God's concern for all his creatures...even me. The Sparrow, in its silence, challenged my logic. It was a country road with a dead Sparrow that challenged my faith in a loving, concerned God. 

    Life is a process of confronting burdens and achieving goals. Life gives each of us our measure of tasks we must face. And, for those who don't accept the rules, additional tasks are dropped off at the door. We have no right to seek life that is burden-free, although that would be nice. We can only have faith...a faith that can absorb the Sparrow along the side of the road and still say, "I believe". A faith that sees the seasonal patterns and accepts them with gratitude. A faith that can still take another step. A faith that does not know the word… "defeat". A faith based on God's promises.

Lets return home now on the back of a Sparrow...