Faith

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Thirty-two-year-old Rick Weisner had been up late very night working on an experiment he would take into the lab he worked at the next day. He had invented a machine that he hoped would not only prepare fresh lemonade by squeezing lemons but also fill it into a glass instantly. The glass would come out of one of the sides of the container once the lemonade was done, and then the machine would fill the glass with lemonade. This was no simple experiment, so Rick was up almost all night, though he had to get up early to take his daughter, Ashlyn, to school and go to the lab. He fell asleep on his couch in his white lab coat and black pants and glasses four hours before he had to get up.

Ashlyn rose before her father did and got ready for school. When she went to the kitchen to have breakfast, she noticed that she had to be at school in an hour. Her dad wasn't in there, so she figured he had to be getting ready to take her to school. She started to look for him but stopped when she heard loud snoring coming from the basement. Her dad was still asleep! He'd been up late again working on an experiment and snored every night, but especially loudly when he was exhausted. She covered her ears and went into the basement and shook her father's shoulder. "Daddy, wake up! You've gotta get ready to take me to school and work."

Rick woke up and gave his daughter a kiss. "Good morning," he said. He sat up and stretched. "Daddy was working on an experiment last night."

"I see that. Is it your lemonade machine?"

"Yep. I finally finished it. Come here and let's see if it works." He picked Ashlyn up, put her on his hip, and carried her to the machine. He put a lemon inside of the machine pushed a blue button on the machine, and sure enough, the machine began to squeeze the lemon that was inside of it, and when it was finished, a glass popped out of the machine and got filled with lemonade!

"Wow, Daddy!" Ashlyn cried, giving her dad a hug. "It really works! I'm so proud of you!"

"Thank you, sweetheart. I hope my boss likes it."

"I'm sure he will. Daddy, can I go to church with Emmy on Sunday?" Emma was Ashlyn's best friend, the daughter of Rick's co-worker, Mari, who, though a scientist, was also a Christian.

"Ashlyn, you know church is just for people who need a crutch," Rick told her. "They want you to think you can talk to someone who doesn't exist. We're strong people. We don't need a crutch."

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