Faith

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For the next month Rick worked day and night on building lemonade-making machines to sell at the science convention, which was on the first day of the following month, and Mari kept working to see how many different colors she could make water using different items such as food coloring, non-toxic paint, herbs, and spices. Upon completion of their experiments and inventions, they were incredibly exhausted but also incredibly confident that they would have a lot to show. Rick had assembled two hundred of his lemonade-making machines, and Mari had discovered over twenty shades of colors that she could make water. They each praised God for helping them finish and for the confidence that their work would be a success.

Two days before the science convention, Joe Dollar arrived Rick's house while Rick and Mari were reading the Bible to Ashlyn and Emmy. He knocked on the door, and Rick answered it. "Good evening, Joe," he said to his boss.

"Good evening, Rick," Joe said to him.

"Hi, Mr. Dollar," Ashlyn said, joining her father at the door. Rick put his hands on his daughter's shoulders. Mari joined them at the door with Emmy on her hip. "Hi, Joe," she said.

"Sorry to disturb you, but I came by to tell Rick how brilliant I still think his invention is. Rick, I am so proud of your dedication to your work and to your success. I'm not going to wish you luck, because I know you don't need it. All of your machines will be sold before you know it, because you've got such a brilliant mind."

"Thank you, sir," Rick said as he shook his boss's hand, "but I don't give myself credit for my success anymore. Now I give credit to God for my gifts and talents."

Joe, who was a devout atheist, scowled. "Rick, when did you start using God as a crutch?" he asked.

Rick, remembering how God had done a miracle by saving Ashlyn's life, hoisted Ashlyn up onto his hip and said, "Since God showed me a sign that He's real." He gave his daughter a kiss on the cheek. "And He's not a crutch. He showed me I can't live without Him."

Joe did not know about Ashlyn's accident, so he frowned and said, "Whatever. Anyway, however you look at how you got your success, Rick, I am really proud of you." He looked at Mari. "Great water experiments!" he exclaimed.

Mari smiled. "Thank you," she said.

The next day, a repairman came to fix the wiring in the science lab, since it had been having some trouble. (Unfortunately, he wasn't very good at his job.) After Mari and Rick picked Emmy and Ashlyn up from school, they brought them to the lab so they could see their parents' experiments. The lab was so big and had so many inventions that Ashlyn and Emmy started to run off toward the elevator to go to another floor to look at other inventions and experiments after being totally impressed with their parents' work. Rick and Mari were busy making sure their work was done just the way they wanted it so there wouldn't be any problems at the convention.

Rick looked up from his inventions toward the two girls. "Ash, this is a big building that you could easy get lost in, honey, so stay close," he said.

"You, too, Emmy," Mari said. When Ashlyn and Emmy returned to their parents, Mari wrinkled her nose. "I smell smoke," she said.

Rick sniffed. "I smell it, too," he said. He looked up a stairway. What he saw made him gasp. "I see it, too!" he cried. Smoke was coming out of the room in which the repairman had been working, and there were also flames coming down the stairs! Rick and Mari picked up their daughters and ran outside as fast as they could, sounding the fire alarm on the way so that everyone else in the building would hear it and know to evacuate, which they did. Once outside, Rick called 9-1-1. The fire department got there quickly and ran through the building to put out the fire, which rapidly spread. They were able to save all of the experiments and inventions except for Rick and Mari's, but Rick and Mari didn't care. They just praised Jesus for keeping them, their daughters, and everyone else inside safe.

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