Faith

---

The night before the day he was to give his speech as the new owner of the lab, Rick stayed up until almost midnight rehearsing what he would say and reading over his notes. He loved Joe like a second father and wanted to run the lab in a way that Joe would have been proud, and he figured he would earn the respect of the other scientists if he sounded confident, like he knew what he was talking about. He was very nervous. He'd never owned a business before, so he wanted to sound humble, yet assertive and commanding. He also knew most of the people who worked at the lab were either atheists or agnostics, so they might not like the idea of Christian material being used, so he prayed that God would soften their hearts and give him the words to say to witness to them.

Because he stayed up late, the next morning he overslept! When he opened his eyes, he saw that the clock said 8:30, and he wanted to get to the lab by 9:00! He'd set the alarm for 8:00 and slept through it! Nervously, he quickly woke Mari, Ashlyn, and Emmy, and they all started hustling to get ready. Mari showered, and just as she was coming out of the shower, she heard a knock at the door. "Can you get that, dear?" she asked Rick. "I'm not decent."

Rick still had on his robe and pajamas. He also had mouthwash in his mouth, but he figured he was more able to answer the door, because at least he was wearing something. He hurried to the door and saw a lady and a couple of children standing there. He held up his finger for them to wait, then gargled to kill his morning breath. There was no sink in the living room, so he spit into a trash can. "Sorry, guys. I didn't mean to gargle in front of you, but I was in the middle of getting ready for an important speech. I overslept."

"Oh, we're sorry, sir," said the lady. "We'll leave you alone."

"No, it's OK. Is there something I can help you with?" Rick asked.

"Well, it's teacher in-service day, so my children have the day off of school, and we're selling candy to raise money for our Jog-a-Thon," the lady answered. "We have some milk chocolate bars."

Ashlyn bounded into the room in a pink blouse and purple skirt . "Milk chocolate? Emmy and I love milk chocolate!" she exclaimed. "Daddy, get us some candy, please!"

Rick smiled and reached for his wallet on the coffee table. Each candy bar was worth a dollar, and he bought four candy bars for Ashlyn, Emmy, Mari, and himself. He picked Ashlyn up and said, "I don't know if my daughter loves candy or if she loves being generous to school causes. Maybe both." He laughed and kissed Ashlyn's cheek.

"Thank you, sir," the lady said. She and the children left, and then Rick put Ashlyn down and went back upstairs to finish getting ready. There were only 15 minutes left! Everyone finished getting ready in five minutes, though, and they hit all the green lights, so they made it to the lab in time.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE