A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God.

However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man's parcel of land remained barren.

This actually happened in a youth ministry class at Hannibal-LaGrange College in Missouri.

I left work early so I could have some uninterrupted study time right before the final in my Youth Issues class.

When I got to class, everybody was doing their last-minute studying. The teacher came in and said he would review with us for just a little bit before the test. We went through the review, most of it right on the study guide, but there were some things he was reviewing that I had never heard of. When questioned about it, he said that they were in the book and we were responsible for everything in the book. We couldn't really argue with that.

Finally, it was time to take the test.

Our son had only heard his grandfather pray at Thanksgiving, Easter, and other special occasions; when he typically said a long prayer over the food.

One night, after a fun camp-out and fishing trip, grandfather (to our son's surprise) asked a very brief blessing on the food. With a gleam in his eye, our son grinned at his Grandfather and said,

"You don't pray so long when you're hungry, do you, Grandpa?"

One morning the phone rang at 3:00 a.m. at Jeff's house. He picked up the phone and a woman asked, "Is this 555-1111?"

"No, this is 555-1112," Jeff replied.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for disturbing you," the woman said.

"That's alright," Jeff said. "I had to get up to answer the phone anyway."

My son came home from school one day,
with a smirk upon his face.
He'd decided he was smart enough,
to put me in my place.

"Guess what I learned in Civics Two,
that's taught by Mr. Wright?
It's all about the laws today,
The 'Children's Bill of Rights.'

Tiny, helpless
swaddled in hay
washed, clothed, fed
carried each day.

Poverty, heat
occupied land
Romans, cruel Herod
Palestine sand.