I am on Facebook quite often, and two of my friends regularly post pictures of (mostly) dogs and cats that are available for adoption. One is in Ohio and one is in Mississippi. I will never adopt any of the critters they show, and I find myself often very sad about them. But just when I had decided to say something about what a waste of time it is to post about these animals all the time, I read a report that said that pet adoption is at an all time high, and they credit the sharing of pictures on social media for the rise.

One year I was appointed back to a district I had left around 10 years before. At the first district youth meeting we were telling our names, and one young girl said, "I know you, you used to be my Pastor." After finding out who she was, I assured her that she couldn't possibly remember me because she had been two when I arrived and four when I left. She went on to tell me some of the things she remembered, and she was spot on.

The point of these two stories is that we never know the good we are doing. All we can do is live our lives as faithfully as possible, and let the Spirit work in people's hearts as it will.

Loving God, you call us to faithfulness. In this time of Pastoral changes we often wonder if what we have done makes any difference. Thank you for those moments when our faithfulness is affirmed. We pray for clergy making changes and for congregations receiving those changes. We pray that now and then we will each receive an affirmation that what we do matters to someone, that we have touched at least one life with ours.

I'm sitting here waiting for storms to begin. Within the next three hours they've threatened us with torrential rain, large hail, strong wind, and even the probability of tornadoes. And yet right now the sky is blue, the big puffy clouds seem to sit quietly, and a gentle breeze is blowing. I guess this is the calm before the storm.

Calm before the storm happens to us in life, too. I have a friend who went on vacation from Missouri to Wisconsin with her husband. While there he fell, hit his head, and broke his neck. He survived, but the last month has been filled with trying to help him heal. They had no idea when they left Missouri that this huge change would happen in their lives. Change often comes quickly in our lives, but the one constant is that no matter what happens to us God is there with us to help us cope, to strengthen and empower us.

God of our days and nights, of our yesterdays and tomorrows, we pray with celebration and rejoicing for your constant presence in our lives. We know that no matter what tomorrow may bring you are always with us, walking us even through the valley of the shadow of death. We pray this day for all who are facing life changing events in their lives, that your presence may be very real to them. We pray for those who are or will be in Annual Conference, that you may guide their coming together, their deliberating, and their going out. And always we pray for our Church, for it is only your leading a guiding Spirit that can get us through the mess we've gotten ourselves into.