It's Always Darkest Before the Fridge Door Opens: Enjoying the Fruits of Middle Age by Phil Callaway, Martha O. Bolton Page B

which has been opened for us.
Helen Keller
    Have you ever stood staring into the fridge wondering, Where on earth is the blue cheese dressing? 1 To make matters worse, someone else comes along, looks over your shoulder, and says, ‘‘It’s right there beside the milk. Are you blind?’’
    We heard a story about a young boy named Pedro who kept riding his bicycle across the border between Mexico and America, lugging two bags on his shoulders. Every day the border patrol would stop Pedro to ask him what was in his bags. Pedro would say ‘‘sand,’’ and they would still make him empty the bags onto the ground to prove it. But Pedro wasn’t lying. The bags were filled with sand.
    The next day Pedro would ride across the border again, and again the border patrol would stop him.
    ‘‘What’s in your bags?’’ they would ask.
    ‘‘Sand,’’ Pedro would answer.
    ‘‘Prove it,’’ they’d say. So Pedro would dump out both bags and show them the sand. Once they were satisfied, Pedro would scoop up the sand in his hands and put it all back into his bags. This daily routine went on for six months, with Pedro peddling across the border and the border patrol stopping him and making him empty his bags.
    Then one day Pedro didn’t show up. The border patrol wondered what happened to the young man with the bags, but they continued with their inspections. Months passed, and finally one of the border patrol officers happened to run into Pedro in town.
    ‘‘Pedro! How have you been?’’ he said.
    ‘‘Fine,’’ answered Pedro.
    Then the officer said, ‘‘Pedro, we know you were smuggling something across the border every day. Come on, you can tell me, what was it?’’
    Pedro smiled and said, ‘‘Bicycles.’’
    Sometimes, when we look back, things are so obvious. The next chapter reminds us of something we’re often too busy to discover, a last resort that should come first.
    Never miss a good chance to shut up.
Will Rogers
    1 We have also stood staring into the fridge wondering what we’re doing there. Martha once put a dish rag in the fridge while she was cleaning up. Phil put ice cream in the fridge, then after it melted, refroze it. His children were teenagers. They thought it tasted fine.

Who Ya Gonna Call?
    Whether you like it or no, read and pray daily. It is for your life;
there is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days.
John Wesley
    When I (Phil) was a little kid, my mother prayed for me every night. I would walk by her bedroom and see her by her bed, down on her knees. Once I crept up close enough to overhear her. ‘‘Oh, thank you, God, he’s finally in bed!’’
    According to recent surveys conducted by legitimate companies who have the postage for this sort of thing, the vast majority of us believe in prayer, and most of us would agree that God does indeed answer prayer. Sometimes his answer is no, as in the case of my new bass boat request, or Martha’s trip to London, but he does answer.
    Can you imagine what this world would be like if God gave us everything we asked of him? Little brothers the world over would never see their tenth birthday because sisters would have prayed for God to return their annoying sibling back to where he came from. And he would have done it. At least in a world where God gave us everything we asked for.
    And remember in third grade when you prayed, ‘‘Lord, I just really really want that cute new boy to like me and to really really want to grow up and marry me. Oh, pulleeeze, please, please, please! I won’t ask you for another thing ever again! If you loved me, God, you would do this!’’ And there you would be, engaged in the third grade to some guy whom you would pray about in the fourth grade: ‘‘Lord, that new boy turned out to be such a jerk! I hate him, God! I don’t even want him sitting next to me, much less to grow up and marry me! He’s so immature! That noise he makes with his armpit drives me right up a wall! If he