Finished another book, The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. I think I would have liked to know Brother Lawrence to see if he really was as humble and holy as he was portrayed. He seemed to be especially interested in suffering and asked God to make him suffer. I disagree with his premise that it is God who makes us suffer and that he does it for our own good. I think we suffer because of poor choices and an imperfect world. For instance, my boys both wish they hadn't gone to the beach last weekend because now they are suffering with cracked, itchy, peeling skin and the cream burns. Actually, if they (and I) had made a better decision to put shirts on them, then they would be happy about having gone to the beach and would likely not be suffering. I don't think God is making them suffer so that they can become closer to Him. _________ Two evenings ago at dinner #2 looked out the dining room window and asked what's that? Then he got up to walk over and look out. I thought he was looking out at the construction that is going on over on the other side of the corn field. NO! He was looking at a snake that had crawled up the wall and was looking in at us! That was met by pleas to keep it as a pet. The pleas were met with a very definite, "Never in my life or yours!"