Five years ago, Maddie Trncic came to work for us at The Bridge. She came to us from a ministry in Honduras. She agreed to work in our church office for just six months because her heart was with students in Honduras who had no means to continue their education.

If you put a vulture in a 6’x8’ pen that is open on top, the bird, despite its ability to fly, would be a prisoner. Vultures learn to fly by running 10 to 12 feet and lifting off. They are fully capable of taking off in a short span, they just don’t know it.

You read about people in the Bible praying for long periods of time, and you wish you could do that, but how? Stories of prayer warriors like “Praying John Hyde” and George Muller intrigue you, but you think that kind of praying is only for the super spiritual.

Two sisters, a year apart in middle school, returned from winter break after a week at Disney World with their family. One was down in the dumps and when asked what was wrong, she retorted, “I just came back from a week off school in Florida to this freezing cold weather and homework––that’s what’s wrong.”

I know that winter is hard. I know it’s long in Chicago, and there isn’t much for us to do outside when it’s cold here. I also know that seasonal depression is a real thing.

A fifty-one-year-old widow in Oklahoma City was diagnosed with a terminal illness and was told that she had just a year to live. She had saved up money during her life and decided that over her last year, she would spend as much as possible, to find a year of happiness.