With all these storms, we've really been beaten up lately. The beaches all need to be rejuvenated, and Mother Nature cannot do it on its own. We need sand.

The main reason this was a bad year was the spring storms. They arrived when the birds were laying eggs. They dumped sand on the beach and washed away nests. The protective fencing we put up was washed away and so were all the eggs.

Out of defeat can come the best in human nature. As Christians face storms of adversity, they may rise with more beauty. They are like trees that grow on mountain ridges -- battered by winds, yet trees in which we find the strongest wood.

I'm rejuvenated and re-energized,

Mother Nature is not sweet.

The wind whirls and whistles and strip pink blooms from the mimosas, scatters twigs, broken limbs, pine needles and pine cones across our yard, and robs the pecan trees of a thousand leaves. The storm eventually dies, but the bruised trees continue to weep into the night, still shimmering with dewy leaves when the sun comes up the next morning.