A pastor (牧师) had been on a long flight between church conferences. After a while, a calm voice said, “We shall not be serving the drinks at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence (漩涡). Please be _________ your seat belt is fastened.”

As the pastor looked _________ the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming a bit _________. Later, the voice said, “We are so sorry that we are unable to _________ the meal at this time. The turbulence is still ahead of us.”

Lightning _________ the darkening skies, and within moments that great _________ was like a cork (软木塞) moving around _________ an ocean. One moment the airplane was _________ on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as if it were about to crash. All the passengers were upset and scared. Some were praying. The _________ seemed terrible and many were wondering if they would ________ it through the storm.

Then, he suddenly saw a little girl. Apparently the storm meant __________ to her. She was reading a book and everything within her small world was __________ and orderly. Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would __________ again; then she would straighten her legs, but worry and fear were not in her __________. All the adults were scared half to __________, but the great child wasn’t afraid at all.

The pastor could hardly believe his eyes. When the plane finally __________ its destination, he asked why she had not been afraid. The child replied, “Because my Daddy’s the __________, and he’s flying the plane to take me home.”

There are many kinds of storms that __________ us, such as physical, mental, financial… Many storms can easily and quickly darken our skies and __________ our plane into uncontrollable movement.

Let us __________: Our Father is the pilot. He is in control and taking us home. So don’t worry!

I’ve had a string of bad luck lately. Last week, my washing machine broke. I planned to _________ it myself but soon found the repairs would cost more than a new one would. Then this week the _________ thing happened to my daughter’s washing machine! This time I _________ called a friend to help. Once again, however, it was broken beyond _________. I ended up having to _________ two. While both the new machines got delivered quickly, I still _________ about what I was going through in my heart.

The moment I did, my _________ traveled back to the days when I was a child. I saw my grandma _________ an old-fashioned washing machine with my jeans and shirts. It didn’t have a spin dryer (甩干机) inside so she had to put each item through a pair of rollers to _________ the water. When the washing was done, she’d often pat the machine __________. She had grown up hand-washing clothes and was __________ for the machine that did so much of the work for her.

Remembering this helped me realize that I was looking at things in the __________ way. I was getting __________ in the inconveniences of modern life instead of being thankful for all I have. The good old days had their share of __________ and joys. And so do the good new days. What __________ is how we live them and what we can learn from them.

My neighbor Mary is retired. And she is living________now. She bought a dishwasher last year. However, it is old and doesn't work now. She________doing dishes, and every time we visit her, she________about doing the dishes. One night, I asked her, "Why don't you________a new dishwasher?" She replied, "I have been________about it; if one would only come on sale, I would."

Another________Larry works for a company that allows________retirement with a small part of pension (退休金). Larry's age allows him to retire, but he doesn't. I was________about the stress of his job and the effects it was having________his health, so I said, "Why don't you retire?" Larry replied, "If I was older, then I would get my________pension." I said again, "But Larry, you have your house paid off(付清)and the kids have________up. It is really not worth your________, is it?" Larry then said, "________the summer comes, maybe I will."

The two stories have the same________. There is a proverb(谚语), "'If' and 'when' were________and nothing grew."

Now a year later, Mary is still________dishes by hand! Larry is still________and his health is not better than it used to be!

The sad________of the two stories is they both have a lot of stress. Everyone has stress but most of them________themselves by thinking "if" or "when". Change your thinking, so that you can________your stress. Let's take action to do something we always wanted to do now!