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joking.” Doug’s voice was quiet, calm, and sure.
    Claudia pressed her lips together and leaned against the wall. Tension. Even here. Still, Ruth looked calm, as though she’d heard all this before.
    “Claudia, remember we all see God differently. We have you to remind us to approach God with awe and reverence. And we have Jasper, who reminds us that sometimes giving God our reverence can be as simple as taking off our flip-flops.”
    A few more people gave examples — God was in a sunset, in the joy at a birthday party, in the hopeful look on a dad’s face as he went out to interview for a new job. I’d never considered any of these “God moments,” as Doug called them. But the more he talked, the more I wondered.
    “People yearn for something beyond what they know. The exact experience is hard to put into words, but when God reaches out to touch you there’s a startling moment when you see both the present moment and feel something beyond — you feel God. Our job is to stay open to these moments, which happen all the time. So this week, watch.Pay attention. Witness God in your life.” Doug stood up and asked us all to stand too.
    “God, you showed up tonight. Thank you. Give us wide-open eyes to see you throughout the week. Amen.”
    And then it was over. Cameron and his friends unplugged their instruments, and Ruth pretended not to watch as we talked with her friends, Bea and Lindsay.
    “I hope you’ll come back, Sadie,” Doug said. “Do you have any questions?”
    Questions?
I had too many to count. But I didn’t know how to ask even one of them. “No. Not really, I guess.”
    “Okay. Well, if you ever do, I’m here. And so is Penny. And I know Ruth is too.”
    “Umm, thanks.”
    He moved on to mingle with the others.
    I tried to pay attention to the girls’ conversation, but I couldn’t focus. I wanted to be alone in my room with my sketchpad, to draw the Tree House and its vanishing point. Was that spot, that exact place that faded away into invisibility, where I’d see God?
    Bea touched my arm and I blinked, realizing I’d drifted far away.
    “Sadie, are you coming for the star shower next week?” she asked.
    “Maybe,” I said. “Um, yeah. I think so.”
     

Chapter 12
Perspective
    “W hat’s Mom doing in the closet?” I asked Dad when I walked into the kitchen.
    Dad wore the Sugar-and-Spice apron and carefully watched a pan of scrambled eggs. “Done!”
    I scrambled backward to avoid being smacked in the head with the pan as he whipped around and divvied up the eggs.
    “Seriously, Dad, someday you’re going to hurt someone.”
    “Perfect eggs are extremely important.” He brought the plates to the table.
    “Are you sure you want to interrupt Mom?” I asked as he picked up the third plate. “What’s she doing, anyway?”
    I’d caught him mouth open, ready to shout. He closed his mouth and winked. “Guess I’d better not. I’ll just take them in to her. She’s organizing.”
    Interrupting Mom mid-organization was more dangerousthan Dad frying eggs. I’d had to duck at least ten flying shoes while learning the hard way. But if she was organizing, she must be feeling much better.
    I gave him a wink of my own. “Good luck.”
    “I’ll tiptoe. I’ll be the invisible man. She won’t have the faintest idea I was there.”
    Thirty seconds after he’d left the kitchen, Mom shouted, “Out! Out! Out!”
    After he’d come back to the table, she called, “Thank you!” Humming to himself, Dad dug into his eggs. I’d already eaten half of mine.
    “These are good, Dad.”
    “Good?
Good?
” Dad shouted. “They aren’t good. They’re excellent. In fact, they’re superb.”
    From down the hall, Mom called, “They’re marvelous!”
    I grinned and took my last bite. Not even Frankie could ruin a day like today.
    But half an hour later, when we pulled up to school, my stomach tightened. Clumps of whispering students shot me dark looks as I walked up the school’s front