shaped by the culture around us. The slow drift away from obedience to and fellowship with God takes us unaware. Like the Israelites we begin to follow other gods, our gods may not be those images formed by hands, but other values to which we give our loyalty: money, power, jobs, or family. But this need not be. The quiet times may also bring opportunities to steady our character and to learn to trust God for our everyday needs. When crises do come, they then become times that reveal the depths of