A tree that stood in my backyard seemed fine to the naked eye. But it was faulty . . . weak . . . vulnerable. It was plagued on the inside. Beneath the bark, unknown and unseen, it was slowly being eaten away. So, under the intense pressure of a storm, it splintered . . . and fell with a mighty crash. Faults, under severe conditions, often surface. We all carry in our inner selves, in varying degrees, some form of weakness inflicted by the fallenness of this world. Some we tr