Please, pardon the dust.

We've been doing a little renovating. Some of you may have noticed the big changes from way back when (back when some guy named Ben Avery had no business designing a web page). Some of you are new, so you're just coming in as we make the changes.

Change is a part of life, whether we like it or not. It can be exciting. It can be scary. It can be painful. And sometimes it takes the pain away. But unless you're hiding in an attic somewhere, you're going to have to deal with change.

My son has just discovered one of nature's coolest changes . . . the cicada (he calls it a cicacacaca, but that's another story). He found the empty shell of a cicada on the back porch the other day. Soon afterward, he discovered another cicada climbing out of its old shell. Since then, he's accumulated shells from eight or so cicadas and collected them in a box . . . and also a dead wasp (I don't know where that came from).

So yes, change is a natural part of life. But it's not easy. I've watched caterpillars build their cocoons -- a tedious and time consuming process -- and then come out of their cocoons as butterflies. It is a dangerous time. The butterfly's wings are wet and it cannot fly, which is really its only means of defense.

As I started writing this, I promised myself I would not use the butterfly or cicada as a metaphor for Community Comics . . .

I promised myself I wouldn't say, "Just like the butterfly, Community Comics is coming out of its cocoon . . ."

So I will spare you the metaphor.

Instead, I will share with you a poem. (Argh. Almost as bad. It's a metaphor AND it rhymes!) Believe it or not, this is the basis for a possible Hero TV one shot. But I believe it says alot.

Mariposa
by Ben Avery

By Your will
I bid my dead cocoon good-bye

By Your strength
I stretch my wet wings to the sky

By Your grace
I step to the edge and heave a sigh

By Your love
I spread my frail wings and I fly

By Your love
I spread my frail wings and I fly

(c) 2001

His eye is on the sparrow. The implication? His eye is on the caterpillars, the butterflies, the "cicacacacas", and us. And here's where I WILL say we are like that butterfly. Jefferson -- who said that God created the universe, set it in motion, and then left it on its own -- was wrong. Each butterfly may seem insignificant, but it is a significant part of our world, affecting things in unseen ways. And so are we. There is no such thing as an insignificant person.

Life isn't easy. Changes come and go. Our lives tend to be in a constant state of flux. But we have a God who wants us to know how much he loves us. How much he cares for us. And who wants to be a part of our lives during these changes.

Ben