The Angola giraffe was giving birth. I stood next to zoo animal keeper, Jack Badal, to watch. She was standing up, and the calf's front hooves and head were already visible. "When is she going to lie down?" I asked Jack.

"She won't," he answered.

"But her hindquarters are nearly ten feet off the ground!" I said. "Isn't anyone going to catch the calf?"

"Try catching it if you want," Jack responded, "but its mother has enough strength in her hind legs to kick your head off." Soon the calf hurled forth, landing on his back. His mother waited for about a minute, then kicked her baby, sending it sprawling head over hooves.

"Why'd she do that?" I asked.

"She wants it to get up." Whenever the baby ceased struggling to rise, the mother prodded it with a hearty kick. Finally, the calf stood—wobbly, but upright. The mother kicked it off its feet again! "She wants it to remember how it got up," Jack offered. "In the wild, if it didn't quickly follow the herd, predators would pick it off."

It's easy for us to view trials as unwelcome intruders in our lives. But they do have a way of prompting us to get up and seek the protection of our heavenly father.