Joe - Adapted from the Christian Science Sentinel, June 23, 2008, and posted on tmcyouth.com
Last year my church helped a family in Mexico. I saw how happy and loving the family was as we built them a little house in Tijuana. The Christian Science Society I attend was a sponsor for this mission trip.
When we got to the building site high on a hill in Mexico overlooking California, I met the youngest member of the family, Isaac. He calls himself Zak. I asked him what he got for Christmas. He said, “Nothing, because my parents don’t have any money.” And so I felt like that was why we were there, so that we could build a house for him and his family for Christmas. It was our Christmas present to them.
(more…)
Anna - Christian Science Sentinel, Dec. 3, 2007
Ever since I was little, I’ve loved snakes. When I was four, a woman in front of us in a pet store check-out line was carrying a huge snake. I started petting it because it seemed to like me.
The woman turned and started to tell my mom to keep away because the snake supposedly didn’t like strangers. When she saw that her snake was enjoying my attention, she was speechless. After that experience, I began to want a snake of my own. To me, there is something fascinating about them. I think they are very beautiful, graceful, and loving. I’ve learned in Christian Science that everything God creates expresses good and beautiful qualities.
by Meg Dendler
I’ve grown rather accustomed to mentally tuning out the music my daughters play, often at competing volume levels, from their respective bedrooms. But one afternoon as we drove in the car a favorite of my older daughter’s came on and I really started listening to the words. What I heard from the gravely voice of rock band Nickelback’s lead singer shocked me, but in a good way for once. He sang:
by Keith Wommack
A book entitled Religion In Shoes, tells about the ministry of Rev. J. A. Bryan, otherwise known as Brother Bryan of Birmingham. Brother Bryan lived to pray.
The book describes a scene on a main street of Birmingham. “Office buildings and stores had poured out their thousands for the noonday sprint to lunch and back. Sidewalks were congested and the street corners were jammed with crowds waiting for the lights to change that they might dash from curb to curb. Down the street came a young woman in a great hurry. She reached the curb just as the light changed. The woman stamped her foot impatiently and said, ‘Oh, damn!’
by Inge Schmidt
I have to be honest: Valentine’s Day is not my favorite “holiday.” In college, I even played a part in organizing a few Anti-Valentine’s Day parties—no romantic comedies allowed. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against the colors pink and red, I’m always up for a reason to eat more candy, and I’m all in favor of telling friends and family members that I love them. I’ve got a boyfriend so my resistance isn’t because of a lack of romantic love. But one special valentine made me rethink.
Matthew Hellman - Testimony from The Christian Science Journal, June 2007
The book of Luke says that a certain lawyer tested Jesus, asking, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” When Jesus threw the question back to him and asked the man what he thought the answer might be, the lawyer responded by saying that Jewish law stated, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” The lawyer then asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” In reply, Jesus told the man a parable—the parable of the good Samaritan (see Luke 10:25–37). Today, even thousands of years later, this story has given me such inspiration.
by Keith Wommack
The policeman grabbed a would-be suicide victim and held on with all his might. He saved him because he knew he couldn’t live if he didn’t. Where does that kind of unselfish love come from?
by Evan Mehlenbacher
I like January. It’s the month that most people associate with a fresh start. And fresh starts with a spiritual spin are wonderful.
I like it when January rolls around each year because it’s the month that most nearly signifies a fresh start, a new beginning, or an opportunity to “get it right this time.”
by David Bates
Mine is to think more about what New Year really means. You always hear people talking about finding the true meaning of Christmas, a meaning that gets obfuscated amidst the wrapping paper and constant bustling. Well, what about the New Year? I believe there’s a deeper meaning to this holiday, too. And just like Christmas, I feel too many people (myself included) gloss over the deeper significance of this time of the year. Lots of us jump into the New Year wanting to make big changes and we go about it in an unproductive way that ends in failure.
by David Evans
“Charity [love] never faileth,” the Apostle Paul writes, after noting that it also “beareth all things” ( I Cor. 13:7,8 ).
“Fine,” you say, “but a bridge in Minneapolis didn’t bear all things any longer. It failed. Dozens of people and their vehicles plummeted into the Mississippi River. What’s Love never failing got to do with that?” (more…)
