By Tim Heinemann

Before returning to the Burma border region, I had gotten wind of assassination teams targeting key leaders of the Karen ethnic resistance movement with whom I had been working for some time. We had struggled uphill for several years trying to gain the approval for a youth-leader development concept that was now in the works. We wanted to develop a kind of grassroots initiative, to train ethical servant leaders so that they could then serve in the Karen’s decades-long resistance effort against Burma’s military dictatorship.

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by Keith Wommack

A story from the book of Genesis tells of Jacob’s long night. In part, it says, "Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. … And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. …And he blessed him there." Science and Health explains, "Jacob was alone, wrestling with error, — struggling with a mortal sense of life…."

Jacob’s night reminds me of one of mine. I’d been in the Christian Science healing ministry for five years and was living near a university in a split-level house. My bedroom was on the second story. It had eight floor-to-ceiling windows. It was peaceful—until a fraternity moved into a two-story house nearby.

One night, a party started. A stereo and TV blared on a balcony. The sounds boomed into my bedroom through my closed windows. I prayed, grumbled, tossed, and turned.

Around 4 in the morning, the yelling stopped, but the stereo and TV were still booming. I had had enough. I dressed, walked to the corner, then downhill to the fraternity house, past a car with a young man asleep in the backseat, stepped over two individuals lying in the backyard, and climbed up a trellis to the second-story balcony. I turned off the stereo, unplugged the TV, picked it up, and carried it to my house. I then climbed into bed. Ah, peace and quiet!

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by John Biggs

I’ve been in South Africa a week now, visiting with my family and working on my uncle’s ranch in the Karoo. On Saturday, my grandparents and I visited the Valley of Desolation in the Camdeboo National Park, just outside the town of Graaff-Reinet.

I was expecting a barren landscape, something dreary and empty to go along with its name. Instead I saw life blooming everywhere, atop majestic rock formations and in hidden little clefts, with so many colors on the rocks around. The sky had enough scattered clouds that the light came down in sheets and beams, bathing the towers of red rock and making the cliff edges look even steeper.

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by Shirley Paulson

One of the things that surprised me when I attended seminary was the discovery of people long before Mary Baker Eddy’s day who were unusually spiritually minded. I grew up in Christian Science thinking (incorrectly) that I didn’t really need to know much about other spiritually minded people, since I got everything I needed from the Bible and from Mary Baker Eddy’s writings.

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by Estey Masten

Hi! I’m Estey (or Esperanza when I speak Spanish), and I’m the new TMC Youth blogger in town. I have volunteered to blog for many reasons, but the two most important ones are these: 1) I love connecting with other citizens of the world, and this blog is a perfect way to do it! 2) This is a great way for me to think introspectively about myself and realize where I need to go up higher and align myself with divine purpose.

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by Roger Gordon

“Man! I only got a 1450 on my SAT’s! I have to take them over again!”

I heard this type of remark from friends and fellow students all the time in high school. My high school was rated one of the best public schools in the country, and my thinking was challenged more in some of my high school classes than in some college classes I took. Unlike many people, I loved my high school experience and I will always be grateful for it. But it did have its drawbacks. Not only were the students I went to school with incredibly bright, but my high school was minutes away from the prestigious Stanford University, and I sometimes felt stuck in a sea of intellectual superiority.

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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!’

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by Evan Mehlenbacher

My wife and I sat down to eat at a restaurant. An exasperated looking waitress jetted over to our table, a bit mindlessly gathered herself together, and dropped protocol for a moment while she uttered, "This is the worst day of my life."

I expected a dramatic tale of woe to follow, but after asking her what had happened, she replied, "My boss called me in early because he said the restaurant was busy, and ‘Look!’ hardly any customers are here. And then the dishwasher broke down, and I’m the appointed dishwasher." She disgustedly displayed her finely manicured and polished nails that had been recently pulled out of dirty soap and water.

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by Sandra Scott

I was feeling totally ineffective. After three days of concentrated effort on an important project, I just couldn’t seem to center my thinking on my research. My thoughts kept ricocheting around in circles. Instead of focusing on my work, I found myself thinking up grocery lists, wondering if the mail had arrived, answering my e-mail, and finally coming back to my project. It felt like a never-ending ride on the Tilt-a-Whirl!

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