March What s Happening? Welcome Mike Landis! Softball Roast Beef Fundraiser

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1 Joyful Noiz March May Page 24 What s Happening? Ministry of Education - Judy Francis and Bekki Dibble have volunteered to Co-Chair the Ministry of Education. Judy is moving from Co-Chair of Ministry of Worship. We recognize and thank Judy and Bekki for their commitment to this ministry and please help them in this ministry with your ongoing support. We are still in need of a sponsor for a young boy in Haiti. Your gift of $200 will enable him to go to a Christian school to receive an education and learn about Jesus. Contact Joyce Price at rjelp@comcast.net to help with this ministry or for more information. Summer Theatre Day Camp at Zion Mennonite Church! Sam Brannon directing. KIDS perform, KIDS Design, KIDS CREATE! Seussical Kids Kids ages 6-14 welcome. Mondays to Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. from July 24 August 4. Show Time will be on Friday, August 4 at 7:00 p.m. For more information, swingonastart@yahoo.com. Joyful Noiz March 2017 Softball Roast Beef Fundraiser Sunday March 19 at 11:30 a.m. in Fellowship Hall Tickets on Sale March 5 & 12 Welcome Mike Landis! Mike was welcomed to our staff as the maintenance supervisor in February. He is no stranger to the church as he is a member here. We are happy to have him aboard. Mike can be found around the church Monday thru Fridays 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. If you have to reach Mike, his is mike@zionmennonite.org. The Joyful Noiz is published monthly by Zion Mennonite Church. The editor is Jennifer Moyer. Contributors this month included: Scott Benner, Verle Brubaker, Ashley Class, Yvonne Detweiler, Tim Groff, Lori Groff, Sonya Stauffer Kurtz, Ned Leight, Laura Martin, Judy McVaugh, Eric Musselman, Joyce Price, Eric Musselman. Stories and information for the newsletter can be submitted to Jennifer via <jenn@zionmennonite.org> or left in the mailbox marked Joyful Noiz in the church office. Next Deadline: March 12, 2017 Zion Mennonite Church Cherry Lane Souderton, PA Fax:

2 Joyful Noiz March May Page 22 Pastor s Corner In January we looked at the church as God s gift to the world. The church is made up of people who are being restored into the image of God and are a community that is charged with participating in the restoration of God s broken world. That is a big and impossible task when we look at it from our limited perspective. Especially, if we see that it relies only on our resources and our power. When I am overwhelmed by the size of the job, it helps to be reminded of Paul s words to the Corinthians: I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 1 Corinthians 1:4-7 (NIV) You do NOT lack ANY spiritual gift. Paul goes on to state: Don t you know that you yourselves are God s temple and that God s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God s temple, God will destroy that person; for God s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NIV) When Paul talks about being the temple here, he means the body of Christ (see context). He will speak of the body (personal) as the temple in 1 Corinthians 6. Joyful Noiz March 2017 Page 23 April 2 April 9 April 16 April 23 Bible Mania Heidi Borisow Sherry & Ben Russell Enjoy Time in Worship Heidi Borisow Sherry & Ben Russell Enjoy Time in Worship Children s Church Eric & Katie Musselman Gail Grim & Chelsea Picon Andy & Erin Constanzer Lori Groff & Dawn Repsher April 30 Enjoy Time in Worship Dan & Amy McDonough Infant & Toddler Nursery April 2 April 9 April Children s Ministries Sunday Morning Child Care Worship Service Betty Bergstresser & Edie Landis Amy Bergstresser & Chelsea Picon Sunday School Trish & Mark Watkins Amy Cummings Leight & Wendy Levin In these two passages we are set up for the great passage in 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul talks about the gifts of the spirit. The body (the church) needs each person to fulfill its mission. Too often we have lifted out the specific gifts Paul mentions. We have sought to identify which particular gift God has given us. And if when we identify it we limit our participation to what that gift can do. April 16 April 23 April 30 Terri Musselman & Sue High Erin & Andy Constanzer Laura & Matt Musselman No Sunday School Judy McVaugh & Barb Schanz Donna Halteman & Eric Musselman Continued to page 3...

3 Joyful Noiz March May Page 22 March Children s Ministries March 5 Bible Mania Heidi Borisow Sherry & Ben Russell Children s Church Lori Groff & Dawn Repsher March 12 Enjoy Time in Worship Amy & Dan McDonough March 19 March 26 Infant & Toddler Nursery March 5 March 12 Enjoy Time in Worship Heidi Borisow Sherry & Ben Russell Laura & Matt Musselman Susan & Brad Schanz Sunday Morning Child Care Worship Service Tana Godshall & Dan Bencsik Nancy Detwiler & Katie Musselman Sunday School Donna Halteman & Eric Musselman Ashlen Godshall & Eric Musselman Joyful Noiz March 2017 Page 3 Pastor s Corner, continued from page 2. However, the primary understanding to that passage is that we, each individual, are gifts. Our whole being not just one particular part of the us. The church does not function well without the full participation of each member of the body. So God has given to the church all the gifts that we need to fulfill the mission he has given us. We are the gifts. Now it is possible to say but what I have and what I am are too small to count. N. T. Wright states in his commentary on 1 Corinthians 1 that: The world is full of somebodies and nobodies', and it does neither of them any good. That s not the way God intended it to be. Every human being, man, woman, child, and even unborn child, bears the image and likeness of God, and has neither more nor less dignity because some other people have heard of them, look up to them, or think they re special. But in most parts of the world, at most periods of history and, as the story shows, often enough in the church itself people feel that it s better to be somebody'. The cult of fame has reached monstrous proportions in recent days, to the absurd point where many people are now famous for being famous. We know their names, we recognize their faces, but can t remember whether they are footballers, film stars or fashion models. PAUL FOR EVERYONE: 1 Corinthians, N. T. Wright, page 14 God delights in taking little things and making great things from them. Whether it is 5 loaves and 2 fish or you and all your gifts, talents, skills, passions, and energy are what he can and will use to show the world how his people can live together. March 19 Bekki & Nathan Dibble Suzanne Gunden & Angela Benner What are you withholding from the work of God s church? God has given the gifts. The mission is before us. Will we obey? March 26 Lori Groff & Eric Musselman Carrie & Mike Dennis Verle Brubaker

4 Joyful Noiz March May Page 44 From Debbie s Desk Mission Moment My favorite thing about my job is our team. It s an All Star Team. My job is to hold down an administrative center so they can focus on their work. For example, these are several tasks I did this month: Introduce Intern Anna to a professional in her field, a new mentor Organize the team s weekly Bible Study Orientation with a new worker Visit EMM partners in Ethiopia to discuss improved models for utilizing short term teachers Provide coaching for team members (14 members) Organize a three-day team retreat Sort out a tangle with EMM s legal presence in Kenya Plan work-flow for a team member s manuscript on the Tanzania Mennonite Church Arrange funding for a community meeting in a violent conflict zone Our regional team is made up of three working groups. One group focuses on investing in people who are already engaged with church. Another group interfaces with Muslims, and helps other Christians improve the way they relate with Muslims. The third group focuses on the Marketplace by running institutions with excellence (like the guest house & Rosslyn Academy), we maximize their value to our workers and to others. You Could Be in Our Next Team Photo! We need to add ESL teachers to our team. Teachers can come for 3 months or longer. We need hosts for the guest house. In short terms of 3 months or longer, hosts provide pastoral presence for the guests and staff. This job has been called a gravy job Yeah, it s awesome. We also need College professors. Could you teach a semester of English, Ministry-related topics, or Humanities? Contact Debbi for more information. Joyful Noiz March 2017 Page 21 February Church Board Highlights 2017 year to date giving totals through the end of January are $2,937 ahead of budget. Board reviewed the Annual Meeting and discussed how to improve the meeting for the future. Board reviewed the Board/Staff session that took place on Saturday, 2/4. Key takeaways will be turned into action items. Board identified possible short term and long term solutions to fill the void that is a result of Pastor Scott's resignation. To understand better, Board is scheduling an information sharing meeting with Board, youth, parents, youth leaders, and Christian Ed leaders. Board will schedule regular information meetings with the congregation, with the first meeting to take place in March/April. Tim Groff, Church Chair Zion Mennonite Nursery School s Annual Hoagie Sale! It s time for our annual hoagie sale. Cost of the coupons are $4.50. These coupons can be used at any WaWa for a shorti hoagie. Perfect for an on the go meal. Look for order forms to come in your mailboxes. Thank you for always supporting this great ministry of Zion! Yum Yum! ARAM & DEBBI DIGENNARO FEB Continued to page 5

5 Joyful Noiz March May Page 20 Birthday March Birthdays & Anniversaries 1 Amy Keller 1 Ava Landis 1 Sue Moyer 2 - Cole Constanzer 2 Gerry Kulp 3 Rori Constanzer 5 Tanya Neuman 6 Kay Kehs 6 Sidney Keller 7 - Linda Sue Detweiler 7 Bernice Gilmore 7 Rebekah Solt 7 Nolan Watkins 8 - Conner Helfrich 8 - Bradd Yoder 9 - Becky Yoder 12 Brianna Moyer 13 Bill Fridey 16 Pauline Musselman 17 - Dave Levin 17 Hanna Schmidt 17 Nanci Ziegler 18 Jim Landis Anniversaries 7 - Jim & Yvonne Detweiler 11 - Phil & Betty Bergstresser 20 - Lee & Rut Keeler 18 Mary Ziegler 19 Trey Ziegler 20 Howard Peters 20 - Dan Rhoads 21 - Orpha Rickert 21 - Sherry Russell 21 - Dale Yoder 22 - Kyle Groff 22 - Rudy Rauschenberger 23 - Brayden Helfrich 23 - Juliana Landis 23 - Nolan Worman 24 - Nathan Koffel 25 - Katelyn Fox 26 - Arlene Alderfer 26 - Michael Helfrich 27 - Mason Keller 27 - Marilyn Ritter 28 - Mark Watkins 29 - Emily Bergey 29 - Irv Detwiler 31 - Patrick Francis 24 - Craig & Sumi Gerhart 24 - John & Marcia Young If your birthday or anniversary is incorrect or missing, please notify the office. Church Directory Updates Dave & Wendy Levin Sherry Gill 3 Cooper Ave 2637 Valley Woods Road Hatfield, Pa Hatfield, Pa Please remember to contact the church office with any changes to your address, phone or address. Joyful Noiz March 2017 Page 5 Mission Moment, continued from page 4. From Kyle Lotier So it s been about 6 months now that Margie and I have been in Madagascar. We are officially half-way through our one-year contract. While it would be easy for me to say that the reason that this update is so long overdue is because I have just been so incredibly busy, it s mostly because I m just absent-minded. Something that those of you who know me well know. That s not to say we haven t been keeping ourselves busy. We certainly have been. But busy doing what you might ask. Well sit right back and you ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip unless you re reading this in church instead of paying attention to the sermon. If that s the case then put the Joyful Noiz back down and save it for later. I can wait. So what exactly is it that we ve been doing? Margie and I are living and working in Maroantsetra (Maro), Madagascar (Mada) with Medair, the same Swiss organization that we worked with in the Middle East. I am the Water Infrastructure Manager while Margie is the Project Support Manager. Water Infrastructure Manager it s a pretty self-explanatory title. I m in charge of overseeing construction of new water points in the villages around Maro (we construct either shallow borehole wells equipped with hand pumps or gravity systems depending upon the context). As you would probably guess, I m not actually building these things myself. I have a team of eight technicians who themselves are responsible for overseeing the work done by the private companies to whom we contract out the work. As with many of you, most of my job is just me sitting in an office staring at a computer screen. I spend most of my time designing the systems that the contractors will then build, ordering parts, preparing contracts, writing reports, staff planning, and sitting through meetings of questionable utility. But sometimes, sometimes I get to leave the office. When you travel in this part of Madagascar, the first thing that you notice is how beautiful it is. Wide, flat, slow-moving rivers, mountains, palm, mango, and lychee trees. It s breathtaking. The second thing you notice is the poverty. This part of Madagascar is better off economically than others, but by Western standards of development it s a pretty simple life. They have been blessed with a great climate. It s warm, and it rains. You could grow anything here. They don t. But they could if they wanted to. Instead they mostly grow rice, as well as the cash crops vanilla Continued on page 10...

6 Joyful Noiz March May Page 66 Countdown to Zion.. Spring may be around the corner, but as I write it feels like I am sitting in a snow globe with big fluffy flakes swirling outside! My local paper tells me that Rochester is ahead in the Snowball Derby, a competition between Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse for the most snowfall each season. We are up to 60 inches! But not all on the ground at once, of course. Joyful Noiz March 2017 Page 19 This past month we visited more colleges for Alex - still waiting to hear about financial aid which will help make the final decision. A couple more interviews for Roger. We continue to clear out and organize. It feels like all our balls are still up in the air, swirling around, not quite as wildly as the snowflakes outside my window! An Ethiopian saying describes our lives right now -- step by step, the egg begins to walk. We have to remind each other of that some days! Meanwhile, in early March I will be the guest speaker at the Mennonite Camping Association Eastern Regional Gathering at Beaver Camp in the Adirondacks. I am looking forward to the chance to meet people who work at our church camps. Thank you to everyone who sent us creative gifts, letters and cards, stories and news about your families in this past month s box. We are enjoying getting to know our new Zion congregation through the monthly box! And we were very happy to get the new picture directory! This month we plan to be with you for worship and the weekend of March 18 and 19. We look forward to catching up more that weekend! Warmly, Sonya Stauffer Kurtz

7 Joyful Noiz March May Page 18 Recipes Worth Sharing My True Love Cake ================= 12 Servings Prep: 30 min. Bake: 20 min. + cooling Ingredients 1/2 cup butter, softened 2 cups sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoons baking cocoa 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup buttermilk 1 cup water 1/2 cup vegetable oil FILLING: 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened 2/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream ( I use Cool Whip) 1/4 teaspoon almond extract 1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling, divided Directions In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Beat in water and oil until smooth. Pour into two greased and floured 9-in. heart-shaped baking pans. (I've made this in a 9 X 13 pan and it's great!) Bake at 350 for minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. In a bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Beat in cream and extract. Place one cake on a serving plate; spread with half of cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Top with 1 cup pie filling and second cake; spread with remaining cream cheese mixture. Make a heart-shaped indentation in center of cake; fill with remaining pie filling. Refrigerate until serving. Yvonne Detweiler Joyful Noiz March 2017 Page 7 Youth News Junior High Enjoy Spruce Lake Retreat It is that time of year again, when Zion s Junior High students head off for a weekend at Spruce Lake Retreat. Students were hoping for a lot of fun tubing and playing in the snow, what they got was rain and generally gloomy weather. While the weather wasn t so exciting it didn t keep Zion s students from having a really terrific weekend. Our crew got a later start than usual on Friday night, as one of our students had a practice that went until 6 pm. We picked this student up at their school right after practice concluded. We were thinking we would be the last group to arrive, with registration scheduled from 7:00-8:00 pm. When we arrived we walked into the pavilion filled with staff and no other groups! Since we ended up being the first group there, it gave us unexpected time to get unpacked and settled into our cabins. It didn t take long before the other groups arrived and the chaos of over 100 Junior High youth and advisors took over. Once everyone arrived students played a few get-to-know-you games and advisors met to discuss the plans for the weekend. We enjoyed a short time of worship that evening, too. Before we knew it, our lights-out time had arrived and students quickly headed back to their cabins to settle in to get some rest. As we started a new day, we enjoyed a great breakfast and a lot of hot chocolate! Then we jumped into our time of worship where, Ben Simcox, from the Harrisburg area (he grew up in Pipersville) did an amazing job connecting with students and getting them to sing out. Once we wrapped up our singing, Scott Elkin from Old Road Mennonite Church in Gap, Pennsylvania did a great job engaging the kids in his talk. Over the weekend we had 4 talks. Both Ben and Scott did a great job of engaging the students and challenging them to grow in their relationship with Christ. Continued to page 9...

8 Joyful Noiz March May Page 88 Prepare Your Heart for God s Word By Rick Warren February 1, 2017 Joyful Noiz March 2017 Page 17 Just a note of Thanks Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you (James 1:19b-21 NIV). Let s say you re a gardener. You ve learned that you can take the exact same seed and plant it in three different locations and get three different results. In one spot, you ll get giant tomatoes. In another, you ll get small tomatoes. And in a third, you ll get nothing. What s the difference? It s not the seed; it s the soil. The soil must be prepared for the seed. The same is true when you hear God s Word. Your heart has to be prepared for the Word. If you get up late, have trouble finding a parking spot, and are irritated as you rush into church, you re probably not going to hear God s voice! You re not in a receptive mood. That s why you can take two people to church, set them side-by-side, and one will walk out thinking God really spoke to him and the other won t get anything out of the service. The heart of one person was prepared; the other s heart wasn t. The Bible says, Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you (James 1:19b-21 NIV). For good reception, this passage teaches you have to have four attitudes: You must be quiet. You can t hear God if you re talking. You have to be calm. You can t rush God. If you re frantic, you re not going to hear God. The Bible says, Be still and know that I am God. My translation of that is: Sit down and shut up. You have to be clean. Before you can meet with God, you need to take out some emotional and spiritual garbage. You need to get rid of the stuff that stinks in your life. You get rid of the garbage by confessing your sin to God and agreeing with him that what you did was wrong. Because you gave... We wanted to say thank you for your support of camp! Through your generous donations and volunteer hours we were able to accomplish the following improvements in 2016: Two new gaga pits. New LED pole lights throughout camp. New mattresses for one cabin. Re-roof two cabins (Good Pine and Kum-Inn). New swings for our hexagon swing in camp. A new paddle boat. A "new to camp" plow truck with V-plow. A new compact tractor with backhoe, bucket, and pallet forks. And many other smaller projects. Thank you so much for joining with camp and supporting our mission of Life Change through Christ. The facilities improvements help us better serve our guests, and are only possible through generous supporters. Thank you again for helping. We are already planning and working on the 2017 project list. In humble gratitude, Richard Brewer Continued to page 9...

9 Joyful Noiz March May Page 16 Library News Adult Fiction Sisters of the Quilt series by Cindy Woodsmall: When the Heart Cries, When the Morning Comes, and When the Soul Mends Can Hannah find refuge, redemption, and a fresh beginning after her world is shattered? Tales from Grace Chapel Inn series from Guideposts: Recipes & Wooden Spoons by Judy Baer, Portraits of the Past by Rebecca Kelly, Winter Wonders by Melody Carlson, and Home for the Holidays by Rebecca Kelly set in a charming village in rural Pennsylvania where three sisters turn their childhood home into a bed and breakfast Through the Fire by Diane Noble the new minister and his wife arrive in town only to find their church in flames a mystery where nothing is as it seems Children s Books A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams recently featured at Children s Time at the Cross Not a Cloud in the Sky by Renita Boyle and Honor Ayres a rhyming tale of Noah s faith Nonfiction Resources High-Impact Worship Dramas by John Duckworth topics like worship, guilt, patience, pride, and 26 more! More Children s Sermons to Go: 52 Take-Home Lessons About God by Deborah Raney with scripture text and a suggested inexpensive gift or trinket to remember the lesson Joyful Noiz March 2017 Page 9 Prepare Your Heart for God s Word, continued from page 8. You need to be humble. Be ready to do whatever God tells you from his Word. A prideful attitude won t work. Talk It Over Why are silence and active listening such difficult things to practice? What can you do to minimize your distractions so that you are able to listen well? What emotional or spiritual garbage is keeping you from hearing God s voice today? What new habits can you adopt to help prepare your family to hear from God during church, family or individual devotions, or at any time? Submitted by Joyce Price Youth News, Continued from page 7 When we weren t in worship students enjoyed games like basketball, ping-pong, carpet ball and Uno! Perhaps the highlight of the weekend activities was playing tag on the somewhat frozen pond. Our group really had a lot of fun sliding around the ice, whether playing a game or just goofing off. Students also enjoyed climbing the rock wall and doing the giant swing at the main camp Saturday afternoon. During our time at the main camp we also enjoyed grabbing some ice cream and checking out all the different animals at the nature den. Saturday night we played some group games that had students getting duct-taped to pillars, building towers out of set mousetraps, bouncing charades and creating life-size card houses. These games brought out a lot of energy and quite a few screams, especially when the mousetrap towers came crashing down. Before we knew it, our weekend had come to an end and we were headed back home. We had a great weekend of bonding and learned quite a bit from our speaker we will all cherish the memories of a super fun event! Scott Benner

10 Joyful Noiz March May Page 10 Mission Moment, continued from page 5. and cloves. It makes for an incredibly boring and homogeneous diet (that is probably the third big thing you notice the food is terrible) but it does inject a little bit of cash. You might still be thinking about Margie. What is she doing? It s probably overly simplistic to say that the Project Support Manager manages all of the activities that support the implementation of the project. Really what that means is that she oversees finance, human resources, and logistics, as well as all of the countless other tasks that go into running a field-base at what very often feels like the end of the world. As you can imagine, it s a bit of a challenge. I could go on and on but I ll save my stories for the next installment (I ll try to be more expedient next time). Besides, the announcements are probably over by now and you have a sermon to pay attention to. If you can t wait that long I would be happy to continue the conversation with you by Skype (kyle.lotier), (klotier@gmail.com), Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, or your other preferred media platform. Until then, please know that I thank you all for all of your prayers and continuing support and I will continue to be praying for all of you. May the Lord bless you and keep you, and may you be a beacon of hope and a demonstration of peace and unity in what seems to be an increasingly polarized society. Peace and love, Kyle & Margie Lotier Zion s Monthly Mail Box for Sonya and Roger! Thanks to everyone who has helped to welcome Pastor Sonya & Roger to Zion via the monthly boxes sent to them in New York! I'm sure they will help them pass the long winter months and look forward with anticipation to their coming to Zion. The theme for April is Easter Together. Drop your item in the designated Sonya Gift Box in the Church Office by April 1. If you have questions, contact Alice Green, Pat Kratz, Bonnie Moyer, Katie Musselman, or Joyce Price. Joyful Noiz March 2017 Page 15...The Daily Positive, continued from page Positive thoughts. Stressful and anxious thoughts can make you feel like nothing is working the way it is supposed to and everything is falling apart. The reality of the situation is that it is temporary and thinking positively will enable you to reassess the challenge. Repeating positive and encouraging phrases will get you back on the right track. 5. Better time management. A lot of mental frustration and stress arises from being expected to do several things within a short amount of time. Write a list of tasks and break them down into manageable activities. Prioritize the tasks and begin working on them within the allocated time. if there are certain tasks that you need to accomplish and do not require a lot of time, do them as soon as you can and move on to something else. 6. Rest. Many people do not get as much sleep as they need. Try and get enough rest each night and if you find it difficult to fall asleep, you can try different sleep strategies such as making sure your bedroom is comfortable and setting up a consistent night routine. All are invited. Kid s Club Derby Night! Tuesday, March 21 Drivers should check in at 6:15 p.m. Flags drop at 6:30 p.m. A simple dinner will be served at 5:45 p.m. Come cheer on your favorite racer!

11 Joyful Noiz March May Page 14 The Daily Positive 6 Positive Ways To Manage Stress Good health goes beyond occasionally eating healthy or taking a few brisk walks each week. Healthy living requires effort and is worth every step. Making small and gradual changes is an effective way to maintain your mental health and keep stress levels under control. Stress can negatively affect both your mental and physical health. It is important to be aware of strategies you can use to handle anxiety. Focusing on the positive aspects of every situation improves general health, unlike a negative approach to life that can lead to mental challenges such as depression. 1. Schedule regular checkups. Regular checkups and doctor visits are essential aspects of staying healthy. Going for routine checkups enables your doctor to track your health and identify any potential medical problems before they start or get worse. Several conditions are easy to manage in the initial stages but if they are not dealt with in a timely manner, they become harder to treat. 2. Identify stress factors. If you are constantly overwhelmed and do not know how to cope with the situation, you can use a journal to note down the things that make you feel stressed. Write about the stress factors, how they make you feel, your reactions, and what you can do to ease the situation. Knowing the main causes of stress in your life will make it easier for you to manage them. You will also be able to know the steps that you should take to deal with those factors before they go beyond your control. Stress journals are useful for highlighting any unhealthy responses to stressful circumstances, such as excessive drinking and binge eating. 3. Meditate. Meditation is one of the recommended ways to manage stress and get some relaxation each day. Meditating every day can improve your ability to cope with daily stress factors. Deep breathing gives you a moment to take the break you need from a stressful situation or task. If you encounter an overwhelming task, you can stop and take a few deep breaths to calm you down. Continued to page Joyful Noiz March 2017 Page 11 Creati n Care Tidbits I was wondering what the definition of Dominion over the earth really means. I have always imagined it meant a responsible handling of what was required for life on this planet. So I became curious and did a Google search of the subject to determine the biblical meaning, and this is what I found: authority, rulership or stewardship. It means to have control of something. For example, in Genesis 1:26-28 when God created humans, they were to take dominion over the earth. Meaning they were to act as God s stewards in care for, guarding and controlling what happens on the earth. The Hebrew word (radah) there, translated dominion, is also translated in other verses as rule, reign, have rule over and prevail against. This is not exactly what I expected. This definition, well, sort of left me flat. But then I thought, the Bible is not a book of science. It is a book that is more like a book of living history, featuring humankind s relationship with God. So part of what I expected could not possibly be there. Modern scientific discoveries will not be in the scriptures yet God s guidance that we be his stewards of this precious earth is there to guide us. In any event, the point I m trying to make here is an awareness that the Bible and its verses will not necessarily give us literal instructions on how to understand the planet... it does tell us how to take care of and interact with it. Just like in the days of Galileo when the Church imprisoned him for his heresy of saying the earth was round not flat, modern folks cannot argue that global warming doesn t exist because there has always been warming on the earth. This thinking is not taking into account that the changes in global temperature never happened this fast. So it is the rapid change in the average temperature throughout the whole planet that is a concern in this scientific field of study. Getting back to the point of all of this, we cannot, and should not attempt to rewrite the scriptures to include scientific discoveries. But, wouldn t you think that people of faith should pay attention to what scripture teaches us about stewardship and what science, too, is teaching us about climate change, rather than believing a political answer from people who have not studied either subject at great length? Ned Leight

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