As an educator for 15 years, I have learned a lot about learning styles--or more accurately, I have been forced into professional development sessions where the topic is learning styles. A learning style is the preferred method of absorbing, processing and retaining information. The first time I heard about learning styles, with an eye-roll and a sigh, I thought it was a bunch of hog-wash. The more I learned about it, however, the more merit I found in learning styles. It made me realize why I can't focus on a speaker's words unless I am taking notes or doodling. It made me realize why I hated listening to directions, and I just wanted someone to hand it to me so I could read it myself. It's because I'm a visual learner--processing auditory information has always been difficult for me. Depending on which list you look at, there are several categories into which learning styles can be broken down. The easiest is to break it down into three categories: visual,

The sun slowly drops into the water, and feeble rays of sunlight cast long shadows of masts and sails on the rickety dock. The breeze coming off the water gently cools my sun-burned face. I close my eyes, and I drink in the humid air. I should have gone in hours ago, but there’s something about being right next to the water that draws me in, that beckons me to stay. So many of life’s lessons can be learned at the edge of a dock. Watching the gentle waves reminds me of the Lord’s goodness. His lovingkindness never ends, and He will wash over me wave after wave. When I make a mistake, He doesn’t change—the waves don’t stop—I do. I have to make sure I don’t stop, because I have to trust that He won’t. The tremendous power of the water reminds me how small and insignificant I really am.  The only way I can make a substantial change to that expanse of water is repeatedly making consistent movements. If I persevere, then it can take me across the expanse of water wher

When confronted with fear, a commonly quoted scripture is 2 Timothy 1:7, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind." It's comforting to know that God has given us these things, and that the fear we feel is not from the Lord. What's even more comforting and cool is when you use a little logic and apply this scripture to other scriptures. Let's examine more closely the three things we are told that God has given us: Power Acts 1:8 says that "I shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon me." Then 2 Corinthians 12:9 says that "power is perfected in our weakness." So that means that when the Holy Spirit comes upon me, I am perfected in my weakness and the Holy Spirit is perfected in me as well. Not only am I perfected, but that power--the Holy Spirit--actually is the Kingdom of God on earth. I Corinthians 4:20-21 says that "the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power."

One of the hardest things Jesus ever asked us to do was to forgive those who have hurt us. In our minds, we say, "He hurt me, so he should feel the same pain I am feeling right now." In our human capacity of thinking and feeling, vengeance only seems natural. However, that's not what Jesus did, and that's not grace. When our enemies hurt us, I feel it is slightly easier to forgive. We expect our enemies to hurt us--we don't like one another, so it stands to reason that we would hurt one another. The need for vengeance is still there, but we can allow ourselves to forgive them just a little bit easier. What's much more difficult is when those whom we love hurt us. We expect so much more from the ones we love. They have given us unspoken promises just by saying the words, "I love you." Inherent in those three little words are so much more: "I will protect you," "I will be faithful to you," "I will think about your n