The Actions of One

The Actions of One
By Tracy Buzynski

In lieu of the recent shootings that have taken place in Omaha and Arizona I find myself thinking about what utter chaos and devastation one person can cause. When you first heard the news of these two horrible events how did you feel? I found myself feeling shocked, then horrified as I watched the live coverage that lasted for days. Although I didn’t know any of them personally, I shed more than a couple of tears as the commentators talked about the lives of the victims. The young aide, who was engaged just starting his life. The man who died shielding his wife, but saving her. The judge, the grandma and the nine year old child…we as human beings can relate to all of them. Hearing the story of their lives make it relevant to our own. Nineteen people were injured that day all by the actions of one.

What are we to do now? I am sure that many prayers have been said for all the victims and their families from all over the world, which is a wonderful thing. James 5:16 says, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”

But do you find yourself living in fear? At first I was hesitant about telling my middle-school age child about the shootings. Every mom wants to protect her child from the evil that is in this world. Can’t our kids just be kids? But that is not the world in which we live. Media is everywhere - television, radio, internet and of course they also discuss these events in school. So take some time to have an age-appropriate discussion with your children. Ask them what they are feeling, and pass along any information that you feel is right. Look up passages in the Bible together. See what God says about His protection. The enemy wants us to live in fear and uncertainty, and to do nothing but feel helpless in a helpless situation.

So if we are feeling helpless, what can the actions of one do to make a difference? We know prayer is powerful. If one prays for the nineteen and their families, just how many is that prayer reaching? Only God knows.

Genesis 2:18 says, “It is not good for man to be alone.” If one were to show kindness to those who are alone, how could it change our world? What we do, how we think and how we act matters. Not only to ourselves, but to others. Why not show kindness to everyone and teach our kids to do the same? The new kid at school, the loner… If we think about it, we all know someone who could use some kindness. Let prayer and kindness be your actions of one.
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Tracy Buzynski is the owner of Encourage Me Kids, Making a Difference One Kid at a Time. Check out her website at http://www.encouragemekids.com/.

February Editor's Letter

BRRRR! I’m looking outside at snow and I’m glad I am inside right now. Thankfully we haven’t had as severe a winter as last year, but winter is definitely hitting our part of Nebraska.

Our year is off to a great start!

Cody had a great first semester at college! It was nice to have him home for a few weeks for Christmas vacation. He’s excited to start his second semester, and looking forward to a trip to China in May. Morgan also had a great first semester and is also looking forward to the second semester and continuing to work on the yearbook and school newspaper. Soon she and Tim will be up during the night when the cows start calving (I have not “learned” how to do night checks).

We’re celebrating the birth of a new niece/cousin, Leighton Lynn Edwards. I got to meet Leighton when she was just a few days old. A new baby is truly a miracle! To think that just a few days before I met her, she was in her mother’s womb, totally dependent on Becky…and immediately upon being born her body had to change so she could eat and breathe on her own…Mom and dad were visiting Leighton (and her big sister Logan and their mom and dad) when I was there and it was nice to see them, too.

In the Editor’s Letter last month I told you how I would use the Bible verses of Philippians 4:6-9 as my guide for the year. The verse is on the bulletin board in my office above my desk, so I see it every day as I work. The verse is printed in the paper again this month so you can cut it out if you missed the opportunity to do so last month.

I hope you enjoy several new features in the Nebraska Family Times.

Share the fun events in your family by taking out a Happy Ad! See sample Happy Ads, and information about taking out your own Happy Ad, in this issue of the paper.

I have always been awed by how I can use the wise words of the Bible, written thousands of years ago, to guide my life today. I’ve been studying United States history and I’ve been amazed at how the words of the Founding Fathers also apply to our lives, and issues in our country, today. To that end I’ll be choosing several Wise Words then and Now and printing them every month. I think you’ll enjoy what the Founding Fathers had to say—the more I learn about United States history the more I want to learn!

Recent events led me to publish the Focus on Youth section, with information about cyberbullying and youth violence. By learning about these issues, you can make a difference. Please share the articles with friends, parents, teachers, and anyone else you think could learn from them.

What would YOU like to see covered in the Nebraska Family Times? I’m continually trying to improve the paper so that it “inspires, encourages, and motivates you in your Christian walk.” Please share your ideas with me at shelly@shellyburke.net, by mail at Nebraska Family Times, 42887 G. G. Road, Genoa, NE, 68640. You can also call and talk to me personally at (402) 993-2467.

God bless you and your family this February! Keep warm!

Organizing for the New Year!

Organizing for the New Year
by Lisa Rosendahl

One of the top New Year’s resolutions for many people is to get organized. So many people feel confused and disorganized in every area of their lives and get easily overwhelmed. That’s why the best tip for getting organized is this: do just a little at a time. If you feel disorganized, you didn’t get that way overnight. So don’t expect to get organized overnight, or even in one week.
Here are a few tips for getting organized:

Think about the “why” behind the “what.” Let’s say that one spot in your kitchen gets the brunt of the paperwork and more often than not, you see more piles in that space than counter. Why is that? Is it because it’s easy to access? Is it in a central location in the home?

Write down the areas in your life you want to organize. Be specific: don’t just write “the house,” write “the kids’ craft cabinet,” or “kitchen cupboards”.

Involve other people. Tackling an organizing project with your spouse or kids is more fun, it holds you accountable to finishing it and there’s a better chance the organized space will last longer since they’ll want to take ownership of the project. If you can’t get your family to help, ask a friend about keeping you accountable, while doing the same for her organizing to-do list. Together, set a date for tackling your individual tasks, and when you’re done, celebrate with a coffee date.

Don’t wait for perfection. I love organizing supplies: perfectly matched labels, boxes in colors to match my decor, divider trays for every possible supply. These things are expensive and they can become just more stuff to hold your stuff. You don’t need fancy equipment to get organized. Reuse glass jars to house pantry items. Washed yogurt, sour cream, and cream cheese containers are great for craft supplies. Cardboard file boxes work well for clothes out of season. Cover them in scrapbook paper, if you want them to look pretty.

If in doubt, throw it out. Always have a “maybe” box in your home. If you’re not sure whether you need something, put it there (and put the box out of sight). If you haven’t retrieved the item in six months you don’t need it. Get rid of it. There are great charities willing to take your donated items.

Accept the fact that managing a home means organizing it regularly. It gets easier and faster the more you do it, because you’ll keep less stuff and you’ll recall where things are. So don’t be discouraged when you organize. Again.

Once you get areas of your home organized you’ll have more time to spend doing things you enjoy and you’ll feel less stressed--which is the goal of those New Year’s resolutions.

Lisa is a former Professional Organizer and is currently the Manager of the Columbus Art Gallery. She considers spending an afternoon in the container department of Home Depot a good time.

A Retired Preacher's View from the Pew

Now that Christmas is over we can all sit back and relax! On the home front all we have to do is take down the decorations, return the “dud” presents, and pay the extra bills that Christmas generates - and clean out the Thanksgiving leftovers that got squeezed to the back of the fridge. We can just enjoy the memories.

Pastors can relax because the extra and what should be special services are over until we get to Lent and Easter. They can get back into the routine of regular services again. Parishioners can relax, too. Those involved in the kids programs and decorating the church will get a break until next Christmas. It’ll be a relief for those folks who only feel the need to attend church at Christmas and Easter- they won’t have to worry about getting to church again until April 24, 2011.

We’ll notice a lot of empty seats around us when we come to worship on Sunday mornings. On the news this morning they talked about several polls taken showed that 60% to 90% of the people who celebrate Christmas don’t believe in Christ. (That reminded me of some members we had in our church in Michigan whose daughter and son-in-law were Jehovah’s Witnesses. “Our kids don’t believe in celebrating Christmas, but they sure like getting the presents.”)

We’ll notice, too, that the Christmas carols and songs we started hearing in store about the time of Halloween aren’t to be heard anymore until next year’s Christmas shopping begins. One of my pet peeves is that we stop singing them in church, too. And sometimes it seems to me that we can’t wait to get the Christmas decorations down in church.

Which brings me to the point. There is one more thing for Christians that often goes by unnoticed. The people of the world don’t see it and it’s become lost in some churches because of all the effort put into the December 25th Christmas and because most years it occurs on a weekday. And we sure don’t want another extra church service after all the Christmas ones, we might get too much religion!

EPIPHANY-sometimes called The Gentile’s Christmas. Its day is January 6th and the Epiphany season goes from then until Ash Wednesday. Epiphany celebrates the events of Matthew 2:1-12. It’s the first account in the Scriptures of Gentiles (that’s you and me, anybody who isn‘t a Jew) coming to worship the Savior.

It’s the twelfth day of Christmas. (We all know that song! A few years ago I decided to give my wife a Christmas gift and also a little something on each of those twelve days. I’d put it by her pillow when I got up in the morning so she’d find it when she got up. Big mistake unless you‘re prepared to do it every year thereafter! Every year I’m reminded… “Dear, what happened to the twelve days of Christmas?”)

When I was the pastor of a church I always liked to make a big deal of Epiphany. We’d ask people to bring their manger scenes and we’d set up a display of them in the church. One more time we’d sing all those beautiful Christmas hymns and songs. Every other year we’d sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” (it was too long to sing every year) and explain some of the religious traditions and legends that went with it. And most years we’d do it on January 6th!

We never had big crowds of people flocking to church for the special celebration, especially if it fell on a weekday, but it always was special. All the “fooferall” that went with December 25th was behind and we could concentrate on what Christmas was all about, the birth of Emmanuel, of God with us. We could come to worship the one named Jesus, who saved us from our sins.

I hope you have a blessed Epiphany.

January Editor's Letter

I love the feeling of starting a new year. Even though it’s just the day after the last day of the previous year, it’s still an opportunity for a fresh start and a chance to improve all of those things I want to improve in myself—exercise more, cook healthier meals, keep the house cleaner, save more money—the same things I’ve been trying to improve (with various levels of success) for years.

This year I’m going to do something a little different. I’ll still have my other goals, of course, but I’m going to add something to give me overall guidance in everything I do in 2011. I’m going to have a “Bible Verse of the Year.”

The idea was inspired in part by what I think was my favorite book this year, “The Happiness Project,” by Gretchen Rubin. The author says she was not unhappy, but wanted to focus on the things that really mattered to her.

As part of that quest, she created a theme, with associated goals, for every month. One of my overall themes will be using my time more wisely. (I’m still deciding what my monthly themes will be; I’m writing this December 22 so I have over a week to decide).

I have been praying about how I spend my time, and asking God to help me make the best use of my time. At this point He is not leading me to cut out any activities in my life. Until and unless I get the guidance to do so, I’m going to focus on making the best possible use of the time I have.

Then I received an e-mail devotion which turned out to be one of the front page articles of this issue of the Nebraska Family Times. “Don’t Overthink It” really spoke to me because I’ve always had the tendency to worry about things—which is a way of overthinking them. The Bible verses that author Rachel Olsen refers to in the devotion have always been some of my favorite.

All of these things—thinking about what I want to accomplish in 2012, trying to figure out how to better manage my time, and reading “Don’t Overthink It”--inspired me to decide to have a Bible Verse of the Year, which will help me to accomplish all of these things.

I’ve chosen Philippians 4:6-9, the same verse that Rachel Olsen used in her article. The verse is printed in a box on this page so that if you’d like, you can cut it out and hang it on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror and refer to it daily, too.

The verses will remind me to turn to God rather than worrying. And during the day I will ask myself if I am focusing on the right things, doing the right things, and thinking about the right things—things that are pure, lovely, excellent, praiseworthy, commendable, worthy of praise, true, and right. (These descriptions are given in different versions of the Bible). If not, I should be doing or thinking about something else. Analyzing what I’m doing will help me to cut out activities that are not helping me achieve my goals.

I plan to write or type the verses several times so I can have a copy in my office, kitchen, bathroom, purse, etc., and read them throughout the day. Consider finding a favorite verse and using it for your “verse of the year”!


Remember Christmas last year? We had one of the biggest blizzards in years the week before Christmas, and another on Christmas Eve. Many, many families didn’t get to spend Christmas the way they usually did. We missed Christmas Eve church for the first time in many years. It doesn’t sound like we’ll have to worry about snow this year!

I’m excited to have my family all together again for at least a few days! God and weather willing we will all go to church together this Christmas Eve, and celebrate the birth of Christ with our church family and friends. I hope you will do the same. And I hope all of us will remember not to just celebrate His birth and life on Christmas, but every single day of 2011. With Him, every day can be a new start, no matter what the calendar says.


I hope to hear from readers in 2011! God bless you and your family in 2011!

Dangers of Teen Pharming

Dangers of Teenage Pharming
by Linda Myers-Bock, Registered Pharmacist
Want to go “pharming”? Then go to a “pharm party” (thrown by teenagers); a bowl of “trail mix” (a variety of pills mixed together) is passed around for party goers to “graze” upon. Another name for such a party is a “skittles” party, since the bowl of pills looks like a bunch of Skittles brand candy. You can’t get in unless you contribute to the mix so teens obtain the pills in a number of ways.

Most teens scavenge medicine cabinets of relatives--grandparents, cousins or aunts and uncles. Some steal sibling’s or parent’s prescription medications from their own homes. It’s also possible for teens with credit card access to buy drugs online, from overseas, without a prescription. One teen reported stealing drug samples from a relative who was a drug company sales representative.

Prescription drug abuse among teens has been steadily on the rise. Three million teens have abused prescription drugs and that statistic increased 400% in the last 10 years. Many start as early as age twelve. It is also now common for kids to bring baggies of mixed pills to school to sell to friends.

This practice can lead to a variety of health problems. It can result in seizures, stroke, breathing difficulties, kidney or liver failure or even death. One 21 year old who used to be on the Dean’s List at a private university suffered permanent brain damage from a stroke she had as a result of “pharming”. She’s now living at home, undergoing therapy, and struggling to keep a job in a sandwich shop. She will never graduate from college.

What to know and do to protect your teen(s):
1. Does your teen come home seeming “out of it” but not smelling of alcohol or
smoke? A teen who has taken pills at a “pharm party” may be jittery, nauseated, have red eyes, feel hot, or have difficulty breathing.
2. When you visit relatives watch for unexpected visits to various bathrooms.
3. Check credit card purchases carefully.
4. Keep all prescription drugs locked in a storage drawer somewhere other than the bathroom medicine cabinet. (The moist heat in the bathroom degrades drugs anyway.) Inventory what you have, including inhalers.
5. Return old prescriptions to a drug “take back” program or crush and discard medications in the trash mixed with litter or coffee grounds.
6. OTC (over-the-counter) medicine can also be abused, especially cough and cold medicines. Be suspicious of empty containers in the trash.
7. Even “smart” kids abuse prescription stimulants such as Ritalin and Concerta. These drugs improve concentration for studying and tests so keep track of any ADHD meds younger children may be using. This is most common between the ages of 18 and 24.


The most important thing you, as a parent, can do is talk to your teens about the dangers of “pharming” or taking medicine in any way except as directed by your doctor or pharmacist. The following resources can be very helpful. You can also contact me by e-mail or phone if you have any questions.

Linda Myers-Bock, Registered Pharmacist
mondobock@neb.rr.com
402-276-2208

References and Resources:
www.drugfree.org
www.theantidrug.com
www.about.com/teens
www.getsmartaboutdrugs.com a DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) website

A Retired Preacher's View from the Pew

Ah, Christmas, so many memories!

My oldest memory of Christmas is when I was probably about five years old and my folks had a paid Santa Claus come to our house on Christmas Eve. When he got there he was pretty schnockered up and he tracked slush all over the living room carpet. My cousin and I were both so scared of him that he left pretty quick. I remember that because the story was repeated almost every Christmas after!

One memory which will probably be there forever was when I was about ten. My part in the Christmas program was to recite from Luke 2: And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

I practiced and practiced memorizing that part. When it came time to say it in front of the congregation I left out “into Judea”. At the time I didn’t realize it and was just relieved to have it over. Later, though, I was reminded by my Sunday School teacher (in front of the other kids) that I had left out a “very important” part of my recitation.

Later, as a teacher in Lutheran schools, the Christmas Eve Children‘s Program was one of the big events of the year. Tradition was that it was on Christmas Eve. The kids from the Lutheran School practiced every day from Thanksgiving on. The kids who didn‘t go to the Lutheran School practiced on Sundays during Sunday School. Then on the Sunday before Christmas there would be an afternoon practice with everyone present.

Finally, the big night. The little kids would get dressed in their costumes. There’d be five or six wise men and half a dozen angels and who knows how many shepherds (easy costumes-a blanket and a stick) but only one Mary and Joseph. The teachers would be making sure all the kids were there, going over last minute reminders and instructions, lining the kids up.
And one thing that was always important- find the child who says, “And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger” and remind them not to pause after “and the babe”. (If you pause there they’d all three be in the manger!)

As the principal I would make sure every teacher had a couple of brown paper bags. There’s nothing that can upset a program more than one of the kids throwing up on the ones around them!

Another tradition was that after the service was over each child would be given a bag with an apple or orange and about 25 lbs. of candy and peanuts. Just what they needed at Christmas!
Over the years we ran into a few glitches. Like the blizzard that kept about half of the kids from making it on Christmas Eve. Lots of gaps in the Christmas story, but most everyone knows it well enough that they understood.

In the first church where I was the principal one of the girls was given a small part because she rarely was in Sunday School. After the service I got a phone call from her Dad. “My daughter got a new red dress for the Christmas program and her Grandma hardly got to see it because she had such a small part.” At that same church we decided to take the offering at the door after the service and not have to deal with sixty restless kids for the five minutes while the offering was taken. I got a phone call about that, too. “The biggest church service of the year and we don‘t take an offering.” “We took one at the door.” “But people can get by without putting anything in.”

There was the father who had begun his Christmas celebration too early and was quite disruptive even before things got started. The ushers helped him out of the church. And the uncle who showed up wearing a racing jacket with “Viagra” in big letters over the back. I got quite a few phone calls about that one!

Christmas was always sort of bittersweet when I was a teacher involved with the children’s programs. The same, too, when I was the Pastor of a church. All the preparations and activities packed into one or two services. A packed church on Christmas Eve and Day, but then the weeks after… The same folks who won’t be there again until Easter. The kids you won’t see in Sunday School until it’s time to begin practice next year. The people who come to watch the kids but have no thought of worshipping the Savior.

Jesus can get lost pretty easily at Christmas, can’t He? Sometimes with all the things we have to do in the church and with our families it can be pretty hard to keep things in perspective. Christmas is all about Jesus. Jesus, who came to the manger to go to the cross to suffer and to die to save us from our sins. It’s all about Jesus.

May you be blessed with good memories this Christmas, but most of all the hope that Jesus brings.

(Perhaps my favorite Christmas memory. We’d get our girls into the van to go to church on Christmas Eve. After they were all packed in my wife, Mary, would have to go back into the house because she’d forgotten her purse. Then she’d get out the presents “from Santa” that had been hidden away and put them under the Christmas tree. One year, when the oldest was six or seven, she said to me, very seriously, while we were waiting for Mom, “Dad, we know why Mom really goes back into the house. But don’t tell her we know because we don’t want her to feel bad.”)