Heavenlynotice.com

  Recently I had a friend ask me if I thought that dogs and cats went to heaven.  Before I could answer the question another man sitting near told her that the bible makes no mention of animals going to heaven. My personal opinion is that dogs and cats have souls and they are special in Gods eyes as animals are mentioned all throughout the bible.  If you do some research you will find a very long list of animals if listed A-Z are too numerous for me to put on this posting.  I will highlight several of them and where they are located in the bible if you would like to reference and read about it. We love our critters, dogs, cats, hamsters, cows, pigs, and all those other things people call pets.  I have never had anything other than dogs, a few cats, some fish and a hamster or two.   My favorite are dogs, yes I am a dog lover and we currently have three grand dogs that we enjoy greatly.  We all come to love them and enjoy spending time watching them gallop, play, fight, roll around with

Today I was thinking about some recent changes in my life that are spiritual, mental and emotional.  These changes are all positive and something that cannot be seen by the eye.  Sure, people may be able to sense or see a difference in a persons attitude or behavior.  However, changes like these are internal and occur within ourselves in the heart, mind and soul.  These are not tangible things one can touch and therefore hard to describe to people at times.   I have had a spiritual awakening of sorts is the best way to describe what is occurring within me and to me.  As a good friend described her similar changes to me as "Shedding my old skin".  That made perfect sense to me and got me to thinking about belief and how it guides our lives, actions, behaviors and reactions to events. I started thinking about Christmas and the gifts we all receive during the Holidays and celebrations.   I am not talking about the gifts under the tree as those are tangible things we can see, fee

This weekend my wife and I went to Myrtle Beach to buy an ornament at our favorite Christmas store.  The store is at Barefoot Landing as is called the Christmas Mouse.  It has every kind of decoration and ornament a person would want.  About every kind of interest from traditional, country, city, sports, hobbies and about anything one would want.  We have been going to this store for twenty years or more to get ornaments for our family tree.  Ornaments are a tradition in our family and we have filled the family tree up with them at this point. The store brings back memories of traveling to the beach with my family, mom and dad and friends.  We always find time to go by the Christmas Mouse and grab some ornaments.  The store smells so good with all the wonderful greenery, candles, and traditional Christmas smells that reminds us that the Holiday is upon us.  Even if you go in the summer time when most people head to the beach, it makes you feel Christmas in July and those special memori

Sisterly Love- My mom and her older sister, my Aunt Beona were two of the most wonderful people one could ever know.  My family, immediate friends and so many others were touched by these ladies in so many ways.  Both of these wonderful ladies have went on to be with God and I know they are now watching over their kids, families and others.  They talked everyday on the phone, regardless of what happened or may have come up they spoke everyday.  My mom would call over and ask to speak to Beona and of course, my Uncle Robert would answer the phone and proceed to give her a hard time about calling and pick at her.  Mom loved to talk to Robert and looked forward to giving him a little of his quick wit right back to him on those phone calls.  Robert didn't hear very well so the television would be turned up to about maximum volume if you called or stopped by to visit with them.  You would have to knock on the door several times for him to hear you.  One thing is the door was cracked abo

  This week I have been working with my students in class on social emotional skills to help them grow their ability to get along better with peers at school, online and at home.  As a veteran teacher I have seen my fair share of conflicts between students, staff and their peers.  Most of the conflicts are honestly teenage drama that revolves around he said, she said stuff.  In today's world of the instant messaging on the thousands of applications things can escalate quickly.  It is not just teenagers though, I see here and there husbands, wives, sisters, brothers and friends going back and forth arguing their points or posting stuff in an attempt to start trouble or fuel the fire.  By the way, my students refer to Facebook as the application for (older people).  I guess I am old because I have a Facebook page. Anyways, back to the drama and how to resolve it.  My students have found out that as soon as they tell me what is happening, the first thing I ask them is did you see it,

  Today I am writing about having a winning mindset in life.  The definition of winning is to gain victory, overcome an opponent, gain status or conquer something or someone.  As a career football, wrestling and softball coach I have spent the better part of my adult life trying to win sporting events.  I have had my fair share of victories along the way and accomplished some pretty amazing goals.   However, I have had tough losses along the way and learned as much, maybe more from those defeats about dealing with life and its shortcomings.  As a player I had the opportunity to be on some really good teams one in particular in college that was undefeated and a championship program.  As a high school coach I have been part of state caliber programs, coached on conference and regional title teams.   On goal I have as a head coach is to win the ultimate prize, and that is a team state title in football or wrestling.  I have won conference titles and had numerous conference, regional and a

  Serving Others Above Yourself Serving others is something many people do.  I grew up watching my parents serve the community in various capacities for the majority of their adult lives.  I watched the impact they had on people and saw the joy they got out of living a servant based life.  My dad was a police officer and he served the people diligently.  My mom was a school custodian and cafeteria worker and she worked so hard to prepare the food and serve it to the kids.  She always spoke so kindly to every kid, every day and they loved her for that.  We all have the opportunity to serve others and put them above us. Christ called us to serve others and he lived a life of service in his short time on earth.   Jesus prioritized us over his own needs and wants.  He was the most powerful man to ever walk the earth.  He could have walked right away from the cross and did what he wanted to do.  Instead he gave the ultimate example of having a servants heart.  He gave his life so we could h

Today I am writing about the random acts of kindness that people show one another and how they can make a huge impact on that persons day.  Being kind is something we all like to see in people and it shows that one has a love for their family, friends, neighbors and strangers.  I can think of some examples of random acts of kindness where people have done something that seemed small to them, but was a huge boost to me at the time.  Examples of  this are below: 1- A good friend had someone come mow my yard while I was at home recovering from a heart procedure. 2- A random person (more than once) has let me turn into traffic on a packed road risking someone honking the horn at him or her for doing it. 3- People saying hello, smiling, and asking how you are today. 4- Kind words on face book, emails, and text messages that lift my spirit. I did some research so I will not lay claim to being a guru on random acts of kindness and built a simple list of ways we can all be kinder to one anothe

As I sat down to write today after eating a really yummy breakfast with my wonderful wife.  I was finishing up my third cup of coffee (shhh, don't tell my doctor) and talking to my wife about all the things we are blessed by and with.  We talked about our family, our daughters, in-laws and all the people that bless and pray for us daily.  So I decided to veer off of my typical posting today to write about these wonderful blessings.   I looked up the definition of blessing and it is to have Gods favor and protection in your life.  That hit home for me because without that we can wander through life, fighting things, having troubles and not knowing why those things happen to us.  As my wonderful mother used to say to me as a child "son, count your blessings" everyday.  I take that serious and do my best to count them so I stay grounded and never forget where I came from and most importantly, where I want to go.  I will not get there without the list below and Gods grace, me

  Finding Your Heart Losing heart is defined as feeling overcome by doubt and other feelings that you cannot accomplish something you set out to do.  I often write about sports and use them as an analogy because I have spent three fourths of my adult life as a football and wrestling coach.  I have seen so many young people lose heart as they prepared, practiced and competed.  Most of the time people lose heart because it gets hard, things are not going the way they were envisioned and that will  make someone quit. Adults often lose heart in relationships, jobs, family obligations and other activities.  A job gets tough so they quit because the boss is a jerk.  A marriage gets rocky so they quit and walk away.  Life gets tough and deals hard blows such as cancer, sickness, health issues and personal problems.  Have you ever quit on something or watched a person quit.  Did you give a true effort or did you just walk away because it felt like too much was at risk to overcome it.   I had a

Dealing With Anxiety and Depression Let us begin this topic by stating how real and aggressive anxiety and depression are in the lives of millions of people of all ages.  Anxiety and depression often go unnoticed by people close to those that are suffering until it is too late.  These are two leading causes of death and health risk in the world.  Being anxious and depressed can go hand in hand and are a double whammy that is hard to overcome in life.  Let's look at a few of the many symptoms of anxiety and depression before talking about dealing with it. 1- Feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness and pessimism 2- Mood swings, not sleeping, shutting down mentally 3- Difficulty with decisions, lack of confidence, and irritability 4- Mental, physical and spiritual health issues These are just some of the major symptoms and signs that I could find as I made my list. At some point, I think we all have faced depression and anxiety in life. Major causes of anxiety and depression are life

  The Lighthouse A lighthouse is a refuge for weary travelers.  It is a light that shows the way to ships and boats on the ocean.  My wife loves a lighthouse and one of her favorite activities when we travel is to go and look at lighthouses.  For many years we would travel to the coast and go seek out a lighthouse.  The bible talks about a lighthouse also and the light is always Jesus.  I love the old gospel song that talks about the lighthouse and my mom loved it also.  It told us that Jesus is the lighthouse and just has a way to lift the spirit. Without a lighthouse ships would wreck, sailors would perish and the precious cargo would sink to the bottom of the ocean.  A lighthouse is significant to ships just as Jesus is significant to mankind.  He lights the way for us to keep from getting lost.  He shows us through his grace and mercy that salvation for our souls can be attained by seeking his light.  Just as a lighthouse is built strong on a firm foundation to withstand storms, t

  Living Out Your Dreams One of my wife's favorite movies, Pretty Woman has a line in it where the guy yells out, “welcome to Hollywood, what's your dream”.  That line has stuck with me all of my adult life as I have pursued my dreams one at a time.  How do you live out your dreams?  Do you have dreams and what are they?  We all have something we want to accomplish and they can be really big or really small.  Some want to be a movie star, be rich, be successful and have money.  Some want to achieve a certain career like a teacher, lawyer, accountant, business owner, etc.   I had a dream growing up of being a professional football player.  Most young boys have imagined themselves catching a touchdown in the super bowl, making a free throw to win the national championship, kicking the winning goal in a major league soccer game or hitting a grand slam in the baseball world series.  I talk about sports because for over 45 years of my life sports has been my thing.  Your dream may b