Life Values

By Lorie Ham

Valentine’s Day is almost here again–a time for romance and love. However, while it is most popular for being a time for couples, it can be a celebration of all love. Some of my best Valentine’s Day memories involve doing special things with my kids and helping them find just the right fun Valentine’s for their classmates. Do you have something special that you do as a family or with your kids for Valentine’s Day? We asked some of the Mennonite Insurance staff if they have any special traditions on Valentine’s Day.

Claudia Fletes family gets a heart shaped pizza every Valentine’s Day to enjoy as a family. They have been doing this ever since the kids were little, and now their daughter is in high school.

“Our family tradition is more traditional,” shares General Manager Jerry Linscheid. “I usually go to a Reedley store and order something that would be delivered to my wife’s office. If I’m lucky, not all will be consumed immediately and some comes home for me to enjoy as well.

“At our office, where most of our staff are women, it is common for an arrangement of flowers to arrive on Valentines Day.”

For Michelle L. Heinrichs, ever since Valentine’s Day of 2003, her Valentine’s Day stopped being a couple’s holiday. “Our son, Marcus was born on Valentine’s at 7 a.m. after two days of labor via a successful c-section.”

Ever since then, the family has been celebrating the holiday/birthday together. Sometimes they just have a red theme. “When he was little,” continued Michelle, “and we still took goodies to his school, I was under strict orders from my school teacher sister to not take anything with red dye to his school (not helpful in keeping little bodies calm).” Now that he is older, they simply try to do something special as a family. “Then [afterwards], we eat a nice dinner as a family to celebrate him and Valentine’s Day together.”

Whether you have a child who was born on Valentine’s Day or not, why not make a point this Valentine’s Day of making the day a celebration of all love instead of just romantic love, and do something special as a whole family! Check out this article in Over the Big Moon for a few more suggestions.

By Lorie Ham

It’s that time of year again! A brand new year has come and many of us look at this time as a chance to hit the reset button-myself included. We want to do better. Diet, exercise, go to church more, spend more time with those we love, be more positive. All of those are great, but what if we aimed for something more radical? Something that Jesus would have done when He was here on earth. Help those in need.

It’s far too easy to go to church, tithe, and leave the rest to the church. But that’s not how Jesus lived. And He didn’t just help those who were easy to help; He helped those no one else wanted to help. But you may think you don’t have time, or don’t have the money to give to another charity, or to help your neighbor who is out of work. And yet, there’s still so much we can do. First off, would Jesus ever say He didn’t have time? Of course not. And if we were honest, there are things we can do a little less of and free up at least a little time each month to make a difference in the world.

Volunteer: If you give up at least one hour a month of TV, or game playing, or whatever your hobby is, and spend that time volunteering, that could make a big difference to someone in need. Local shelters, thrift stores that raise money for the poor, an animal rescue that needs someone to just give those poor animals some love, a senior citizen who is housebound and needs a ride to the doctor or just someone to play a game with them or talk to them. That neighbor out of work–maybe you can’t give them money but you could take them a casserole or help them fix up their resume. Or watch their kids for free while they go to a job interview.

Donate Money: Maybe you can’t give a lot, but how about giving up one Starbucks coffee a week and sending that money to help those in need around the world—every little bit makes a difference. One such place where you can donate was mentioned in last month’s newsletter-MCC.

So this year make a resolution you can keep. One that in its own way will change the world, not just change you. Get out there and help someone in need. If you would like some other simple but positive things you can do to make your own life better, check out this fun little article about simple positive changes you can make in your life in the new year!

Let’s change the world in 2020!

By Lorie Ham

Many people find the beginning of a new year to be the perfect time to start a read through the Bible. There are several ways of approaching this, and many feel that doing so chronologically is the way to go!

There are websites, apps, podcasts, and even Bibles printed in chronological order to help you on your journey. “I have the Audible App and I downloaded the Chronological Bible, one of many versions available on there, and it was very affordable,” shares Mennonite Insurance Agent Michelle Heinrichs.

She chooses to listen to the Bible app because, like many, she is busy, and this is something she can do while doing other things like driving, cooking, or folding laundry. “The app has set amounts per day if you wanted to accomplish reading the Bible through in one year as well.”

As to why read chronologically, Michelle feels that while learning the Bible is interesting on its own, the idea of learning the events in chronological order sounds even more interesting and inspiring. “Many know that Noah and the Ark occurred before many of the other important events in history, but what about some of the others? How do they impact events that happen later? Learning them in order can help in studying the Bible the traditional way.”

Mennonite Insurance Service Rep Stephanie Heier is nearly finished with the chronological read that she was doing with her husband in 2019. She decided to check it our after seeing one of her friends post on Facebook about how much she had enjoyed it, and how she understood more by reading the events in the order they actually happened.

They used the You Version Bible app. “It lays out daily 1 to 5 chapters to read”, says Stephanie. “As you read (or listen) to each chapter, it checks the box, and moves you to the next chapter. When you’ve completed the daily chapters, it gives you a spot to write down reflections. It has been really neat to see the Bible as written like a book with a specific order of events instead of reading it piece by piece. I loved that as I was reading some event in the New Testament that was foreshadowed in the Old Testament; I remembered more about the entire event because of reading it and understanding it more holistically.”

If you are interested in trying this out for yourself, there are multiple ways to go about it and you should be able to find one that best suits your needs.