By Gary Curreri

Marianne Weber fired a three-day total of 249 to win the Pompano Beach Women’s Golf Association Club Championship. Weber won the 3-day Low Gross tournament that was played Jan. 23, 25 and 26 defeating last year’s club champion, Mimi Denoma, by 13 strokes.

Nancy Rack won the B Flight with a 264 total, while Janet Tomchik shot 270 to finish as runner-up. In the C Flight, Vonnie O’Keefe (279) edged runner-up Kathy Dunn (289) for top honors. Alberta Bove carded a 316 to win the D Flight over Roseanna Nixon, who finished with a 321.

Charity beach volleyball event set

The Embrace Life Children’s Foundation has teamed up with Dig the Beach Volleyball to host a charity beach volleyball Pro/Am Tournament slated for next weekend on Deerfield Beach. Proceeds are going to the Salah Children’s Hospital at Broward Health.

The event, to be held on Feb. 10-11, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. will feature two days of competition. Saturday will include Men’s/Women’s Doubles for both professional and amateur players, while Sunday will include Junior Boys/Girls 12-18 and Co-Ed Doubles. The event will be held at 310 N. Ocean Blvd.

Several community sponsors have already joined, including Jersey Mike’s Subs and Harmless Harvest Coconut Water, who will feed and hydrate the players on Saturday. Other local businesses supporting the event are Rox Volleyball as a Title Sponsor, Pediatrix, Island Water Sports, Hypower Electric and International Union of Police Associations. Registration deadline is Feb. 9.

For player and sponsor information, visit www.embracelifechildrensfoundation.com or call Ben Koos at 954-608-2779.

Dillard tops Ely in 4-0 thriller

Dillard’s Bryce Oliver scored a game-high 25 points, including a key free throw down the stretch to help the Panthers escape with a 78-72 victory in four overtimes over visiting Blanche Ely.

Oliver scored all of his points in the second half and overtime as the Panthers improved to 9-7.

Deshawn Bartley had two free throws with 2:39 remaining in the final overtime to give the Panthers a 73-70 lead that it never relinquished. Bartley, who had seven points in the four overtimes, finished with 22 points, while teammate Seth Coddington chipped in with 11 points.

Blanche Ely guard Michael Forrest buried a 3-pointer at buzzer for a 39-36 lead heading into what was expected in the fourth and final quarter of the game. He scored 16 of his team’s final 18 points in regulation and finished with 22 points after going scoreless in the first half.

The Tigers (15-7) also got strong performances from Joshua Scott (20 points) and Calvin McCutcheon had 19 points.

By “Cinema” Dave

www.cinemadave.livejournal.com

As a Monster Maven, it has taken me a few weeks to wrap my head around The Shape of Water, which has been nominated for 13 Academy Awards and earned multiple awards from the Golden Globes, the American Film Institute and the African-American Film Critics Association. The Shape of Water is easily the most unique movie to receive such prestigious praise.

We are introduced to the daily clockwork routine of Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins), a mute woman who lives with a closeted gay illustrator named Giles (Richard Jenkins) and resides in Baltimore, circa 1962. She is a Custodian Engineer for a secret government laboratory and is best friends with Zelda Fuller (Octavia Spencer). Under the guidance of Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon), a huge water tank arrives, which cages an amphibian man (Doug Jones) from South America.

Because Strickland antagonizes the man and is mean to him, the mute woman develops a relationship with him. She cooks him hard boiled eggs and they communicate with each other through sign language. When Strickland’s supervisor orders the dissection of her new friend, Elisa recruits Giles and Zelda to hatch a rescue plan.

If you have seen Splash and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, you can easily figure out the rest of the narrative of The Shape of Water. Writer/Director Guillermo del Toro knows this and he takes many of these cliches and adds his own spin to audience expectations. Being a fellow Monster Maven, del Toro acknowledges the debt from the original King Kong, The Bride of Frankenstein and the Creature From the Black Lagoon trilogy, the latter being the most obvious homage.

With the financial success of Marvel Comics and Legendary Pictures, Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla, Universal Productions has sought to reboot their Universal Monsters franchise. A part of a proposed series of movies, The Mummy was released and crashed at the box office. While Universal spent millions of dollars on celebrity salaries (Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp), less money was spent on script writing.

One wonders how good the Universal Monster franchise would have been if Guillermo del Toro had taken over.

Given his filmography with films like The Devil’s Backbone, the two Hellboy movies and Pan’s Labyrinth, del Toro understands that character motivation trumps a scriptwriting formula that pieces together scenes emphasizing computer-generated special effects. For all of its fantastic elements, an award-winning musical score and beautiful cinematography, The Shape of Water succeeds as a movie about humanity.

Given my high expectations, The Shape of Water was a disappointment. Yet, as I was given time to reflect about the visual imagery combined with Sally Hawkins and Doug Jones’ empathetic performances, I can say that the film is a movie that stays with you. Given his love of Lon Chaney movies from the silent era, I cannot wait to see what del Toro does next on the big screen!

A busload of politicians were driving down a country road, when suddenly the bus ran off the road and crashed into an old farmer’s barn. The old farmer got off his tractor and went to investigate. Soon, he dug a hole and buried the politicians. A few days later, the local sheriff came out, saw the crashed bus and asked the old farmer where all the politicians had gone. The old farmer told him he had buried them.

The sheriff asked the old farmer, “Lordy, were they ALL dead?”

The old farmer said, “Well, some of them said they weren’t, but you know how the crooked politicians lie.”

Einstein Lost His Ticket

Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist of the last generation who was also somewhat absent minded, was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn’t find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser pockets. It wasn’t there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn’t find it. Then he looked in the seat beside him. He still couldn’t find it.

The conductor said, “Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I’m sure you bought a ticket. Don’t worry about it.”

Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket.

The conductor rushed back and said, “Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry, I know who you are. No problem. You don’t need a ticket. I’m sure you bought one.”

Einstein looked at him and said, “Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going.”

Friends, it is hard to trust politicians. And today many of us wonder, like Professor Einstein, where we are heading.

Splitting the Atom

The Lubavitcher Rebbe argued that discovery of atomic power must change the way we think—about ourselves, our potential and our responsibility toward our environment.

Atoms — those particles that make up the core of all matter, making up everything we see, touch, smell, and taste — are beyond tiny. A single human hair is about as thick as 500,000 carbon atoms stacked over each other. Your fist contains trillions and trillions of atoms. If one atom was as big as a marble how big would your fist be? About the size of the earth! Or, to put it in other words, all atoms of humanity can fit into a teaspoon. Go figure!

You’d have to be crazy to speculate that as tiny a particle as an atom can have an impact, never mind one that can alter the face of earth. It would seem as foolish as one can get far more absurd than telling me that an ant crawling on my porch will transform civilization.

But that is exactly what we discovered in the 20th Century. As Einstein demonstrated in 1905, there is a huge amount of energy in an atom. When an atom is split, the energy is released, creating a “chain reaction,” splitting more and more atoms, releasing more and more energy. The Manhattan Project successfully used this energy to create nuclear bombs, which devastated Japan and ended the Second World War.

Unlocking the secrets of the atom, fundamentally changed how humans interacted with nature, and created a whole new set of challenges facing humanity. But it also uncovered a vital truth. The tiniest atom, which can’t even be seen by the eye, can generate a reaction that can literally destroy the world! And if this is true of the power to destroy, which runs contrary to the design and purpose of the universe, how much more so when the power is invested positively: Even the tiniest soul can transform the world.

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches, located in the Venetian Isle Shopping Center at 2025 E. Sample Rd. in Lighthouse Point. For all upcoming events, please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

By Emily Rosen

ERosen424@aol.com

www.emilyrosen424.com

This will meander around cyber-stuff – in some of its iterations – finally landing on love. Be patient … It comes at the end. It is, after all, February.

Decadent as this may sound, I am an e-mail person, a throwback to actual letters in an actual mailbox. Ancient people like myself have a hard time keeping up with the speed of modern written communication. And truth is, it was not very long ago — you might even remember the days — when you could be fairly certain that an e-mail you sent would be received and read within about 24 hours or even sooner.

But, alas, today, if you want your e-mail to be read, you need to Facebook, (that’s become a verb) tweet, text, message (also a verb) or, God forbid, make an actual telephone call to remind the recipient to check her email. And, by then – why bother? Just repeat the content of the message on the phone. But which phone? Landline? Cell? WhatsApp? and the dozens more free phone call apps that I don’t know about. Is this all part of “You can’t be too thin or too rich” and now it’s too “cyber-social?” Or is this the definition of “excess?” Are we really in a contest to find out who has the most “friends” or a contest to label the person with the most cyber social outlets?

I really need to vent at people who “message” me on Facebook. Why can’t they simply e-mail the message to me directly? Once I go to Facebook — and please don’t encourage me to do that — I lose hours meandering all over the place, collecting information about people I mostly don’t much care about. It’s becoming a kind of voyeurism … and a local version of the famous gossip page 6 of the New York Post. Don’t you just love those baby pictures?

And finally, I will tackle the angst of finding love in cyberspace, as this is “love month.” I recently gave a workshop for people interested in writing a profile for a dating site — a kind of combination of getting to “know who you are” before knowing how to find the person you want as a companion. To the many of you who have infiltrated this segment of society, your stories are worthy of publication. Matches don’t come easily and the mismatches can be disappointing, but also hilarious.

And the number and variety of dating services seem to be increasing exponentially … and now available in several apps — Bumble, Tinder, Hinge. It won’t be long before someone will open a website as a “Cyber Navigator” to help those of us to come to these “newbies” way behind everyone else. But, sooner or later, we get there. It helps to have “kin” in their teens and early 20s.

So have fun in cyber space and come down to Earth every once in a while where love still abounds in massive doses – and I wish it to you all.

By Gary Curreri

The Deerfield Beach High School girls basketball team looks poised to make a deep run in the playoffs this season under new coach Tami Vaughn.

She has also coached at Boyd Anderson, Pompano Beach, Northeast and was an assistant at Florida Atlantic University (2006-07). She also played overseas in Europe (England, Spain and Ireland).

“They are very disciplined and work together as a team,” said Vaughn, who still has former coach Portia Williams on the staff. Williams stepped down from her head coaching duties due to health issues.

“I enjoy coaching this group of girls. We are trying to rebuild the tradition here,” said Vaughn, whose fiancé is Jevon Glenn, the varsity football coach. “We also have Shuteamia Brayboy on the staff and she won state here. She is able to tell the girls what it means to be a Lady Buck and coach Williams is still here. The tradition is big here with girls basketball and I am very honored to be a part of it.

“I was an assistant for three years and this is my first year as head coach,” Vaughn said. “We have everyone back from last year.”

One of the returners is sophomore guard DenAsia Mitchell, who tore her anterior cruciate ligament at the end of the last season and has helped the team get off to an 18-2 start, including key wins over District rival Douglas High School.

“Losing her last year was very tough because we had some high expectations,” Vaughn said. “With her going out with the ACL, it put a damper on things. This year, with her back, we are on a roll. We are excited.”

Vaughn said they play more as a team this year and they have been listening more.

“I think we can make a run for it if everybody stays healthy and we are praying that everybody stays healthy,” Vaughn said. “We need to play in bubble wrap. Beating Douglas this year shows they are ready and they are focused. Everything we have been doing is helping us for down the road.”

Vaughn said Ashley Shell and Mitchell have been two of the catalysts this season and said a pleasant surprise has been freshman Aaliyah Reid.

“She’s been a rebounding machine,” Vaughn said.

Altieri takes fourth at nationals

Deerfield Beach’s Lucas Altieri, a member of the Florida Panthers Figure Skating Club, recently took fourth in the Novice Men’s Division at the 2018 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating National competition in San Jose, Calif. Altieri, 16, a North Broward Prep School sophomore, had hoped for a first place finish. He was fifth last year.

“I skated my best so I am happy with it,” Altieri said. “When I first started, I wanted to be a speed skater and there is not much of that in Florida, so the coaches told me to try figure (skating) and I really liked it.

“On the ice, I love it when I am skating really fast and it is fun when you are landing all of your jumps really well and you know everyone is watching you,” he said. “It is awesome. When you fall, you just get back up. I do get really frustrated, but I try and think that if I reach my goals, it will be worth it. If not, I will have other chances to do well.”

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Jurassic World is the last movie that I saw on the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery and Science IMAX six-story tall screen, in which the Tyrannosaurus Rex appeared to be life sized. I regret not seeing the last three Star Wars movies and Kong:Skull Island at this venue, but I did enjoy 12 Strong there.

Based on Doug Stanton’s non-fiction book Horse Soldiers, 12 Strong tells a war story that was declassified nine years ago. It is about the first engagement between the United States and the terrorists who brought down the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and caused the airline crash in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.

A few weeks after the attacks on our homeland, 12 Green Berets were inserted into Afghanistan to work in cooperation with a tribal warlord — Abdul Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban), who has spent 30 years of his life battling the Soviet Union and terrorists protected by the Taliban.

This film contains a simple narrative that takes the ticket buyer from tragic defeat to an unbelievable victory. While the technology of the United States military is never in doubt, it is the human relationship between Abdul Rashid Dostum and Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) that really sets into motion America’s victory over terrorism supported by the Taliban.

Of course, it is the IMAX visuals that makes 12 Strong stand out with the aerial photography of bombs falling from a B29 and the wide valley shots of the 12 horsemen raiding an enemy encampment. Director Nicolai Fuglsig’s visualization is as worthy as that of Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and John Ford.

For those looking for more humorous fare, Humor Me opens this weekend. Written and directed by Sam Hoffman, this comedy features a struggling playwright named Nate (Jemaine Clement) who loses both his job and his wife on the same day. Going broke, Nate moves in with this father Bob (Elliot Gould), who lives in a retirement village and likes to make crude jokes about male anatomy.

Clocking in at 90 minutes, Humor Me is the perfect running time to develop the absurd laughs that it earns. Good comedy builds on a logic that leads to a strong punch line. With a talented cast (including Annie Potts and Bebe Neuwirth) and creative use of black & white cinematography, Humor Me is the funniest movie thus far this year.

One understanding of purpose pertains to a person’s intent or resolve. The start of a new year provides an opportunity for many of us to make resolutions regarding the days ahead. A life of purpose is about more than making simple resolutions, however. It is about demonstrating commitment and dedication to what we hold dear, seek after and earnestly desire.

The biblical story of Daniel provides insight as to how we can fulfill our intentions. In the first chapter of Daniel, the young Hebrew is taken to Babylon and placed in a program of assimilation into the culture and learning of the king’s court. The daily diet, however, violated the strict religious guidelines that he had been taught to observe. Verse eight relates, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”

Daniel’s purpose was established in his heart and provided a strong foundation for its fulfillment. He had determined to honor his God by refusing to partake of the allotted food, choosing a simple diet of vegetables and water instead. It was a risky proposition since he was a captive. His decision made from the heart positioned him to succeed in keeping his vow. With regards to our own resolutions, if the heart is not in it, we will likely never accomplish it. Your noble pursuits will always face challenges, but you can succeed if you purpose it in your heart.

Daniel appealed to the chief eunuch to exempt him from the required diet to maintain his religious purity. The fact that he verbalized his intent further reveals his determination. He needed to activate his purpose by speaking up about it. There is a vital connection between what the heart feels, and what the mouth utters. Matthew 12:34 teaches, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” As Daniel proclaimed his commitment, so too should we declare our intentions and speak them into existence.

Having purposed and proclaimed his intent, Daniel next had to perform what he had spoken. The dubious chief eunuch agreed to Daniel’s 10-day challenge, after which he would examine and compare Daniel’s fitness with the other young men. It has often been said that actions speak louder than words, and Daniel had to back-up what he had declared by sticking to his regimen. He dutifully ignored the sights and smells of the king’s delicacies while enjoying his simple diet. We should be similarly committed to seeing our intentions through. Confirm your words with action. People of purpose keep their word and do what they say.

Finally, Daniel proved himself with respect to what he had purposed. He was willing to be tested at the end of the period to validate his intent. The findings revealed that he was in far better health than those who had feasted on the king’s food.

The evidence of our commitment is often revealed in the test and we should be prepared to so authenticate our purposes. If your intentions are right, God will support your endeavor. Let us determine to be intentional in our living. Let’s purpose, proclaim, perform and prove ourselves capable of attaining our goals. In 2018, let’s live on purpose!

Bishop Patrick L. Kelly is the pastor of Cathedral Church of God, 365 S. Dixie Hwy., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441. 954-427-0302.

By Gary Curreri

The first thing on Pompano Beach High School boys’ basketball coach James Stone’s bucket list was to win a game.

Check!

The Tornadoes were coming off an 0-21 (2016-17) season and lost the final game in the 2015-16 season when they finished 5-16. Pompano Beach dropped their first eight games of the 2017-18 campaign before a 72-65 victory against host Plantation on Dec. 14 snapped a 30-game losing streak. The team was 5-16 and 4-16 the two years prior to that.

“My biggest priority was to get a win after they went 0-21 last year,” said Stone, who moved up from the junior varsity team after a year with the Tornadoes and a year at Coral Springs Charter School. It is his first varsity head coaching job.

“I told them to act like we won before (after beating Plantation) so we got on the bus and we had one guy, Conrad (Bennett), he’s a sophomore so he was about to cry,” Stone said. “He was on the team last year and he said, ‘coach that was my first win as a Pompano basketball player.’ It was a big moment for me to get him his first win.”

Pompano Beach (4-9) defeated a team from Australia in the Deerfield Beach Holiday Tournament in an exhibition game and that has sparked the team to back-to-back wins over Cardinal Gibbons (60-56) and Coconut Creek (57-55). Pompano Beach travels to play at Hallandale on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

“That was a big tournament for us because last year they didn’t win a game,” Stone said. “This was a good confidence builder for them this year. It was a great experience for us to play against a team from Australia.”

Stone said he has a junior oriented team, with eight juniors and three seniors. Senior Andre Francis leads the team with 16 points and 10 rebounds a game and Stone also said he’s received solid play from the following juniors — Cedric Camper, Braxton McMillon, Takobe Clark, Brandon Peets and Tristen Anderson.

Stone said the team is buying into his philosophy.

“They keep their composure,” Stone said. “They are a very composed group of guys. They don’t get rattled when they go down.”

There has been little adjustment in becoming head coach.

“There really hasn’t been too much of an adjustment since most of these guys came up with me from the JV,” Stone said. “The transitions are easy since they already knew the system. The ones who played on the varsity last year, those are the ones that had to buy into the system.”

Knowing that all but three players will return next year has Stone excited.

“Having the core coming back is great,” Stone said. “I wanted this to be a building year and next year I would have had my guys together for three years, so next year I am looking to turn it around. I want to go far in the district and make the (BCAA) Big 8 tournament.

“They can be a great team,” Stone continued. “Sometimes they get into the ‘I’ basketball and they want to be the guy to carry the team and I tell them it is a team sport. If I can get them to focus on team and play hard and fight for all 32 minutes, we’ll be alright.”

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

This Saturday, Jan. 20 at 2 p.m., President William H. Taft (with First Lady “Nellie”) will host the annual State of the Union at the Deerfield Beach Percy White multi-purpose room. A transitional figure in American politics, the Taft Administration oversaw the transition from an agriculture economy to the growth of the Industrial Age. A one term president, Taft later served as the 10th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Having performed as the Nixons in 2015, the Reagans in 2016 and John & Abigail Adams last year, William and Sue Wills return is a welcome event. Since Hurricane Irma, the library switchboard has received phone calls asking, “Are the president people coming?” Fortunately, this annual State of the Union is traditionally booked on or near Jan. 20, which happens to be Presidential Inauguration Day.

Starting in 1991, the Wills began researching, writing and performing a series of presentations they called “Presidents and Their First Ladies, dramatically speaking.” William does the research (using mostly existing books and magazine articles and some original research), writes the first draft of the scripts, then Sue edits the same. Sue either “finds” or creates all of their period costuming. Among Sue’s comedic costume highlight was Nancy Reagan’s rendition of “Second Hand Clothes,” a reworking of the classic “Second Hand Rose” made famous by Franny Brice and Barbra Streisand.

For 15 years, the Wills have performed along the Atlantic coast and Midwest, being away from home nine months of the year. For the last six years, the Wills have limited their traveling to Florida and special events — presidential museums and large organizations all over the USA.

As both the Eisenhowers and the Trumans, William and Sue will perform at the Boynton Beach Civic Center on Feb. 7 in support of their nonprofit foundation, the Presidents Project to support Wounded Warriors. (For tickets, please visit www.presidentsproject.org).

William and Sue Wills first met in 1970 and have performed in almost 9000 shows together since. Their three children — Jennifer Hope, Daniel Parker and Rebecca Anne — were raised on-stage and backstage.

Jennifer Hope has performed on Broadway as a leading lady for Phantom of the Opera and Beauty and the Beast.

A Master’s degree graduate from Indiana University, she also teaches vocal performance.

A mother of five, Rebecca Anne served as the business manager for “Presidents and their First Ladies,” and is also a nurse. A Veteran of “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” Daniel Parker returned to his hometown in Ocean City, Maryland and works as an EMT dispatcher, while pursuing certification to become a paramedic.

As both history and theater, “Presidents and their First Ladies, Dramatically Speaking” is truly a labor of love. Seating is available on a first come, first served basis with a seating of 150 seat capacity. Thanks to the Friends of the Percy White Public Library, this unique performance is free to the public. Percy White Library is located at 837 E. Hillsboro Blvd.

“And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25 NRSV)

January is a good month to “take inventory” and move forward. The old year is behind us and the new year is in front of us. We learn from the past in order to plan for the future.

Financially, we prepare ourselves for taxes. Painful though it may be, we have to do it. And we look at our past spending and future expenditures and discover where we can change certain behaviors. We look back at some of our bad habits and try to get rid of them. Just as important, we start some new habits that are beneficial.

Physically, we consider our health and well-being. Perhaps, we schedule an annual physical. Perhaps, we join a gym or change some eating habits. January is a month when gym memberships jump. We quit our bad habits and start new ones.

If we take inventory on our finances and our physical health, maybe we should consider our spiritual health. There are any number of questions we can ask ourselves. Certainly, we get into bad habits and can start good ones. I would suggest that we get into the habit of prayer.

It was impressed upon me, as a child, that you pray when you wake up and when you go to bed, that you pray before you eat even if you are at a restaurant and others may see you. Prayer became second nature. As I look at prayer as a habit, I realize that there is a lot of room for improvement not only when it comes to the frequency of prayer, but the prayer itself. So I have two suggestions to take into consideration when it comes to prayer. One is on the quantity of prayer, the other is on the quality.

First, do we pray enough? I am amazed at faith traditions that call their faithful to pray three, five, as much as eight times a day over and above bedtime and meals. What would happen if we challenged ourselves to pray at least once a day over and above our regular prayers?

In a bygone era, church bells could be heard and the faithful were reminded to pray. It is hard to imagine the sound of church bells drowning out the noise of traffic. What can remind us of prayer?

A little feature on my cell phone is the ability to set an alarm. Cell phones can be alarm clocks and remind us of events that happen throughout the day. I set my alarm to go off once a day to remind me to stop and pray. This little reminder has kept me spiritually grounded and added the additional blessing of prayer.

Second, how do we pray? Any prayer is good, including memorized prayers. Perhaps, there is a table blessing that you have used throughout your life. Perhaps, there is a prayer you have prayed each night before you went to bed.

Of course, you can pray without memory. I have noticed some people are pretty eloquent in their public prayers and some are intimidated by the idea of praying out loud. No worries. Talk to God, he knows what you need better than you.

It is easy to get into the habit of “saying prayers.” I always correct people who will invite people to pray by saying: “Let us say the Lord’s Prayer.” I say, better yet, let us “pray” the Lord’s Prayer. Let us slow down, listen, concentrate and focus on each word Jesus taught us to pray. In short, if you want to improve the quality of your prayer, slow down.

These two little points may help you throughout this new year. On behalf of Zion Lutheran Church and me, Pastor Jeff Gross, I want to wish you a very blessed and Happy New Year.

Pastor Gross is a pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, located at 959 SE 6 Ave., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441. For more information, call 954-421-3146 or visit www.zion-lutheran.org.