Vol. 37, No. 2
their obedience to the voice of God who
stilled the tempest.
1 could see birds flying, playing follow
the leader. A closer look revealed the brown
pelican, Then with a swoop down he dives
into the ocean after his meal. There were
porpoises gracefully swimming up and
down in the water, just the fins showing
above the surface. Once in a while one
would jump out of the water, and you
could see that he was five to eight feet
long.
As I looked closer the sandpipers were
flitting along the shore, and with every
wave came a large number of coquinas
with their various hues, stripes, and plaids.
You stoop to pick some up and to your
amazement——you hadn't moved fast enough!
——they simply had turned the heaviest end
of shell up and burrowed down into the
sand in great haste and with a slight
crackling sound. Sometimes there would
come as many as a bucket full of these tiny
mollusks with one wave. Then they were
gone. They must have known the sand-
piper was near and wanted food, As I
walked along the shore, the sandpipers
ran ahead of me just keeping out of
reach, seemingly having just a little fear
of man.
Oh, the delight of the seashore, looking
for *shells alive or otherwise! There are
shells of every category: some broken,
some whole, some with mollusks still alive
in the shell, some pink, some white, and
some purple. What gives color, feeling,
hearing, and fear to these creatures of the
sea?
I realized the waves were closer; the tide
was coming in, What makes the tide come
higher, higher, then recede again? You
say the moon? What causes the moon to
do that? What is that long-legged spider
abead on the sand? I ran to have a good
look—it was gone, but where? Oh, right
there in that hole! It was a sand crab.
There is a strange shell—is it a shell or
is it a rock? Cogquina rock. What is that?
Many broken shells cohered or cemented
together. Houses and large buildings are
made from this rock.
Again the breeze, mistladen and cool, is
blowing against my face, and—looking
up—the large, fluffy cumulus clouds are
floating across the sky. The clouds have
shadowed the sun, and there are streaks
of light reaching from earth to sky. The
sun is drawing water, reminding us of the
Creator's plan in caring for our needs. The
sun is lowering in the west, with its vivid
colors streaking across the sky. The trees
silhouetted against this sunset sky, a lonely
bird making its way to rest, an occasional
butterfly finding its refuge for the night
al] say along with me, “I've been with God
today. Be at peace, for God is nigh.”
THE CHURCH OFFICERS’ GAZETTE
13
February 3
THE BEST PLACE ON
EARTH
BY ARTHUR PATZER
ORDER OF SERVICE
OPENING SONG: “Father, Make Us Loving,”
No. 24 in M. V. Songs.
FAVORITE TEXTS.
PRAYER,
ANNOUNCEMENTS.
SECRETARY'S REPORT.
OFFERING. .
SPECIAL Music,
LEADER'S REMARKS,
POEM: “At Evening Hour.”
STORY: “Carl and Dennis.”
PANEL DISCUSSION.
CHORUS: “Traveling Home,” No. 106.
STORY: "Thirty-Seven Cents’ Worth.” (See
page 6.)
CLOSING SONG: “Home, Sweet Home,” No.
191.
BENEDICTION.
Leader’s Remarks
Our program is entitled “The Best Place
on Earth.” Of course we immediately think
of Home. Home—where we find mother,
dad, and the rest of the family. Home—with
all of its hallowed memories.
“Home—A world of strife shut out, and
a world of love shut in.
Home—A place where the small are
great, and the great are small,
Home—A place where our stomachs
get three square meals a day, and our
hearts a thousand.”
Yes, there is no other place like home.
At home you can be yourself; it is where
you are not misunderstood. You wouldn't
exchange it for anything in this world. As
we present this program, I am confident
that all of us will do everything we possibly
can to make our homes the best place on
earch.
Panel Discussion
The JM.V, sponsor should carefully
select a group of boys and girls who will
be able to enter into this discussion en-
thusiastically. The following list of questions
and statements are merely to direct the
discussion, which can be enlarged upon.
1. When thinking of home, what does
it mean to you? Just a place to eat and
sleep or what?
2. Isn't it good to know, though, that
home is a place where we have protection
from the cold, from fear, and from darkness?
Is that all home is to you?
3. Don’t you think it is nice to have the
entire family together in the evening so
you can talk, sing, play, and pray together?
Let's ask mother and daddy to plan more
evenings like that
4. Many times we take mother and daddy
for granted, but what would we do without
them? They provide our clothes, our toys
and playthings, and our education.
5. We read so many things about homes
not being what they should be How can
we help to make our homes better?
6. Do you think it is a good idea to
have morning and evening worship in our
homes? If we are not already having wor-
ship together, let's go home and ask mother
and daddy to have family worship every
day.
7. Does co-operation have anything to
do with making the home the best place
on earth?
8. What is our home to be like? Answer:
Just a little bit of heaven here on earth.
9. In thinking of your own home, what
do you like best?
10. There are many things that we ail
can do to make our homes happy. Don’t
you think we ought to tell mother, daddy,
‘brother, and sister that we love them and
then do things that will show them we
mean it? What more can we do to make
home the best place on earth?
SUGGESTED REFERENCES
Ministry of Healing, pp. 388-394.
Desire of Ages, pp. 72-74.
y Messages to Young People, pp. 323-
2.
Patrigrchs and Prophets, p. 144.
See “Home” in Index to the Writings
of E. G. White.
Carl and Dennis
A young boy wanted his father’s car to
take his voung friends around late in the
evenings. Father said, “Son, you are too
young. It is not safe.” Carl thought he knew
better. He tried to get the keys from mother,
but mother stood firm with father. Carl
became angry. He decided to run away
from home, but he went to tell Dennis,
his pal, about it. Dennis suggested that they
take the car anyway, but that did not work
either. So the two slipped out of the house
and ran away. They were missing fot
several days. Both parents became alarmed