Photo credit: BlessingHealthSystem.org

This week I had planned to publish a special prayer on “Walks of Faith in Wooden Shoes.” God had other plans. Unexpectedly, I learned that someone more special than any prayer I could ever write has stage four cancer. Just how special is she?

I will call her “Angel.” That is not her name. She does what angels do. She is who angels are. She is seen bending over others just as angels are pictured in the Bible and in great works of art.

Angel is self-effacing. For all she has done for me and others, she gives all the glory to God. Like every living angel, she is not the important one. She is insignificant and humble. The God she serves and those she cares for are the consequential ones. The ones who matter more than her.

Most children of God get their wings when they die and ascend into the heavenly healing Arms of God. Not Angel. She received her wings long ago. You cannot see her wings. Yet, they are there. They are real. Her wings are as beautiful as her exuberant smile. The light of her wings sprinkles God’s light and love on me. On the thousands of people whose lives she has saved. In her life, service, and care, God’s grace once unseen is made visible. So bright and luminous that you need spiritual sunglasses not to be blinded by Holy light.

She has saved my life several times. I am only one. Thanks to God, there are innumerable others who have been equally blessed. This living angel’s work has provided inspiration of hope to those who had little or none.

On October 27, 2011, I met her in San Francisco at the St. Francis Hotel. I was attending a Collaborative Divorce event, The Forum. The networking and educational event was sponsored and conducted by the IACP (The International Academy of Collaborative Professionals). She was not a participant at the Forum. I did not meet her in person. God sent her to me as a virtual angel on the internet.

I was surfing the internet in my hotel room. In angel-like fashion she appeared on a page. Her words captured me. I listened to her lecture for an hour. Her name was etched in my memory. I did not need her at the time. God placed her in my path. In God’s way He said to me, “Please know that here is my angel. She is waiting for you to know Me better. One day she will be My body and My spirit to help you when you need her most.”

All of this is not enough to show just how special she is. Angel established a healthcare business dedicated to God. She quotes scripture on her website and correspondence. She is a devoted foster parent to orphaned, abandoned, and abused children. She adopted a foster child. She found room in the inn of her home to shelter families from distant lands. To be family to immigrants who have none.

So, as Angel submits to rigorous rounds of radiation and chemotherapy, loses more of her hair each day and faces the prospect of surgery to remove what medicine cannot, I ask that you pray for her. Pray for every child of God who is currently fighting cancer and needs deployment of the most powerful force on Earth—the love of God. The same power Angel administers in her ministry for others.

Please remember what Angel said to me this week. “Jack, I cannot say in words what it means to me, what strength and hope it gives me, to know that you and others are praying for me.”

God in Scripture says how to pray for healing.
Jeremiah 17:14
“Heal me, LORD, and I’ll be healed. Save me and I’ll be saved, for you are my heart’s desire.”

Let us pray.
Dear God, in prayer I ask that You provide Your love, hope, and healing to Jack’s friend, Angel, and to everyone of Your children on Earth who is fighting cancer.

God, I pray that You empower the healthcare and medical professionals who are treating Angel and others like her to be their best. That Your love and their healing hands cure Angel and all like persons.

God, please send Your angels to bend over Angel and all who are ill or infirm. May they shine Your healing light on them. Amen

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If you think Jack’s prayer helps you or will help someone you know, please forward it to them. Jack may never make millions selling books or writing prayers, but spreading God’s good news to others is reward enough for him.
Ann Boland, Jack’s Publicist

Families grow up under the shelter of their parents. So did Uncle Hewett. Additionally, Hewett grew up under the shade of live oaks. Now these magnificent oaks circle the gravel road around his parents’ home in Emmottville.

Every year the surface of the road beneath the trees was blanketed with oak leaves and acorns. Hewett’s dad, my grandfather, in the Fall habitually raked the leaves and acorns in small piles. He set each pile on fire. Then he leaned against his car. As he watched each pile burn, he smoked a non-filtered Camel cigarette. His father might have lived a much longer life if he had not smoked. He died early at the age of 92.

Uncle Hewett returned to his parents’ home from WWII. Rather than burning oak leaves like his father or leaving them to be carried away by the squirrels, Hewett had other plans for the acorns. He used them to build acorn men. He named them “Hewett’s Creations.” These Creations exhibited the talents within Hewett. Those talents were as unique and as special as the hundreds of fly boys Hewett trained at Foster Air Force Base in Victoria, Texas.

With care Hewett handpicked the perfect acorns for each acorn man he created. The acorn men were not just individually unique. They each had a special place in a group activity with other acorn creatures. God created you and me as His special and unique children too. God calls you and me to do something in groups too. Attend church. Share and live the Good News. To love and care for one another.

As a young boy, I often stood by Hewett’s dresser. I perched on my toes to get the best view of the latest acorn men he had made. I was mystified by them. I imagined the acorn men coming to life. To play. To dance. To make music together.

These acorn men are family treasures. Hewett’s cousin, Catharine Mary Waldman, was given a set by Hewett. The acorn men are seated around a card table. They are playing a game of poker. Each man is holding a hand of Bicycle cards. Hewett had perfectly trimmed each card to fit in each hand. This set of acorn men is one of Catharine’s most treasured possessions.

Uncle Hewett never gave me a set of his acorn men. I thought that I would never have one of them much less a set of them. When Hewett died, I was asked to probate his Will. The executor asked me what my legal fee would be. I replied, “That is easy. Let me have just one set of Hewett’s remaining creations.” That was payment in full for services.

Pictured with this post is the set of acorn men holding musical instruments in their hands. Those little acorn men represent a big memory for me. Every time I look at them, I smile. I see Hewett soaking the hand-picked acorns in turpentine. This rid them of the bugs which caused his earliest creations to fall apart and disintegrate.

I see Hewett use his fine motor skills to bend each paperclip to assemble an acorn man. Each completed acorn man appeared as a fully formed human-like creature. I envision Hewett gently placing an acorn cap on each man. The paperclips became musical instruments which acorn men played.

At Hewett’s memorial service my brother Charles mentioned his acorn men. Charles remarked that Hewett made them in such a magical way that they resembled “Christmas tree ornaments which fell from the live oak trees.”

Hewett died years ago. The home on the five acres his parents gave him as a wedding present has been razed. His nursery no longer exists. Yet, after I say my bedtime prayers and turn out the lights, I believe in Heaven Hewett hears the band of acorn musicians he created playing. They play for him “When the saints go marching in.” In my heart these little things Hewett created dance in unison with the beat of my heart.

God has spoken in Scripture about how the little things we do magnify the love of God on Earth.

Matthew 5:16

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.

 

Let us pray.

Dear God, Mother Teresa said that we all can do small things with great love. Help me remember that although I may not do great things on Earth, the little things I do can become great things in Your Kingdom.

God, I thank You for magnifying the works I do in Your name. To You goes all the Glory. I am the creature of Your love. You created Your Son for me and all Your children. May that sacrifice for my salvation be magnified and glorified in all I am and all I do in Your name. Amen

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If you think Jack’s prayer helps you or will help someone you know, please forward it to them. Jack may never make millions selling books or writing prayers, but spreading God’s good news to others is reward enough for him.

Ann Boland, Jack’s Publicist

Home

When I was a child, I first learned to crawl. Next, I took baby steps. Soon, I was walking slowly and, thereafter, briskly. By age six, I ran faster than all other kids in my neighborhood. A couple of weeks after my sixth birthday, polio struck. With polio my running days were over for good.

After five years of physical therapy five days a week, I learned to take steps again. I could get to my destinations or reach my goals. It just took a little longer and with much greater effort.

Love is found by taking steps too and trusting God to show me and you the way. At age 22 I met Dorothy at a church retreat. A drive-in movie was our first date. Soon thereafter Dorothy invited me to come to her apartment for dinner. Dorothy warned me that her apartment was on the second floor. I needed to climb two flights of stairs to sit with her at the dinner table.

The evening came for me to ascend the stairs to her apartment. As I looked at the formidable flights of stairs for the first time, Dorothy said, “Jack, don’t worry. I will help you one step at a time.” I lifted my left foot up on the first step and stiffened my left leg. Dorothy held my right upper arm. She pushed my right side up in the air and forward. My right leg and foot swung forward and landed on the next step. The process of taking one step at a time with Dorothy’s help repeated itself until we were both on the balcony next to her front door.

After a few months of climbing the stairs to have dinner with her, to watch TV, to study, or play cards, I knew Dorothy was worth the effort. Unexpectedly, one day Dorothy said to me, “Jack, I signed a new lease at my apartment complex. It is on the ground floor.” Those steps to climb the stairs led me to find love and Dorothy’s love finding me.

We can all trust God to guide us to find the love of a husband, a wife, or a partner. How God does that is a mystery. The ways in which God orchestrates our steps are as limitless as the depth of God’s love for us.

The path God chose for me involved taking steps on stairs, steps which led to the woman I married. I will love Dorothy to the last beat of my heart. Taking steps together with the help of God is part an enduring successful and happy marriage. On the same path we have held on to one another and let the other have space. We have forgiven and given to the other. We have raised children and released them to be and become the children God created them to be. We have grieved those we’ve lost and been grateful for memories they left in our hearts.

We are older now but have never completely stepped out of childhood. We struggle to travel lighter and to simplify our days. We are in no hurry to take our final steps to climb the stairs to Heaven to find God’s eternal love. For now, Heaven can wait.

God has spoken in Scripture as to taking steps to find love on Earth and in Heaven.

Psalm 37:23
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

Genesis 28:12
He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

Let us pray.
God, I thank You for granting me my own will. I know that I can make my own plans. Yet, it is comforting to know that You determine my steps.

God, please help me to trust You. In following Your Word may my path lead to Your love on Earth. At my death may your angels help me climb the stairway to Heaven to find Your love forever. Amen
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If you think Jack’s prayer helps you or will help someone you know, please forward it to them. Jack may never make millions selling books or writing prayers, but spreading God’s good news to others is reward enough for him.
Ann Boland, Jack’s Publicist

Jack H. Emmott, Sr. – Machine Gun Instructor, U.S Army 1918

As you may recall from my Facebook post on May 24, 2020, “Remembering One Who Remembered,” my great grandmother, Catharine Mary Emmott, is known as the Mother of Memorial Park. Due to her efforts and many others, we have a place which will always honor those who served in war to protect and preserve our freedom. Click on this link to read the post.

Catherine Mary’s eldest son (my grandfather), Jack H. Emmott, Sr., served in the First World War. He learned the skills to operate a machine gun at Camp Logan, now known as Memorial Park. Fortunately, he missed the Houston train to Galveston to board the ship to fight on the Killing Fields of Europe. After missing the train, in tears he came home to his mother, Catherine Mary. He was extremely upset about missing the train.

Shortly thereafter Grandfather, PawPaw, learned that his entire unit died. The average life expectancy of a machine gunner in battle in WWI was two minutes.

Because he missed the train, ultimately PawPaw was assigned to be a trainer in the School of Fire in Georgia. He taught brave soldiers the art by day and rode by horseback at night with Teddy Roosevelt’s nephew to fish on the Savannah River.

I treasure the WWI machine gun bullet box he gave me.  I have pride in his service to our country and in the Park’s precious legacy his mother left for you and me. I am thankful for all the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives and who served to preserve our precious liberties.

God has spoken in Scripture on God’s support of those who war for America.

Psalms 144:1-2
“Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.”

Let us pray.

God, may You please bless all Americans who have served or sacrificed their lives in the military to preserve and protect America from evil. In the giving of their lives, we have received the gifts of peace, opportunity, and freedom to learn, grow, earn, and love.

God, may Your angels illumine their paths with the light of Christ. May your unfailing love heal their wounds and comfort the hearts of family and friends left behind. Amen
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If you think Jack’s prayer helps you or will help someone you know, please forward it to them. Jack may never make millions selling books or writing prayers, but spreading God’s good news to others is reward enough for him.
Ann Boland, Jack’s Publicist

A few years ago, one of my colleagues overheard two lawyers talking at the Courthouse. One lawyer asked the other, “Who is that lawyer in the wheelchair?” The other lawyer replied, “Why, that is Jack Emmott. He is the smile on four wheels.”

Learning of this exchange, I felt I had received the highest form of compliment.

I had polio at age six and have wondered why I smile so much. You see in the photograph posted with this prayer me at age seven and a half smiling on four wheels. The fact that I was wearing an uncomfortable Milwaukee back brace for scoliosis and braces on each of my paralyzed hands did not eclipse my ability to smile.

Maybe my smile is merely a gift of God’s grace. Perhaps it is because I have been deeply loved every day by two extraordinary women. First, my mother. Then, my wife, Dorothy. Maybe it was the faith I received from my parents that I was a special child of God.

Sure, there were times I felt different and not special compared to my peers. In the end I knew that they were just like me. We were all children of God. Different but nevertheless special, worthy, and deserving of happiness.

Maybe my smile was attributable to my teachers from first grade through high school at Bane Elementary, Post Elementary, Dean Junior High, and Cy-Fair High School. My teachers went out of their way to make room in their hearts for me in their classrooms.

In first grade it was Lillie Holbrook. She made me and all her students feel like Einstein. Feeling special and smart as a young child provided me with the confidence, courage and strength needed for the remainder of my life. Especially when I made mistakes. When my best was not good enough. When I felt far less than special.

Every day, Grace Berry, my English and Spanish teacher in the ninth grade, fondly called me Jackie Boy. She went out of her way to find positive things to say. One day I wore a long-sleeved yellow shirt to class. Upon rolling into the classroom, Mrs. Berry said, “Jackie Boy, I really like that shirt. Do you know that yellow is an intelligent color?” A smile was pasted on my face the rest of the day.

The cumulative effect of love received, praise given, acts of kindness extended, and hope from God enabled me to smile. I could freely open up and share with others the happiness inside me. Happiness which flowed from God’s grace to me as His special child.

Considering that I will die one day, I have given thought about what words would be most appropriate to be engraved on my headstone. I have accomplished many achievements in the legal profession, in my service to the community, and in my church, as a friend, husband, father, and grandfather. Yet the most suitable epitaph might be:

Here Lies the Body of Jack Emmott
The Smile on Four Wheels

God has spoken in Scripture as to smiling.

Psalm 4:6
“Many people say, ‘Who will show us better times?’ Let your face smile on us, LORD.”

Proverbs 15:30
“A cheerful look brings joy to the heart; good news makes for good health.”

Let us pray.
Dear God, please help me to smile and smile more often. In smiling I cause others to smile. Smiles are contagious, healing, and encouraging to others.

God, in smiling and reflecting my happiness on others may I be mindful that I am serving You. For these things reflect the good news that You are always faithful and uplifting. On my face I show others my trust in You that Your love makes all things work together for good.

God, I know one day I will see Your Face in Heaven. I will see You smiling at me forever. Amen
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If you think Jack’s prayer helps you or will help someone you know, please forward it to them. Jack may never make millions selling books or writing prayers, but spreading God’s good news to others is reward enough for him.
Ann Boland, Jack’s Publicist

Photo credit: The Guardian

Beginning at 4 a.m. today, I watched the second Coronation in my life.

On the cork-covered living room floor in front of the finely polished mahogany encased RCA black and white television, as a young boy, I saw the first Coronation. From my mother’s sharp focus on the screen, I could tell that this was something especially important. Mom glowed as she watched Princess Elizabeth in the royal horse drawn carriage pass the crowds towards Westminster Abbey to be crowned Queen of England.

It is a Norman Rockwellian memory. A mother standing behind her ironing board. Performing such a mundane task. A task of toil so ordinary in the presence of such a beautiful and extraordinary occasion.

Although Mom was just 30 years old that day, she had already experienced the ugliness of the Great Depression, the absence and death of her father from TB, and the death of her mother from pneumonia. Looking back, I realize Mom needed to witness such beauty, grandeur, and pageantry to forget for a little while those things.

Reflecting on indelible memory of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth 70 years ago, I witnessed another—the crowning of King Charles III of England. This time in color. As a grown man. Sitting up on my Tempur-Pedic queen-sized mattress with my Queen of Royalty in the Family Emmott, my wife Dorothy.

I saw and appreciated the importance to England, the Commonwealth, and to the British people of the crowning of their King. I was captivated by the sheer beauty, symbolism, and historical significance of the rituals of the Coronation. I was amazed by the sheer number of participants required to perform the process of crowning their King. An event accomplished so well and so perfectly in an otherwise imperfect and dysfunctional world.

I will always remember the music, the pomp and circumstance. The majesty and pageantry of the entire Coronation of King Charles. The King and Queen waiving to hundreds of thousands of people standing in front on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Yet, what I think was the most important aspect of the Coronation were five words spoken by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

“Service is love in action.”

The Archbishop said that with great privilege comes the duty to serve and not be just served as the Head of England. Service. Servants acting in love and with love of others.

Today, every person needs to witness golden-leafed moments of beauty, perfection, and exquisite adornment alongside the ugly, broken, dysfunctional, frightening, violent and divisive world in which we live. However, what we truly need is service, love in action. Can you imagine what our world would be and become if everyone served with love? Not with indifference but with acceptance. Not with judgment but with kindness. Not with resentment and anger but with forgiveness and peace. Not with hate but with love.

We were given a privileged life gifted to us by God. In return each of us has a duty to serve our God with acts of love towards another. Serving the King of Kings. Bearing to others gifts of unconditional love.

In my collaborative divorce and family law practice I strive every day to be “love in action.” God is calling me to serve, to love, and to give. It is possible to uncouple with civility, dignity, and respect. With love the relationship between couples during and after divorce can be protected and preserved.

If everyone would serve the King of Kings with love in action in all things, Heaven would descend on Earth. Our time on Earth would be grander and more glorious than any Coronation of a King of England.

God has spoken in Scripture on serving with love.

John 13:34
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

Let us pray.

Dear God, I thank You for my life and for Your help in living it.

God, I praise You for the beauty on Earth and for the perfect spirit You ensouled in the imperfect child of Yours I am.

God, may I serve You as my King, Creator and Redeemer, in my actions of love to others. May I love others as You have loved me and love me now and forever. Amen
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If you think Jack’s prayer helps you or will help someone you know, please forward it to them. Jack may never make millions selling books or writing prayers, but spreading God’s good news to others is reward enough for him.
Ann Boland, Jack’s Publicist