Words

Perfection

February 22, 2026

You have probably noticed it when you’ve read my columns. I am not perfect. I have more bad news for you. You aren’t either. Ready for the extremely awful revelation? We will never be perfect if we are on Earth. If we have a personal relationship with Jesus, He will make us perfect in His presence.

Do you get it? No one is what they can be. When we listen to Holy Spirit, we will do better than we are at this moment. That is not the best we can be. There is always room for improvement. The best way to grow is to realize this.

You ain’t there yet. Yes, I slipped into my native Ozarkian. Jesus spoke Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Since He is God, He could have used any known and unknown languages while he was here. He knew what people were thinking. Read the gospels. Was He ever surprised at situations?

The Sadducees asked about a woman who was married seven times, and they wanted to know who her husband would be at the resurrection. Jesus did not stutter when His answer was, “You do not understand.” (Luke 20:27-40) I often do not know what someone is saying.

God always knows what you are saying and what you really mean. My spelling and grammar check tries to correct some of the phrases I use. It is artificial intelligence. It was made by people. It does not know what Jehovah wants me to say to you at this moment.

AI cannot be programmed to speak for Yahweh. It does not have a soul or spirit. or body. AI isn’t even real. You do understand what the word artificial means, don’t you? It is another word for fake. Got it? You do not want to be a fraud. Be a real human being. Be willing to be wrong and admit it.

Life is not a mistake. While we live, we make mistakes. There is a difference. I can use artificial sweeteners, flavorings, or intelligence. They may help with certain things, or they will backfire and cause me even more trouble. You make the choice; you face the consequences.

Even the President of the United States makes mistakes and must deal with the consequences of his decisions. Did you notice that I did not use a capital “H” on that pronoun? I only use that for God. And he ain’t Him. Neither are you nor I.

Perfection can be obtained, but only when we are taken home to the presence of our Lord and Savior. If you know Jesus as many of us do, then you are trying to get better every day. If not, join us, and we will be perfect together someday with Him.

Where?

February 15, 2026

We all ask this question at some time. The five questions that we seek to answer in journalism are who, what, when, and where. Why is it seldom added in a straight news story? I often ask that question. I am sure that you will also do this. The question today is where?

Where are you going? Where have you been? For my younger readers, you are more interested in the future. We older folks often focus on the past. We should all look both ways before we take a step. Like your parents taught you when crossing a street.

In my teens, I decided to become a writer. Journalism was my first thought. That is what I trained for in high school. In my first two years of college, I decided to attend a university that had no journalism program, so I listed my major as creative writing. That was the closest they had. That is what I did today.

For me, the answer to where I have been would require many more words than I wish to share here. I desire to encourage you to contemplate not only the places that you have been, but where they have led you and will lead you again. Our path should be plotted by our Lord.

This is what I have attempted to do. My location at this time in a physical sense is not as important as where I am in my spiritual journey. God has taken me through my educational and business careers to my new avocation as an author. This column is a small portion of that.

My ministry continues in the books I am writing. Scripts for plays and shows that I have conceived over the decades are in process. I wish to continue teaching others what Christ has shown me for more than fifty years. This is where I am traveling to.

Your path is different from mine in many ways. I hope that your eternal home is the same as mine. That is in the presence of Jehovah God. This location is usually referred to as Heaven. Some believe this is our default when our bodies die. Part of my ministry is to tell you that this is a lie told by our adversary.

A decision must be made on where you will spend eternity. I’m sorry that I must tell you that the belief I have in the Bible and what it says about Jesus, who is God, compels me to be honest that I do not think you will escape hell unless He is your Lord and Savior.

I advise you not to gamble with your destiny. The choice to accept the gift that you have been given by the life, death, and resurrection of my Lord, Jesus, is life through Him. I hope that is where you will eventually achieve with all His other followers.

Anger

February 7, 2026

We come to the third life lesson. The first two were stupidity and fear. Go back to October Twenty-Fifth and November 7, 2025, to check out those columns. The first two can trigger anger. We are told “Refrain from anger” in Psalm 37:8

We may tell people that we are not angry when we are frustrated or upset about something. Define the word “a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility.” Are you mad and just do not want to admit it? Let’s be honest with ourselves and each other. That’s what we discussed in the first two columns. Being real about our own stupidity and fear.

We must do the same with our anger. I have been working for years to control mine. I am not always successful. My anger is usually with myself for something that I have done or failed to do. That and stupid people. But, as I said in the first article in this series, we are all stupid at times, especially me.

Proverbs 14:16 says that “A wise man is cautious and turns from evil, but a fool is easily angered and is careless.” None of us can always prevent getting angry. Working on not letting our tempers get the better of us can be difficult. Nahum 1:3 tells us that the Lord is slow to anger.

This is proven by the patience He has shown the Israelites, David, us, and His other followers. Remember how he told Peter to get behind Him and referred to him as Satan. (Mark 8:33, Matthew 16:23) This was prompted by an unwillingness to accept that Jesus must give His life for us.

Paul tells us not to let the sun go down on our anger. (Ephesians 4:26) This is just before his exposition on how we should treat our wives, husbands, and children. He tells us in the sixth chapter of this book not to make our children mad at us. (Ephesians 6:4)

James tells us in his letter that our anger does not accomplish his purposes. The scriptures are full of examples of anger against others, causing us more problems. Stop and think about times you did not hold onto yours. How’d that work for you?

To me, stupidity, fear, and anger are all interrelated. When we do something stupid, it is because of fear or anger. We are all foolish, afraid, and get mad from time to time. These are words that mean many different things to many of us. I wanted to remind all of you, and myself, of what these emotions can do to you. God loves us despite any problems we may have.

Listen

January 31, 2026

My wife accuses me of not listening to her. She is correct at times. Occasionally, I listen and pay attention, and cannot repeat what she just said. I would like to claim this is due to hearing impairment or memory loss. I’ve done this for fifty years.

Today, I would like to emphasize this word in the business community. I spent over forty years in business on both sides of phone calls and both sides of desks. I hate to tell you the times that I have had to repeat myself because someone was not paying attention.

I dislike wasting time. Telling someone something and then being asked about that same thing later is insulting and aggravating. I am sure that I will do this for some of you. We should all try a little harder to avoid this problem.

I was once told I was the best Customer Service Representative (CSR) in my region. That was not my job title. I was the operations manager for my branch. At that time, I had been doing the branch manager’s job for at least a year without extra pay or acknowledgement.

As a branch manager, you are expected to be an outside salesman. I performed this job function for three years before I returned as the office manager for over ten years, at that time. I had three years’ experience, and she had virtually none. I tried to convey this to my boss, but he did not want to listen to what I had to say.

Another way is that some listen to you but do not respond favorably to your suggestions. They may even tell you it is not a good idea. When your suggestion is implemented, you discover that the person who said it was not worthwhile has taken the credit.

Years ago, I read a book called “The Peter Principle,” which promoted the idea that most companies promoted employees beyond their capabilities and terminated them when they failed. The problem I saw with Dr. Peter’s concept was that I had worked for more upper managers who were kept even after they showed their incompetence.

The higher officers gave the tasks these people could not accomplish to underlings and seldom paid them the money the added responsibilities should have demanded. To me, this was more of a problem than the fact that incompetence brought termination. That is a problem that could be rectified by listening.

Failing to advance those who show competence is also a listening problem. These lower workers tell others that they can do the more difficult tasks. The big bosses do not want to admit the mistakes they made. If they promote someone else, then those folks might eventually take their positions.

Keep your ears open and pay attention to everyone and what they want out of life. The mistakes that others make are not a reason for you to follow their example, but the motivation for us to prove we are better and will continue to listen.

Belief

January 23, 2026

We have gone through the Christmas season and celebrated the birth of the Savior of the world. We call Him Jesus. Do you know who this historical figure is? I am a writer. A craftsman who uses words to create meaning for you. I am a wordsmith.

Just as a blacksmith creates tools, knives, or horseshoes from black iron or steel, I make phrases and sentences that convey ideas to you. Either you agree with these two thoughts, or you refuse to accept them. I don’t mind if you don’t consider me an author. That hurts neither you nor me.

When you do not accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, it separates you from God. Why should I care? That is between you and your creator, whether you know it or not. I care because God cares.

This is what I believe. I know this is the truth. Acknowledge it or deny it. That is your freewill. He gave it to you just as He gave you life. He is not the one who is lying to you. We have an adversary that does not want us to recognize these facts.

Jehovah created the universe. That includes our world and all the objects we see in the sky. Today, we know some are planets. stars, or wandering bodies. I do not know if there is life on any other planet. We are too far from them to discern that. We’ve tried with the ones closest to us, and nothing is there.

When They created all of this, we human beings were created. Men and women are made different from other creatures. We are in Their image or likeness. This is where my craftsmanship comes to bear. I need to explain what this means.

God the Father, God the Son, and Holy Spirit are called a trinity. That word originally meant three divine beings that make up a godhead. A supreme ruling force in our universe. That is incorrect. They are a triune being. Do you see the difference in the words? Trinity combines three separate things into one.

Triune takes one and expresses it as three separate forms. Do you understand this? Let me put it this way. Take an egg. Just an ordinary chicken egg. Open the shell, and you have a yellow thing called a yoke, the shell you just broke, and the white or albumen. Those are three individual things with their own names and purposes. Get it? The shell protects the developing chick. The yoke becomes the chick. The egg white feeds the creature as it grows.

Three things, one individual being. That is us as well. Three things that are one person. Does it make sense to you? It does to me. You have a body. You are not a body. You also have a soul and a spirit that reside inside of you. If you have accepted Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord, your spirit is alive. If not, it is dead.

I will continue this more in-depth in future columns. I think this is enough for you to take in now. Please ask me questions in the comments, and I will answer them specifically in the next articles. Thank you for reading what I believe.

Where?

January 16, 2026

We all ask this question at some time. The five questions that we seek to answer in journalism are who, what, when, and where. Why is seldom added in a straight news story. I often ask that question. I am sure that you will also do this. The question today is where?

In my teens, I decided to become a writer. Journalism was my first thought. That is what I trained for in high school. In my first two years, I decided to attend a college that had no journalism program, so I listed my major as creative writing. That was the closest they had. That is what I did today.

Responsible

January 8, 2026

Here we are with another word for 2026. I’ve decided that I need to be responsible for sharing these words with you. If you need a definition, let me explain it this way. If you caused something to happen, you are the one responsible.

I know that you have heard of the principle of cause and effect. It is a physics principle, but it is also social in nature. You need to be willing to admit when something is your fault. If you don’t want to do this, you will probably become a politician.

I’ve been a responsible person all my life. Anytime my parents noticed a problem and asked my brothers and I who had done something bad, they always said that I was the one responsible. This was often not the truth. Older siblings can do that to you.

If they had broken a window or dumped the trash can or spilled something on the floor, I was the perfect scapegoat. They always had a ready excuse. Charles did it. I was two and four years younger than they were, and until I was about six, I often took the blame.

Then I found my voice. This is the problem of not wanting to be responsible for your own actions. Others have voices. In our world of technology, there is often a way to determine where a problem came from.

One of my coworkers liked to use my computer when I was out to lunch. One day, I returned to the office and was presented with an order that a customer said was incorrect. My boss instructed me to correct the problem, and I did. I knew I had not entered that order, even though the sheet she had in her hand noted the time, date, and terminal it had come from.

I kept that sheet in my desk drawer. The next day, when he and I were the only ones in the office, I laid it in front of him. I mentioned that the next time he made an error, I wanted him to admit it. He said it had come from my computer. I reminded him of when I went to lunch every day and walked away.

That never happened again because I logged out of my terminal when I walked away from it. His mistakes could not be denied when the only machine he could use was his own. He lasted about two more months.

Own up to your own problems. They will come back to bite you in the derriere at some point. You don’t know what that is? It is your butt. If you do not want it to be chewed, take responsibility for your own actions. Stop throwing others under the bus.

It is said that we should learn from our mistakes. I’ve learned a lot that way because I had to. I’ve been the one who has also learned from others’ wrongdoing. I don’t smoke because one of my brothers vomited the first time he took a drag. I don’t drink because friends in high school were expelled for being drunk in class.

Life is a learning experience. Use every lesson that is given to you to make you a better person. Take responsibility for your actions and words, and do not pass the buck to some unsuspecting victim. As the sign on President Truman’s desk said, “The buck stops here.” Take his advice, and life will be kinder to you in the long run.

January 1, 2026

A local radio personality asked people to call in with a word for the year. He felt like this was better than asking about resolutions. I agree. My problem is that I can’t choose one word for the entire year.

Peace, joy, love, kindness, and self-control immediately come to mind. They are things to pray for and strive for. Concentrating on these for just one year will not achieve lasting results. We must focus on them every day, week, and year.

I have a long list of words for different occasions that I will share this year as I think of them. Watch for my new category, words. I will post columns there to give us all additional information about things that will be beneficial to us and our world.

Let’s start with kindness. It is a simple word. A dictionary definition is the quality or state of being kind. Of a sympathetic or helpful nature is the meaning of kind. At least that is the one that relates to kindness. Do you see the problem?

We should all treat each other with kindness, but we disagree on exactly what that means. Let’s try a different approach. Think of a time when someone was not kind to you. That’s easy. You just thought of at least one or two incidents where someone was not kind to you.

Turnabout is fair play. Looking at those actions, consider times when you act like that to others. Do not tell me that you never do that. I know I have times when I am not kind. We are talking about improving ourselves over the next year. First, let’s try not to be unkind.

We can all consider each other as our equals and treat them as such. That is being kind. We are not all kind when we drive. Think about how you act toward other drivers. Some run red lights or stop signs. I have witnessed this. Many of us do not enjoy the roundabouts that we have now. Most have yield signs on all four streets.

Some of you say that you cannot yield to others because they will not yield to you. It does not hurt anyone if I fail to yield. Until I hit another car. That is not being kind. It is also not kind to jump out of your vehicle and scream and yell at another person that you hit. You know you were at fault, but to scare them, you try to make them believe they are responsible.

That will be our next word. I have noticed how many of us seem not to know what it means to take responsibility for our own actions. We will discuss that next time. Until then, I would like each of us to eliminate as much of our unkindness as we can and find ways to be kinder as often as possible. Let’s make our lives better, one word at a time

Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Walk With a Servant

Category: Words

Perfection

Where?

Anger

Listen

Belief

Where?

Responsible

Words