Christmas 2017

Christmas is a fascinating time of year. Think about how it was in Galilee and Judea during the days of Herod the “butcher King” and Caesar Augustus, who proclaimed a census to take place over the Roman Empire.

Mary, young girl who is barely child-bearing age is promised to her legal husband, Joseph, but not permitted to have an intimate relationship until he had been approved by the family of Mary and probably Mary, herself.

Mary appears to be in a direct line of impressive forebears, as well as Joseph. The messiah, the anointed one with the anointing of God, was prophetically promised to be in the line of the great King David. Surely this would be no problem since Joseph was in the direct line of King David. Yet, the circumstances of the birth of Jesus, the long sought messiah of Israel, were otherwise.

Joseph honored God and had a heart open to the things of God. He appeared to have a heart of mercy. When he found that his betrothed wife was pregnant, he surely was broken-hearted at first, yet did not want to see his seemingly “unfaithful” wife stoned. So, he devised a plan to quietly divorce her.

The girl, Mary, had encountered Gabriel, an archangel of God, who told her she was going to have a son who would deliver his people and be the redeemer of mankind. There are enough verified instances of angels even in our modern day experiences to no longer doubt the scripture about the veracity of angels. They are God’s messengers.

Mary readily accepted the angel’s pronouncement and tells him she is honored to be the Lord’s handmaiden. She probably didn’t understand all he meant when he told her she would conceive, not through Joseph or any other man, but that the Spirit of God would impregnate her. However it is not hard for us to believe that she knew the moment it happened.

She followed the lead of the angel and goes into the hill country to check if he was correct that her aging cousin, Elizabeth, was already in her sixth month of pregnancy with the one who would become John, the baptizer. Perhaps Mary wanted to make sure she wasn’t going crazy. Sometimes we can believe something for the moment and question it in the distance of time.

As it turns out, the moment she crosses Elizabeth’s threshold the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy in the presence of the seed of God in Mary’s womb. Elizabeth gives her famous and awesome prophetic word concerning Jesus. Mary magnifies the Lord and her spirit rejoices in God her Savior.

She seemed to understand that she was the one who would be called blessed, by becoming the mother of the Messiah, who would have all the DNA necessary for a man, except there would be no necessary chromosomes signifying a human father. Instead, he would be born of a virgin by the supernatural touch of our Loving Heavenly Father through the Holy Spirit. The one to be born would be Emanuel, God with us, Redeemer of Mankind and his name would be Jesus, Savior.

When you celebrate Christmas or even Hanukah this year, realize that you are celebrating the true Light of the world. The One who’s light never goes out. The one who promises that the darkness which seems at time overwhelming at all its levels of evil intent will never put out the Light of God. The prime factor of light is that in it, there is an absence of the “dark side”.

The Light of the world is still Jesus, the Creator who became a child with the blood of the Loving Heavenly Father; who came to die for the entire world’s sinful iniquity and to redeem mankind and make a covenant as a man with God Almighty in our behalf. Then he died and rose from the dead, conquering death itself.

That’s the God/man who is no longer a babe in a manger and who we celebrate on the fascinating day called Christmas. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah Light!

We Get Results!

As report cards are delivered and end of the quarter approaches, remember to not get discouraged with your child's current results! We are here to help you and there's still time to get those grades up before the end of the school year! We Get Results! 


Many years ago, a parent asked the school principal why after several years in special school programs, her child made no progress and in some ways regressed. Then she said, “I finally took my child to Stilwell’s Learning Center and he has progressed several grade levels this past year.” The principal remarked, “Well, they do get results!”

Since that time, our byword or branding has been We Get Results! Here are some of the reasons I believe we get lasting results:

1. No matter whether a student is diagnosed or suffers from ADHD, Dyslexia, Learning Disabilities, spelling, poor reading accuracy, poor reading comprehension, poor grades, poor vocabulary or learning frustration of any kind, we believe every student can learn to excel. We don’t put roadblocks of impossibilities in their way. Dyslexic students have completely conquered dyslexia. ADHD does not have to remain a problem and new focusing skills develop. The characteristics of different types of Autism have decreased and the student has begins to excel.

2. We diagnose for causes rather than just symptoms.

3. Many children have been “dumbed down” by harmful medications given for non-diagnosed or misdiagnosed ADHD.  It appears much of the medication often destroys brain cells and takes the natural curiosity, ingenuity and energy away from those students. Parents complain that their child is no longer the pleasant creative person he/she used to be. The grades might improve, but usually the root cause of learning problems still emerge the next year to be a problem all over again. Omega 3 supplementation is just one example we suggest parents investigate. Sometimes students seem to change overnight with such natural supplementation. Our learning programs also help eliminate dyslexia and ADHD and many other kinds of problems.

4. Encouragement is one of the key elements of our tutoring methods. Encourage, Encourage, Encourage. 

5. To get really good results, we also use a method call Auditory Visual Impression Pairing of information. Every 2-3 minutes the student works on a completely separate exercise in reading or math, increasing their focusing skills while impressing the brain to retain the information that has been sealed by both auditory and visual input and application.

These are just a few reasons we get solid results with children, teens and adults. With our specialized type of instruction, students receive, lock-in, and retain information as well as build logical connections which help restore even damaged areas in the brain. 

Encouragement and Persistence

Over the years I have witnessed the importance of both encouragement and persistence.

When I was a teenager, I was given the task of building an addition onto a home. The wealthy business man came home on the weekends and instructed me for the work week ahead. It was to be an adobe house with a tile roof and decorative tiles on the steps and entry area.

In order to even start on the project, I had to dig out a very tall and mature palm tree. I must have worked on that tree with my pick and shovel for hours, when the lady of the house came out with some much needed lemonade in the 110 degree sun. She told me I needed to rest and drink the lemonade. Actually, I had just heard a voice for the 3^rd time call my name. It wasn’t her. I had just realized it was somehow God speaking to me to get out of the sun for awhile when she came with the lemonade. I was determined to get that tree loose and out, but encouragement was what I really needed to be refreshed, both mentally and physically. The home was later written up in a magazine as “an island in the sky” with a Latin beauty to it.

I remember once, helping a 2^nd grade girl with penmanship and sound-blending words. She had many learning difficulties and found writing and following instructions very difficult. As we do with all of our students, I kept encouraging her and showing her how to form the letters correctly and blending the sounds of the words without stopping her voice. After awhile she began to succeed. A glow came over her when she realized she had finally spelled the words correctly by sounding them out and writing them correctly. It was only her second day at Stilwell's Learning Center and she was already feeling more confident.

Another time, while I was in the grocery store, a parent of a former student proudly told me her son was now taking pre-med courses at the university. This student had also needed much encouragement and training in persistence. In turn, her comments encouraged me that I had been a help in preparing him for his life goal to be a doctor.

If you are in a position to encourage a child, a young person or even an adult, just think how it might influence him/her. You are an important person in the life of that person. Don’t underestimate the power of encouragement to mold a spirit of persistence into someone in need!

"Be like a postage stamp. Stick to it until you get there." Harvey Mackay