Serve by Design

We have a new baby in the church! His parents are so proud, and they cradle him in their arms with such care, as they introduce him throughout the Sunday morning crowd of friends. Several times now, Monique and I have gazed into his precious face with excited emotion. We are mesmerized by his sweet little features and the inquisitive look in his eyes. We have wondered what he is thinking about as he sees the many faces leaning forward to peer into his little face. We can’t help ourselves from speaking to him in “baby talk” with soft and higher pitched greetings! Family Prayer Image: vecteezy.com Babies bring celebration and new life to the church! They give us hope and the certainty of a blessed future in the next generations. When baby Jesus was presented in the Temple by Mary and Joseph, two mature adults, named Simeon and Anna, came up to bless Him with lofty words of praise. Simeon took the baby in his arms and exclaimed, “For my eyes have seen your salvation!” Anna also gave thank...

With temperatures still in the nineties during mid-September, the extremes have those of us in central Illinois asking, “How do we beat the heat?”  The conventional answers include staying inside (if you have air conditioning), taking breaks in shady areas, seeking out a shelter like a library or other public buildings, using fans to move the air, keeping hydrated, and similar strategies. Electronic WBGT Meter Creator: SrA Willard E. Grande II We are fairly “weather wise” in keeping up through our local news station. It does a great job of informing us about trending weather conditions related to the temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation. I noticed this late summer, as high school football athletes were preparing for the fall season, that the sports staff at the station added additional stories about a metric that is being used to measure heat stress. This device is known by its acronym – WBGT which stands for “wet-bulb globe temperature.” Now, that’s a mouthful!...

I don’t know if this frustrated employee meant it as a prayer, but I heard her say, “Lord, have mercy” while I waited at the slightly cracked open window. My reply was, “The Lord will answer a prayer like that!” She looked up at me a little surprised and embarrassed that I had overheard her self-talk. This lady, who takes my early morning orders at the local fast-food drive through, has complained before about her headset. She often apologizes to me that the device doesn’t always alert her to customers waiting at the ordering station. "I Swan!" credit: pngtree.com How do you express your frustrations? What is your “go-to saying” for these times? I had a beloved Texas friend, who served as secretary for our church. She would exclaim, “I swan!” when she was perplexed. The origin of this south wide phrase may simply be Baptist-speak for “I swear!” or I do declare!” I often heard one of my mentoring leaders in the church draw out this exclamation, “Geeeesh!” when he was frustrate...