Serve by Design

Recently, I visited one of our members in the hospital. She had just received a sobering diagnosis. I had no sooner entered the room than she shared what the doctor had told her. I had not met her before, but I think she had recognized me as the care pastor from the church before I had the chance to introduce myself. Image Credit: istock.com Although I have been in previous situations like this many times during the years of my pastoral ministry, it is still difficult to hear such a serious diagnosis. It gave me pause as I observed the pleasant expression on her face. I was gathering my thoughts just as one of the patient’s family came into the room from out of town. I reintroduced myself as he put some personal items down on a nearby couch. Then, as he made his way over to the loved one’s bedside, he spontaneously asked this question, “Are we going to pray?” I was caught off guard by his prompting, but immediately responded as I put my hat, gloves, and phone down on a chair, “Sure!...

We have one of the best postmasters at our local post office! When we got our PO Box about a year after moving back to Illinois, we were told, "Now be sure to notify everyone that you have a new address. Request that they no longer send mail to you at your physical address." Off the record though, we were all but assured that even if family, friends and businesses sent our mail to the street address, we would continue to receive our mail because the postmaster and other postal employees knew almost every resident of our small community by name! And that has continued to be the case even though Sherman has nearly doubled in size since we first purchased our home nearly thirty years ago. Even Postal Workers Get Frustrated! Since we are on a first name basis with our postmaster, it makes going to get our mail an extra enjoyable experience each day. The Post Office has become another one of our gathering spaces for catching up with friends. That's what makes this interchange ...