Serve by Design

“Dad, you know how a child’s voice can carry!” That’s how Matt started his recap of last week’s early morning flight from a recent work assignment at the D.C. office. He continued to relate how something humorous had occurred on the connecting flight from Atlanta to home. The plane had just reached its optimum elevation, and the attendants were beginning to ask the passengers about their preferences for drinks and snacks. Iconic PB&J Sandwich! Credit: AdobeStock When I used to fly recreationally, I remember the choices for snacks to be limited to a single packet of peanuts or pretzels! According to their website, Delta Airlines offers four choices with fancy names: Lotus Biscoff cookies, MadeGood Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bars, SunChips Garden Salsa, and Cheez-It Original Baked Snack Crackers.  Matt estimated that the little person, with a big voice, was about three or four years old. After the flight attendant engaged her about the multiple snack choices, s...

A popular idiom in our day is for an individual to be so focused on his or her sport, creative endeavor, or work engagement, that it is observed by others that they are “in the zone!” In these early days of the baseball season, my favorite team has some exciting young players named Church, Wetherholt, Winn, and Jordan who are achieving this seemingly effortless state of hitting and fielding at such a competitive level that these guys are certainly performing “in the zone!” Focused! In the Zone! Image: stock.adobe.com Athletes aren’t the only ones who “get in the zone” of accomplishment. Our church has recently been celebrating a dozen or so young people who have just completed sixteen weeks of instruction in their confirmation class. The Sunday Bible study class, Monique and I attend, got to partner in their efforts the other evening by serving their pre-instruction pizza and salad meal. These students were in their next to last session and the topic of the evening was spiritual gift...

Our granddaughter, Eloise, has a beautiful and fun-loving sister, Charlotte, whom she adores! Charlotte is eight years old and prefers to go by the shortened version of her name, Char. She is the youngest child of her family and has lots of energy and cuteness! We have seen her in action at gymnastics demonstrations. I can personally attest to Char’s athleticism. She can sprint about “faster than a jackrabbit” in sandals and then kick them off and upward with unusual ease and force! 😊 "A child shall lead them" Char is a cheerleader for the happiness of others. At the end of the school year and the beginning of June, she went to work on her chalkboard easel. She creatively sketched a message with images that embrace the summer season. Then she carried the message board out to the sidewalk to encourage all those passing by her house. Sometimes, you’ll see a lemonade stand in front of a house, but this time, it was just a simple and positive message: “Happy June! Happy Summer! ...

I love this time of the year! It is "peach season" in Illinois! I grew up with peaches from Centralia and Kell. Each August, Mom would turn these into cobblers, jars of freezer jam, and then would save back sliced peaches for the morning cereal, afternoon snacks and to accent bowls of homemade ice-cream while we listened to baseball games on the radio! I am in "peach heaven" this time of year! I'm thinking and dreaming peaches! Why, I'm even punctuating the comments of family and friends with sayings like, "That's peachy!" and even throwing in the superlative for emphasis on occasions, "That's peachy keen!" Yes, it's true, I'm crazy about the peach whatever the variety: yellow, white, freestone or cling! It is one of my favorite fruit! Oh! For the Love of Peach! 😋   The family "love affair" with peaches continued during our fifteen-year sojourn in Texas. Our middle son was born in the "Peach Capital of Texa...