Serve by Design

Our eldest son, Matt, is taking a course with policy wonks from near and far. He is engaged in a program of professional development for several weeks this fall under the tutelage of a notable east coast institution of learning. He is loving it! It has been over twenty years since he has taken any advanced studies. The whole experience is demanding in its instruction, reading and class assignments. There is both a collegiality and competitive spirit among his study group as they work together on policy issues from various levels of government, educational and civic concerns. Don't Sweat God's Redirects! Recently, one of his group members offered a bit of advice as they were establishing norms for how they will relate to one another during group time. She said that, in her experience, when a group discussion was holding up the work, they needed to complete during their limited time together, they invoked the acronym – E.L.M.O. As current group members looked at each other puzzle...

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 ...