Serve by Design

Many of us are fascinated with roadrunners. They are an entertaining species of the cuckoo family of birds. I have seen them in New Mexico and Texas. Of course, my first encounter was on television during the Saturday morning cartoons of my childhood. Who could forget all the ridiculously funny exploits and repeatedly failed attempts of Wile E. Coyote to capture Road Runner? These Loony Tunes cartoon characters were created by Chuck Jones for Warner Brothers in 1949. I can still hear Road Runners’ signature and irritating car horn sound tormenting Coyote with a rapid-fire “Beep! Beep!” as he speeds away in each episode! On the Prowl in Texas! A roadrunner is capable of limited flight. I have seen these birds in action and to me it looks more like a leap or hop than actual flying though. Most of their movement is usually on the ground running where they can scoot along at speeds of 15-20 mph. Their food source includes insects, lizards, snakes, and small mammals. Using their pointed bea...

Monique picked up a brand name package of Swiss cheese recently. I immediately reacted, “Hey! That’s just like we bought when I was a kid!” It was labeled as a full slice, and I remembered how I would eat one of those every day for my after-school snack. In recent years, we have become accustomed to non-brand products that package only half slices. I had naively reasoned that the “economy slice” was following a more health-conscious approach. It is true that I don’t need the additional calories anyway!😉  Big Slice? What about the holes?! However, I discovered that the enclosed slices were not what a remembered from my childhood. These were a lot closer to half slices and contained more than the average number of holes in them! I counted seven or more “cheese vacancies” (holes!) in most slices. I asked, “What is this?” and a thought came to me that this might be an example of Shrinkflation! This new word has been used to describe how both packing and product have been downsized. Th...

I am not a gardener, but I do enjoy putting out a few plants in a raised box each season. On the day after Mother’s Day, I set out three tomato plants, a Chile and a jalapeno pepper, along with a small watermelon and squash plant. I wasn’t expecting much, but I love to see things grow. Looking back over these past three months of uneven precipitation, I have been surprised with the fruit that has been harvested from six of the seven of these humble little plants! While the zucchini did not fare so well, the others have produced beyond my expectation! Tomatoes and Peppers Agriculture metaphors are often used in the writings of Scripture. Jesus regularly drew out teaching points from the everyday work of those who tilled the soil in His first century setting. Can you imagine how engaging and easy the style of the Lord was as He communicated with the common people of His day? He would begin a parabolic truth with the attention getting phrase, “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed…...

 I was watching a funny video about some "crying" Billy Goats on a social media site this week. "Maaah! Maaah!" Their unusually loud bleating was both humorous and eerily unsettling as well. This reminded me of an incident involving our youngest son about forty years ago. I estimate that Marc was about two years old at the time. He was in his stroller at the Fort Worth petting zoo when all at once we heard him crying out in panic while trying to get out of his constraints.  "Watch out for the Billy Goat!" Photo credit: Sergio Souza, unspash.com You know how you will hear something, but can't quite put it all together. Well, I had heard a surprising sound seconds early but was not focused on Marc sitting behind me. It was the sound of tearing and crunching. As I looked back at Marc, I saw the reason for his distress. A small kid goat at his eye level was chomping on the remains of a warning label he had quickly snatched from the seat back of the strolle...