Serve by Design

Last Sunday, Monique and I were guests in another church. I preached at a pastor friend’s retirement celebration service. We also attended a small group study for seniors before worship. It was a blessing to look around the table during that Sunday School class and see so many open Bibles and even a few digital tablets placed in front of those participants. While they used a denominational booklet as the curriculum, the Bible was still their primary focus during the lesson. "By your words I can see where I'm going." Clip Art: stock.adobe.com The Message: Psalm 119:105a I have heard two good sermons lately where the subject of the Bible has come up. One was at our church recently during the Iron Sharpens Iron conference. It looked to me that the crowd was at full capacity on the ground floor and balcony that accommodates well over a thousand people not counting the platform musicians. There were ninety churches represented, and forty-eight of those churches brought ten ...

Every time our kids come home to visit, they lament the day when they’ll have to clean out the basement after our passing. The irony is that much of that stuff is theirs! I must confess though that Monique and I have contributed to a lot of the stuff that’s stored down there! When we retired from school and church work, we each moved our offices downstairs into file cabinets, onto bookcases and packed away in storage boxes. We have about maxed out the available shelving and space. Self-Storage Image: uhaul.com Have you noticed the one-, two-, and three-story ground-level storage buildings that dot our communities? The “bread and butter” of U-Haul used to be in renting trailers and box trucks for moving our stuff from point A to point B. Today, I’m seeing more emphasis upon providing storage space in modern, secure, and even temperature-controlled   facilities. These buildings have multiple-sized pods for every storage need. Consumers are accumulating more and more stuff! They’ve ma...

On this past Father’s Day weekend, I treated myself to a new St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap. While celebrating with our son and his family, we went over to the nearby West County Mall. At Matt’s suggestion we dropped into the Rally House store to check out the gear. He was looking for a trendy t-shirt with the City Connect script-style logo. I was looking for a black cap with a red visor and traditional StL logo in contrasting red stitching. We were both happy with our purchases! After getting back to the house, Monique reminded me that I haven’t worn my other Card caps much this season. I reminded her that the Redbirds have been in the basement of  their division standings much of the time. She drove home her point with a concluding dig as I tried on the new cap, “I thought you were mad at them!” It’s true that I am tired of their underperforming! While I haven’t completely given up on them, I am weary with making excuses and complaining! I've got fan fatigue! I shouldn’t have t...

Our eldest son, Matt, works out regularly at a locally owned gym in west county St. Louis. It has a curious focal wall inside that features the company’s logo against a background of honeycombs. I had to look at a picture of the wall for quite a while before I caught on to the genius of it all. We all know bees are busy, industrious, and sometimes stinging creatures. But did you know how remarkable it is that they build waxy trays of hexagons into which they deposit and store their sweet and delicious honey? Photo credit: The Iron Hive www.theironhive.com Experienced beekeepers will tell you that those multiple thousands of honey-filled hexagon cells are sturdy, enduring, and do not waste any storage space. They are also able to sustain a lot of weight when the hive is at capacity. In addition, the smooth edges protect the larvae from sharp punctures. Overall, this design suits the bees perfectly. Which brings me back to why this logo and background are perfect for a setting promoting ...

I was asked yesterday by my son-in-law, Reece, to help get one of our grandsons to an after-school appointment at the orthodontist. We are out in New Mexico for a few days visiting family and friends.  Reece was already busy picking up his other son and needed to get home to complete his workday. I have forgotten how stressed busy young families are with their many commitments. Just the coming and going required to shuttle their students to school and extracurricular activities is demanding enough.  I love partnering opportunities like these. It’s more than lending practical support, but also gives me time for a sustained, one-on-one conversation with another beloved grandson that we only see a couple times out of the year! Klay At Play! 😏 As we arrived for the adjustment to Klay’s braces and checked in, I was immediately impressed with the waiting area for this orthodontal practice. The receptionist was smiling and kind. The minimalist approach to the décor was modern with j...

In a recent episode of Wheel of Fortune , a curious comment was made about fear. On this occasion, the contestant in control of “the wheel” had landed on the “express train” wedge. This high energy moment doesn’t require any further spinning. Pat Sajak, the host, always begins with the question, “Do you want to do this?” and with an affirmative response, the action begins! Credit: Dawin Rizzo, unspash.com We all watched with anticipation as the excited contestant began to carefully choose one consonant after another in his methodical effort to complete the puzzle. It became obvious that the man had purposefully slowed his rate of selection to avoid any mistakes, but his deliberate and painful pace had everyone else on an emotional edge! Finally, after what seemed to be several tortuous moments punctuated with thoughtful pauses, the prize puzzle was solved. The board was complete with the words “sea urchins and exotic fish.” This lucky man had won a trip to a Caribbean destination! A ...

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...

Monique’s sixty-something first cousin, Sylvain, is an avid and experienced skydiver. He loves the sport and sometimes sends us a photograph of one of his more spectacular dives. These pics make us shudder with fear and amazement! He is handsome, still single, and ever the beloved son of his French mother. We have asked many times, why do you do this? And he usually just laughs with delight! I think he would answer if he chose to, “I just love the daring and freedom of it all!” 10,000 feet and descending! Occasionally, I like to watch Indy Grand Prix car races where the drivers skillfully maneuver around tight turns and down straightaways of street or road courses at speeds exceeding 200 mph! I admit that there is something intriguing about speed. I am often tempted during vacation time  to “put the pedal to the metal” in the wide-open spaces of Texas or New Mexico where the official speed limits are quite generous! Just so you know, while growing up in my dad's auto repair shop, I...

I recently had another scheduled procedure where they have to put you out and into a twilight sleep condition. I have been in similar states throughout the years for an appendectomy and joint replacement surgery as well as during treatments for cancer. There is always a risk in putting you in such a condition, but I have learned that I must trust my doctor, anesthesiologist, and others who assist them if I am to receive the necessary health procedures. Image Credit: unsplash.com I learned years ago as an eleven-year-old boy how to trust God for salvation and to deal with my sin condition. Trust is one of the most essential exercises of a believer. In the Bible, faith is spoken of repeatedly as the key in our relationship with the Lord, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him, must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6 NIV ). We are living in a day of skepticism, doubt and fear. We are s...

Last week, we received a curious incentive from a not-for-profit that we have given a donation to on occasion. Monique immediately brought this shirt pocket-sized tool to me to see if I could determine what it was and in what way it could be useful. I held the item in my hand and studied it without any success. I had never seen anything like it! Handy Dandy Pocket Tools! Since it came with a modest plastic sheath around it, I opened the protective covering to see if there was a clue inside. I found a very thin white card with a list of eleven items typed in red ink under the heading, “Multipurpose Pocket Survival Tool.”   Some of the uses for this singular tool included: can opener, knife edge, screwdriver, butterfly wrench, saw blade and a “Direction Ancillary Indicator!” I had to go to YouTube in order to decipher this feature. Because this “credit card-like tool” is magnetized, it can also function as a water compass! Why do we use such big words for something this simple?! As...

In these days, we are back to flying after being “grounded” for nearly 18 months by the Covid-19 Pandemic! It’s a good feeling to be able to re-connect with our family in New Mexico and Texas this summer. Speaking of being grounded… we even took our first leg of the flight west from St. Louis to Dallas on a brand new Boeing 737 Super Max 800 series. This is the airplane that had been grounded for nearly two years after two fatal crashes that were caused by a faulty flight control system. I did not know what specific plane we were on until we were pushing back from the gate and I looked forward at the flight information brochure in the seatback pocket! Although, thankfully, this turned out to be a non-event for us, I will leave the specifics of this story for another time!  Image Credit: clipart-library.com Most commercial airplanes fly to an altitude of about 35,000 feet. In recent days, the term “Edge of Space” has become descriptive of the feat accomplished by Richard Branson, th...

Our Internet and cable service was interrupted three and a half hours recently from about 6:20 to 9:40 p.m. By my recollection, this degree of service interruption has never happened in the thirty years we have been with this small rural service provider! I called the company’s customer service line the next morning to inquire as to the reason for this failure of service. The lady politely said that it was due to someone outside of the company accidentally cutting a major fiber optic cable. She told me that it took the cable company all those hours to restore the service.  I explained that while we were retired and this was a minor inconvenience to us, I wondered how those with school aged children dealt with their assignments! I would learn later that our granddaughter did have an assignment due that evening and had to go to her other grandparents in Springfield to get it completed and sent to her teacher on time!  It amused me to hear what the customer service lady did. She ...

After years of ongoing substituting at her favorite neighborhood school, Mimi will be sitting out this school year awaiting a much needed vaccine. T he "Number One Substitute Teacher" of our family has been sidelined due to precautions over pre-existing conditions and being in a higher risk age-group. Yet, we still have three active teachers in our family fully engaged in their academic trenches. These educators are leading their classes by remote. Remote Learning Fox Valley School District School definitely has a different look during this Covid-19 Pandemic! It has a different language describing it, too! The other evening, I opened up the note's application on my phone in order to record some of the words our teacher daughter was using as she shared about her day with her mother. I couldn't believe how strange it sounded to hear her speaking the "language of Covid."  Within a couple of minutes of conversation, these tech-specific words and phrases swiftly ...

Our church is getting ready to begin a new season of leader enlistment and development. We plan once again this spring to conduct a workshop called Design 1.2.3. This involves matching the gifts of potential leaders with a place of meaningful service. Letters are sent out to several individuals that the Nominating Team may consider new to the church, on the fringe of involvement, or otherwise underutilized. In many instances, these individuals are ready and even eager to serve the church in some capacity, but have not been asked and trained for service. Design 1.2.3. is simply the first step in the process of ministry deployment. In the invitation letter to these potential servant leaders or mentees, we indicate what we plan to accomplish during a couple of hours on a selected Saturday morning. In the first hour, we give out a self-scoring gift inventory that identifies what the individual is interested in as well as any demonstrated skills that could match with a particular area of ...