Serve by Design

We have a new baby in the church! His parents are so proud, and they cradle him in their arms with such care, as they introduce him throughout the Sunday morning crowd of friends. Several times now, Monique and I have gazed into his precious face with excited emotion. We are mesmerized by his sweet little features and the inquisitive look in his eyes. We have wondered what he is thinking about as he sees the many faces leaning forward to peer into his little face. We can’t help ourselves from speaking to him in “baby talk” with soft and higher pitched greetings! Family Prayer Image: vecteezy.com Babies bring celebration and new life to the church! They give us hope and the certainty of a blessed future in the next generations. When baby Jesus was presented in the Temple by Mary and Joseph, two mature adults, named Simeon and Anna, came up to bless Him with lofty words of praise. Simeon took the baby in his arms and exclaimed, “For my eyes have seen your salvation!” Anna also gave thank...

We recently had three grandsons for two nights and three days. Their parents and older sister were out of state visiting on a college tour. Although everyone lives nearby,   their busy schedules and ours as well don’t allow for as much one on one time with these guys that we all would like. Our “number one” in this family officially becomes a teenager on Friday of this week and he’s excited about that! His closest aged brother turned ten in January and their little brother is going to be eight in May. Adventure at the Pond! A Teenager's Homemade Crossbow! These are good boys who have had spiritual training since their birth. They are disciplined and becoming more independent these days. The family responsibility chart on their hall wall tells the story of accountability and partnership in household chores. They are polite and engaging when interacting with adults. Their parents are huggers and openly affectionate. It is not surprising that these brothers love, respect, and look out...

At the senior living facility where I serve as a chaplain, I have recently heard some mysterious sounds like birds chirping each time I have visited. I thought at first that the sound might have come from one of the safety alarms on the ceiling. The longer this strange phenomenon went on the more I became confused. Credit: shutterstock.com When I asked one of my “go-to guys” where that whistling chirping sound was coming from and if he could hear it, he said, “Oh yes, but I don’t always pay attention to it. That sound comes from Angel, one of our CNA’s, who’s here today for her shift!” I exclaimed, “How does she do that? It sounds so realistic!” My friend gave me his best deadpan response, “It’s a gift, I guess!” This week I got to see and hear this gifted and popular caregiver in action and up close. While Angel whistled her delightful chirping like a professional, I looked up from the table where I was chatting with three resident friends. Angel was leaning over the stair banister ...

Joseph D. Keppler December 9, 1929 - February 14, 2024 (I shared the following eulogy at my Dad's funeral, February 19, 2024).  I have so many wonderful memories from growing up with my parents. I say “growing up” because it became clear when I started grade school and heard one of my peers exclaim, “Your parents are so young!” And they were! Mom and Dad eloped on June 10, 1950, and had to go all the way to Corinth, Mississippi to get a justice of the peace who would marry a 16-year-old girl to a 20-year-old sailor, who after four years of active duty, was now in the Naval reserves! That sailor and his gal would become dad and mom, grandpa and grandma, to this great family. Mike, Grandpa, and Matt "A quick pic between oil changes!" I learned so much from dad who had married young, took on a family of four kiddos, and started his own business in those first fourteen years of marriage. Growing up in a family business taught me many lessons for sure! Watching dad and mom in ...

“I never want to miss an opportunity to express gratitude!” That statement became a caption that accompanied a picture of myself that was posted on social media the day after Thanksgiving this year. The occasion for the picture was a moment of reflection and prayer before the meal at my sister’s that day. I had read an article just a few days before about the need for specificity when expressing gratitude. "May I have your attention, please!" A surprising example was used in the article entitled, “Thank Outside the Box” by Jess Stillman, (Source: understandably.com, November 22, 2022). The article suggests that we need to be as specific in expressing our thanks as we would be in describing a good breakfast stack of pancakes! For example, we might tell someone about our experience and use words like “fresh golden pancakes drizzled with lovely, sweet, amber, Maple syrup.” I have prayed general prayers all my life. These characteristically have an airy and less than satisfying...

It’s a fact that a lot of what we do with family in the summer months involves food! If you were to track our gatherings, you would see that outdoor grills of every shape and size abound. It is a rite of passage that everyone from the youngest to the oldest become proficient in using these auxiliary cooking devices, especially, but not exclusively, the guys. It’s one way that the ladies get the guys out of the kitchen to make a mess they have to clean up! From H-E-B to the Grill! The outdoor grilling experience begins with a good product. When in Texas, our go-to store is the home grown and independently owned, H-E-B, founded in 1905 by the Howard E. Butt family. You can do the research on this grocery chain if you wish, but if you have lived in the Lone Star State any length of time, you know about the prolific H-E-B! ( The H-E-B Story ) While staying at Marc and Leslie's, we are conveniently in proximity to one of the companies’ flagship stores out in the Leander area. This 103,...

It was fun to take the celebration of our 50 th  Wedding Anniversary “on the road” last week. We had a somewhat understated, yet meaningful remembrance back home with just the two of us on the actual date of our anniversary, June 10 th . This involved a movie and a meal! But, for months now, we have been planning to take the celebration to another setting in July. We affectionately called this part of our anniversary celebration, “The ABQ Blitz!” One of our twin daughters and her family have lived in an Albuquerque suburb for 16 years now. Their residence became home base for this gathering. Melissa and Reece with their three children, Klay, Karter, and Klaire, and three dogs, Sophie, Oreo, and Mocha, were in their element as hostess and host to us all! Our other twin and her family of six and one dog, Groot, have been spending part of their summer in New Mexico for years now. We knew that Michelle and Dan along with Chloe, Danny, Charlie and Dawson had already planned to drive the...

Over the years, I have often said, “It was Monique’s idea to have a large family!” As she would explain it, this vision for family began to emerge when she was a little girl taking care of her many play baby dolls! Truth can now be told that after meeting and falling in love with her, I was totally unaware of her dream to build this family that now numbers twenty-one counting mom, dad, four children, spouses, and twelve grandchildren. I was naïve about how this vision would play out in our marriage and in the making of our home! I have told her, “All I ever wanted was you!” And she quickly responds, “All I ever wanted was you and all of them too!” We have been saying this to each for what will soon be fifty years this coming June! "The stockings are hung by the chimney with care!" I was thinking this week about the blessing of our four children. Our oldest has been involved in the politics of persuasion most of his life! He excelled in school, was a champion speller, knew all...

On July 1, 2018, I retired from active pastoral ministry. For 48 years, I was privileged to serve as a pastor or staff associate in eight different congregations in both Illinois and Texas. In these last years, I continue on occasion to officiate weddings and funerals for family and friends. I think part of the reason I am still called upon to serve in these ways is that I have considerable "history" under my "ministerial belt!" That is to say, I know the personal stories of family and friends. This enables me to bring a more intimate and familiar dimension to these kinds of services. Image credit: depositphotos.com During the last few months, I have conducted three funerals. Each of these services have had similar elements in them that enable family and friends to honor their loved one, process their grief and loss, and bring a witness to others of the realities of God's comfort and His promise of an afterlife.  After all these years, I have had many experience...

It always helps me to try to quantify or graphically measure what I'm thinking about. I guess this is because I am a visual person and need to diagram, conceptualize, or even try to sketch the thoughts I'm thinking in order to understand them. The other day in a small group setting, we were discussing how to grow in our capacity to love others, especially those who are different from us. I suggested that we first needed to identify the recipients of that love. Taking a marker in hand, I began drawing on the whiteboard several concentric circles like the ripples made from a pebble dropped into a body of water and then titled this simple image, "Quantifying Our Relationships!" Each circle became a way to specifically show the levels of our relationships in life. The inner core represented ourselves. Then going outward, we segmented other relations like our immediate family, relatives, close friends, next door neighbors, fellow workers, the many acquaintances we have...