Serve by Design

I seldom play golf anymore. I used to enjoy getting out on the links with friends. But truth is, I am terrible at the sport! I tend to swing a club like I would a baseball bat. That is not the best way to address a golf ball! I couldn’t play competitive golf because I shank the ball across the whole course and into the rough, bunkers, and any nearby fairways when available! No one can compensate for that much bad technique! I’m tired of yelling, “Fore!” 😊 Visual Credit: NBC News My sorry golf game depends on copious mulligans! These are the extra strokes or “do-overs” allowed by gracious friends who are anxious to move the game along. There are types of mulligans or second chances in many sports outside of golf. Tennis has the second serve after a fault. You can throw a bowling ball a second time to knock down the remaining pins. In basketball, there is the one and one at the foul line, and  you have another chance after a false start  in a competitive swim or track meet when...

After all these years, I am still filled with joy and feel a childlike giddiness when I see one of God’s colorful “bows” arcing across the sky. I can’t count how many times I have invited family and friends to come to the window or step outside to see the unfolding drama in God’s message of hope in a rainbow arcing across the sky! God's Handiwork! Our son recently sent me a picture that perfectly captures God’s creative handwork in a beautiful rainbow. As is typical, a thunderstorm and downpour drenched his neighborhood. He and his daughter had stepped out the front door to survey for any wind damage. Looking up, they beheld the stunning perfection of dazingly colors in layers of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Many of us have heard about the science of rainbows. Simply stated, they develop as light from the sun is refracted through the water droplets after a rain. Mathematicians add that rainbows are all about geometry. They occur when the sun is low in the...

“You have been summoned.” Many of us would feel a little unsettled to receive such a notice! That’s what Monique felt recently when she received her juror questionnaire. She wondered immediately, “How did they get my name?” Without doing my homework, I quickly answered, “From your voter registration.” That would end up being a partial answer. In Illinois, potential jurors are randomly selected from a master list of those holding a voter registration card, a driver’s license, or an ID card. When jurors have been qualified by the jury commissioners, then they are randomly selected to receive a juror summons. Image: istockphoto.com iStock Credit: bubaone Monique did everything she could to explain her situation on the initial questionnaire she received. She mentioned that she is a regular (and to listen to her principal, an indispensable!) substitute teacher, unfamiliar with the Sangamon Court House complex, and that she gets a little anxious in new settings. Evidently, the jury commissio...

The idea of spiritual renewal has been on the minds of many believers in the wake of the recent outbreak of revival on the campus of Asbury University that began February 8th. The Asbury outpouring is still reverberating throughout the community and beyond after two weeks of non-stop prayer meetings that started in an after-chapel prayer service and spontaneously continued on. Photo credit: pixabay.com Driven by social media posts and live streams, estimates are that some 50,000 individuals descended upon the college campus and Willmore, Kentucky, with a population   of only 6,000 residents! Students came from more than 260 colleges and universities to pray alongside those on the Asbury campus. Many of those arriving on the scene were hungry to see what God was doing in that setting and hoping it would be replicated in their lives, churches, and communities. I had "a taste of revival" at the Second Baptist Church of Marion, Illinois in 1972. I was serving on staff as a summ...

I got a little ahead of myself recently. Unlike the guy who exclaimed, “I’m so far behind, I think I’m ahead!” I actually was ahead of the schedule for this particular piece. I was posting a blog that I had forgotten couldn’t be published because it contained time-sensitive information. This meant that I had to do something I rarely do. I had to “delete the post” or otherwise take it down for the time being. I plan to re-publish it in about a week when the information can be shared with everyone. I’m sure I have piqued your curiosity. Of course this isn’t anything juicy or gossipy in substance, but it is something I am passionate about and can’t wait to share it with you! Actually, a handful of friends had already commented on this premature post through social media. They saw it before I could remove it. The rest of you will have to wait a while longer! Twitter has a “delete tweet” button that removes postings on its site. Facebook allows users to share, edit, archive, turn off no...

Photograph courtesy of Paramount Pictures Many of you will remember the beloved uncle who partnered with Jimmy Stewart’s character in the Christmas favorite, It’s a Wonderful Life. Uncle Billy was absent-minded and habitually wrapped a "reminder string" around his finger so he wouldn’t forget things. There is that pitiful exchange between the uncle and his nephew George Bailey. After a costly lapse in judgement in which $8,000 falls into the villainous Potter's hands, George, fearing the bank examiner's reprisals, called Uncle Billy, “A silly, stupid old fool!" Indeed, it was a sad occasion for the Bailey Building and Loan at the cusp of the Great Depression when that amount of money in today's dollars would exceed $114,000 in value. This was for me an unforgettable (and I use that word carefully) confrontation by the two characters in the film. I had an Uncle Billy moment last week. One that I am still embarrassed about. I absentmindedly left my bank ...

I was pretty unruly the last weeks leading up to my retirement. In dealing with the loose ends and trying to find an acceptable closure to over 26 years of ministry, I was stressed and disagreeable at times. I was getting into trouble by saying some harsh things to family and friends and finding myself needing to ask for forgiveness. When have you recently asked, “Please, forgive me?” Over the years, I have had to “walk back” several comments that were hurtful. Sometimes I tried unsuccessfully to make excuses by what I had meant, but when something mean comes out of the mouth, something mean must be in the heart. No amount of excuse-making will work toward healing in these situations. Rather, it’s time to admit wrongdoing and ask for forgiveness. You would think that as time goes on a maturing Christian should be growing past some of these careless words and actions, but it seems that the devil never gives up working to trip us up! While patience may be one of the more important of...