Serve by Design

These days, I am mourning the loss of another good friend, Pastor Joel Newton, who passed this week. The older I get, this is happening more frequently! Joel and I have known each other for more than thirty years. We met at a Bible conference that our church hosted just a few months after I returned to Illinois in the early nineties. I was immediately blessed by his quiet, approachable, and Southern gentleman temperament. He was raised in Alabama and loved to support his favorite team! “Roll Tide!” Joel and Cheryl's Retirement Celebration Joel would later be called to pastor one of our strongest churches in Peoria. He and I continued to make time for frequent lunch meetings at our half-way point in Lincoln. I considered our friendship to be a peer mentoring relationship although I think he regarded his older pastor-brother in Christ as “seasoned” enough to offer occasional mentoring suggestions. We formalized this relationship during the season when Joel undertook graduate studies ...

Our beloved nine-year-old granddaughter Eloise and her school friend, Evelyn (Evie) enjoy their daily interactions with each other at school. Evie asked Eloise recently, “Do you think we’ll still be friends when we get old?” And Eloise enthusiastically responded, “Of course!” When Matt shared this with me, I thought, how sweet! I then asked him, “Well, what did you say to her?” He played the role of a “Daddy Downer” and said, “Honey, you shouldn’t have fibbed to her! You don’t know the future!” He reasoned, as an adult of experience, that we should be careful not to over promise because many friendships don’t last forever! Friends: Ellie and Evie Image credit: clipartmax.com One of my greatest blessings has been to keep up with friends from years back. And… one of my greatest disappointments has been the inability to keep up with all my friends!  Out of hundreds of relationships, I have only been able to keep current with a few of them. Occasionally, I will drop a Christmas, birth...