Serve by Design

I’m not accustomed to seeing very many Mourning Doves in the springtime. Many hunters in our area like to harvest these bullet-fast birds for sport and food in September. I do know that it takes a good mess of dove’s breasts to make a delicious bread-dressing recipe! I have read and understand, though, that many of the eleven varieties of the dove species, who habitat in Illinois, do not migrate, but spend their winters in the Prairie State. In late April and early May of each year, doves begin building nests and mating in earnest. Mourning Doves receive their name from their low and soothing mating call that sounds like a lament or sorrowful song. Some have mistaken this sound for an owl! I looked out the kitchen window recently and saw one of these beautiful birds gracefully moving about our rock patio. It was pecking and foraging for small seeds. Ornithologists say that a dove eats up to twenty percent of their body weight daily! That’s incredible to me! The dove plays a prominent...

It’s been a long while since I have participated in a revival service, let alone three consecutive nights long! Our Methodist church had such a renewal experience this week. Personally, it was spiritually refreshing. We had altar calls at the end of the services where there was soul searching and confession of sin. There were also prayers of recommitment to Christ, intercession for healing (physically, spiritually, and relationally!), and genuine prayers for revival both in our church and throughout our city, country, and the world. Image: stock.adobe.com On the first night, we heard Bishop Jonathan Franklin, founding pastor of the Mt. Zion Apostolic Church, and president of the Springfield Ministerial Alliance. He brought a stirring message from the Great Commission in Acts 1:8 and Jesus’ teaching to the disciples at the scene of the pagan temple of Pan in Matthew 16:13-19. Bishop Franklin spoke like a prophet when he said, “Our nation needs prayer! We have evicted God from our nation...