Serve by Design

I have often written about the impact of ideation on one of my favorite beverages – Dr Pepper! It wasn’t too long ago that I was snookered into buying Dr Pepper: Dark Berry Zero Sugar! I hated it and couldn’t give it away! This new attempt at ideation is another one I will be quickly sending off to the idea-garbage heap! This latest one was inspired by a TikTok campaign aided by the likes of Sonic Drive-In’s who are adding dill pickles to the sacred Dr Pepper formula! This is just wrong! What is this world coming to?? Static Media: shutterstock.getty.com The slogan “new and improved” may be the motto for product ideation, but I vigorously resist any attempts to cater to a sour-pickle-cult-following of social media “noodle heads” who want to mess with my Dr Pepper! Surely there are better ways to generate new ideas and at the same time protect the integrity of a product without going crazy! Now, I have no problem with ideation when it comes to Blue Bell Ice Cream choosing to add a new...

I’m sure that health-care professionals have done extensive analysis about self-talk. If not, they should! I know a few jokes that have evolved from such mumblings. One of my favorites starts by asking,   “Do you believe in the hereafter?” This is a question many of us ask in our daily and episodic forgetfulness. We will wander (and wonder!) room to room throughout the house asking ourselves, “What am I here after?” 😊 "Shhhh!!" Image: adobe.stock.com We also have another type of self-talk these days of our “golden years!” “Television Talk!” We do it during news programs as we boldly interject, “I can’t believe he said that!” And we do it during sport’s programs as we shout out, “It’s a free-throw! And they still can’t make it! Don’t they know? It’s free!!” At our house, we see this derivative of self-talk even more during game shows! There are some sacred half-hours during mid-afternoon and early evening at our house! It’s a time when everything stops, and everyone focuses...

Wow! What a year this has been for us! In the fall, we experienced a dazzling annular “ring of fire” solar eclipse during our October 2023 visit with family in New Mexico. Next, and about a month ago, we marveled at a near total solar eclipse here in central Illinois! It was another feeling of déjà vu for us! And to cap it off, this week, we (and millions of others in all fifty states!) were treated once again to another spectacular light show – the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. What color and beauty! This latest show has been more memorable because it has extended into a week-long nightly astronomical pageant. Locally taken photograph: J. Goss I am not a scientist, but I do wonder at times how those in this important field of study understand these “sky shows.” A cursory reading around the news coverage assures me that the finest minds have no problem describing this phenomenon in exacting detail. They speak of “solar flares and storms,” “chemical interactions with earth’s magne...

Once a year, I am a Kentucky Derby fan! When I was a boy, I was fascinated by the stories my great uncle talk ed about regarding his frequent trips to the horse racing track at Cahokia Downs in St. Clair County. I was never allowed to be such an enthusiast! We had some compulsive behaviors in our family and Mother did not believe in gambling of any kind. However, I do get excited about the hype surrounding the annual “Run for the Roses!” It may only be a momentary interest, but I try not to miss the annual television coverage at Louisville’s Churchill Downs. adobe.stock.com There was nothing quite like the drama of this year’s epic photo finish! One of the most prized, beautiful, and spirited three-year-old Thoroughbreds, Mystik Dan, won the race around the mile and a quarter oval in a breakneck 2.03.43 minutes of time and his owners claimed the 3.1-million-dollar purse! It was exciting to see Sierra Leone and Forever Young, the second and third place horses, compete side by side in th...

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...

One of our granddaughter’s friends at Pathfinder Church, serves once a month, like many of her peers, on Sunday mornings in a first-second grade Bible class as an assistant. Recently, Matt, who volunteers as a helper with attendance in Eloise’s department, saw this pre-teen rushing down a long hallway to catch up to the others before worship. She was out of breath from covering half a football field distance. Matt inquired about her hurried pace and the girl answered, “I’m running late because an older person wanted to talk to me!” And Matt surmised that she meant someone closer to his late-forties age range! We laugh because we say that age is relative, until it isn’t, and becomes personal!😉 Credit: shutterstock.com Common themes that arise all too often in my visits to seniors residing in independent and assisted living facilities are the matters of loneliness and isolation. Many middle-aged adult caregivers are stressed by their busy lives and hectic schedules. They are trying to m...

When I was a boy, I spent my summers building forts in a locust tree grove. The setting was just across the street from where I lived on an uncleared vacant lot. I never knew or even thought about who owned the property, but I have a feeling that the lot owner was grateful for the industriousness of the neighborhood boys. After all, we were saving him the trouble and cost of clearing out those thorny little trees! 😊 We used our imaginations every time we went to work. Usually, we were building a small community of shelters with a barrier or fence around it for protection. We pretended to be a party of hardy explorers setting up camp and building defense structures to protect it against any enemies, real or imagined! Hours of work sawing, knife scraping, trimming, and rope tying were invested in the project each day. We did not care how hot it was or how much we sweated! In our minds, we were adventurers creating a new world! At the end of the day, we would bathe, eat dinner, and ret...