Serve by Design

This is campfire season! September 22 nd was the Autumnal Equinox, the first day of fall. It is also the season of Smore’s! This gram cracker sandwich, made with a Hershey’s chocolate bar and marshmallow, is a favorite anytime of the year! Did you know that Americans consume 90 million pounds of marshmallows annually? That may seem to be a staggering statistic for many, but  I’m not surprised! Some of us think that marshmallows make everything  taste just a little bit better. It’s amazing that something made so simply from air, water, and sugar could be so delicious! A Simple Sugary Sandwich! I like any flavored Jello with mini marshmallows added. In the candy category I’ll eat: Toasted Coconut Covered Marshmallows, Moon Pies, Circus Peanuts, Hostess Snoball cakes, Fluff in homemade fudge, an occasional Peeps at holiday times, and won’t pass up Chocolate covered marshmallow Santas and Easter bunnies! I haven’t tried plant-based Dandies (Kosher, Vegan), but I’m game! However, ...

In a recent article, I mentioned buying a bread cutting guide for my daughter. It was inexpensive, but much appreciated. She immediately texted back her gratitude with this exclamation, “Best gift ever!” That may seem to be a little over the top until you try your hand in processing several loaves of crusty sourdough bread with just a cutting board and bread knife! If you desire uniformity and you want the slices to be even, you need a guide to accomplish the task! A guide for perfect bread slicing! I confess to being a perfectionist and so does my bread-making daughter. She cares enough about what her loaves look like to put a heart at the top of the loaf as a sign of pride and affection. Since her married name, Hartman, has the sound of “heart” in it, this final decorative touch becomes the perfect seal of approval! As human beings, we can speak of perfection only in relative terms. Only God is perfect in every way! That’s why He gives us His Word, the Bible, to be our guidebook. W...

The men’s ministry at Springfield First recently hosted a Saturday morning breakfast with guest speaker and retired Sacred Heart-Griffin Coach, Ken Leonard. Coach Leonard has distinguished himself in the forty-two seasons of his overall career. He has led his teams to 419 wins compared to 81 losses. This makes Coach Leonard the winningest coach in the history of Illinois sports! During his inspirational remarks, Leonard shared a three-step coaching philosophy that he follows, “ Tell your team players what you want. Then, show them what you want. Finally, involve them in practices or exercises that demonstrate what you want.” Involved and All Set! Image: istockphoto.com I grew up with a contrasting model at school that overly emphasized that first step of “tell.” This approach is what I prefer to describe as “Sit still while I instill!” We were expected to stay in our seats! There was no group work or active participation. We didn’t know enough and couldn’t be trusted enough to get u...