This Week at a Glance

This is becoming my weekly instead of my daily diary, but I'm determined not to just let it go. A few things to record from this week:

Made some progress at work: planning/editing the November issue, consulting with Jim Nieman about layout and design options for the October issue. Spent quite a bit of time emailing and on the phone to nail down plans for the Stone-Campbell Dialogue meeting that will happen this year in Abilene in October. (Evelyn and I are planning a nice dinner out the weekend before her birthday, because I'll be in Texas on her birthday.) Did some work toward further marketing of the Christian Standard app and its digital editions. As of today, close to 1,300 people have downloaded the app and close to 100 have actually paid to read the magazine via the app. That's gratifying; the numbers grow every day. But the progress seems slow to me.

Thursday Paul Williams was in the office for our last official meeting together. His contract as consultant with Christian Standard ends in August. It was a productive meeting, a nostalgic meeting, a meeting with blessings (Paul has always shed light on my path), ultimately a difficult meeting. I will truly miss all the insight and ideas he's shared to help make Christian Standard what it has become.

Friday I had a great lunch with Dave Lautzenheiser; talked over my plan for the worship service August 31. He asked me to lead in the Classic service, because he plans to be out of town that weekend.

The weather has been hot and dry, at least it was till the end of the week when we had a couple of rip-roarin' thunderstorms overnight a couple of nights. I had thought maybe I'd come home from work Friday to cut grass, but Evelyn decided (and I agreed) it was just too hot! So on an impulse we called Terry and Shirley Wuske and invited them to share dinner with us at LaRosa's (our treat)—just for the fun of it and to celebrate the new half-time development position Terry began with Grundy Mountain Mission last week. He'll do a fine job, and he can do it from Cincinnati! So they won't have to move, and we won't have to tell them good-bye. We adjourned to our place after spaghetti and hoagies to finish off a peach pie Evelyn had baked earlier in the week (with peaches we had bought in Amish country). We really enjoyed the spontaneous evening together.

Saturday night Paul and Sev Friskney came for dinner. We hadn't visited with them all summer, and it was good to laugh and catch up. We had typical picnic fare: hamburgers on the grill, baked beans, cole slaw, and Evelyn's potato salad. She made a Rice Chex ice cream dessert that we used to serve every summer but hadn't had for years. It was a fine evening.

Brian preached in the gym, and those of us in the auditorium
enjoyed his sermon via the video feed.

We enjoyed being at church this morning. This was our regular Welcome Center Sunday, so we were there about 8:30. I had some contacts to make regarding that worship service next Sunday, and we enjoyed all the chatting and laughing we always enjoy with the extended time to see folks. Trevor had asked Brian Jobe to be guest preacher, and he had a fine sermon. I'm thinking I'll use his points as the jumping off point for my men's group Bible Study Thursday.

 After church Evelyn and I each had separate meetings to attend. Mark Senseman led a training meeting for people who have been serving at the Welcome Center; he announced and explained some exciting innovations and renovations coming to that whole ministry. Evelyn attended Mark's meeting while I attended training led by Dale Reeves for "tribe" leaders in anticipation of a new series kicking off September 7. Dale has done an excellent job getting all that ready. Evelyn attended training for women's Bible study leaders last Sunday at lunchtime, and she's at a women's kick-off event this evening (Sunday) for that whole emphasis. It's really great to see strategic plans, training, and fresh ideas from those leading the ministries we're involved in!

Weekend Update

Quote of the Day:
I've reached retirement age. And I don't need to see any more depictions of the crucifixion.
—Evelyn Taylor, after we saw Son of God Friday night.

Picture of the Day:
A so-so picture of Dale Reeves preaching a mighty fine sermon this morning at Christ's Church at Mason. Our three preachers were each speaking at different venues this morning, and Dale spoke at the Classic service in the chapel.
We were attending that service so we could sit with Alan Guttman who had promised to come back to church this morning, for the third week in a row. He sits with Lloyd and Shirley Bradshaw, but Lloyd is in the hospital with a serious infection (he's been there since last Sunday and won't go home yet for several more days). I told Alan at our Thursday-morning group that Evelyn and I would sit with him today if he wanted to come back to church.
It was a nice service, and all three of us agreed that Dale did a good job. We ate breakfast/lunch with Alan at Bob Evans (he treated!) after church.
Wendy Wagoner came to visit us Friday. We ate out at El Rancho Grande before catching the 7:40 showing of Son of God. I enjoyed it, even though most of it we'd seen in The Bible miniseries on TV last year. The crucifixion segment was the second-most graphic depiction I've seen (after Passion of the Christ, of course.) Evelyn served us scones for breakfast Saturday; Wendy left to visit her friends the Carters in Springfield about 10 Saturday morning.
Evelyn and I took a walk in the glorious spring-like sunny afternoon. Later  I visited Lloyd in the hospital along with getting the car washed (had to get all that winter salt removed), picking up Despicable Me2 at Redbox, and grabbing a few groceries. We had egg salad sandwiches and tomato bisque soup (from Costco) for supper. I did some reading and planning in The Story and then fell asleep in the middle of the movie before we headed for bed to get a full night's sleep before Time Change Sunday.
Today we were away from home by 2:45 and in New Stanton, PA by 7:10, the first leg in our trip to see our kids with friends for a spring break vacation this week.

From Writers for Writers

Quotes of the Day:

With a shout-out to some friends who have formed a new writers group at Christ's Church at Mason, I offer these quotes from the "Sunbeams" page in the latest issue (February 2014) of The Sun.
"Sunbeams" is a regular feature in this independent journal, and this month, all the quotes relate to writing.

(Dale Reeves formed our writers group to write/edit/compile projects for the church as well as to share and expolore our own writing. The first meeting was last night. I enjoyed it!)

I lived in the midst of an affectionate, charming family, and I am sure that there is no greater obstacle to a person who is just beginning to write.
—Katharine Butler Hathaway

The good thing about writing fiction is that you can get back at people. I've gotten back at lawyers, prosecutors, judges, law professors, and politicians. I just line 'em up and shoot 'em.
—John Grisham

He asked, "What makes a man a writer?"
"Well, I said, it's simple. You either get it down on paper, or jump off a bridge."
—Charles Bukowski

Writing allows even a stupid person to seem halfway intelligent, if only that person will write the same thought over and over again, improving it just a little bit each time. It is a lot like inflating a blimp with a bicycle pump. Anybody can do it. All it takes is time."
—Kurt Vonnegut

I am dissatisfied with everything I have ever written and regard it all only as a preparation for that one work which probably I don't have it in me to write but which I hope I can go on trying for.
—Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

He who has made a thousand things and he who has made none, both feel the same desire: to make something.
—Antonio Porchia

Fed, but Not Enough

I had lunch at church today. Dale Reeves and Allison Rambo did a fine job offering training to small group (a.k.a. "Tribes") leaders at our church, and lunch was a part of the deal. (Side note, how great to have folks responsible for and helping adult discipleship/education/classes/small groups now!) They had box lunches from Honeybaked Ham, one of my favorite lunch spots (their cafe is just down the street from my office location), and I tried the chicken salad sandwich. Never had it before--it was great!

Dale had extra lunches on hand, and he was passing them out after the meeting. I brought two more
home, and Evelyn and I will have 'em for supper tomorrow night. So that means the church will have fed me TWICE this week! Sweet! And this in appreciation for doing a task I was already committed to.

But here's the thing. The church isn't feeding me all week. I spent about $100 at the grocery store yesterday, and Evelyn will probably hit Kroger's for some midweek fill-ins later. Not only that, but I also have money in my pocket for at least a couple lunches out this week. I'm making plans, investing resources, and looking forward to some fine meals Evelyn and I will provide for ourselves. After the church offered me a couple of box lunches, I figure the rest of my "three squares" are on my plate to provide.

Pretty obvious, right? Eating is my responsibility, not anyone else's. Preschoolers and invalids may depend on someone else to keep them fed, but I'm very pleased I'm not in either category. I feed myself. If I looked at my wife and said, "I'm not being fed," she'd probably tell me to pick up my fork or get off my duff and open the refrigerator.

Occasionally I don't eat enough for dinner, so I supplement with a bedtime snack. Sometimes I end up at a restaurant that doesn't please me and I decide not to go back. There's nothing wrong with deciding the dispenser of the food is not satisfying me. When that happens, I choose another menu. But I don't blame the cook. When it comes to being fed, I'm my own dietician.

Actually, there's nothing new about this. Maybe 20 or 30 years ago a preacher friend of mine was reflecting on the accusation he'd heard from some disgruntled church members. Their beef? "I'm not being fed."

Unfortunately, the complaint doesn't go away. But neither has the response. "If you're not being fed, go get something to eat!"

This is especially appropriate when the complainers are not new Christians, starving for truth, but experienced believers with a finely developed appetite for what they do and don't like. I'm thinking of so many people I've encountered in the Two Thirds World eating little or the the same something day after day. I imagine them standing with a sack of White Castles in their hand, taking a bite of the oniony  bullets, making a face, and saying to their benefactor: "I'm not being fed." I don't think so. Hungry people relish whatever's put before them.

I have lots of concerns about my spiritual diet. I don't know the Bible as well as I wish I did. I don't read as much of it each week as I think I ought. I pray, but I want to pray more. I study, but each lesson reminds me how much I still need to learn. I eat, but not enough.

And I know whatever the church serves for an hour on  Sunday cannot be anything more than an appetizer or, if done really well, a cooking lesson.

I'm grateful for the lunch the church served today. Delighted for the leftovers to enjoy tomorrow. But the church did not feed me enough this week. And it never will. And it never should.

Whining from a Night Person

Our Thursday group is doing a three-week study on prayer that I developed in anticipation of
participating in an all-church study October and November.

This week I'm beginning a regimen of getting up by or before 5:00 a.m. to be at the church by or just
after 6:00 a.m. TWICE each week.
Some observers might think I've chosen this plan because I am a morning person. I AM NOT.
For some time now (how many years has it been?), I've met with a circle of guys on Thursday mornings for Bible study. That is continuing this year. Tomorrow will be the third Thursday we've met this September as we're starting a new school year. We meet at 6:00 a.m. and finish shortly after 7:00 so everyone can get to work.
A few weeks ago Jim Baird asked me to participate in a study they've been offering to men in the church: "No Man Left Behind," a course about how to disciple men. Dale Reeves suggested to him that he ask me. It's meeting on Tuesday mornings at 6:15, I think for eight weeks.
So twice each week I'm setting out all my clothes the night before and making sure my briefcase is packed and easy to find, sliding my change and phone and keys onto the bathroom counter so I won't have to hunt for them in the dark in the bedroom, and aiming for bed by 10:00 p.m. so I can get up around 5:00 (actually on Thursdays I set the alarm for 4:50!). The goal is to slip out of bed, close the bathroom door in the dark before turning on the light, opening and closing cabinets and drawers as quietly as possible--all in an effort not to wake Evelyn.
She, by the way, IS a morning person, and also a very light sleeper. And now in this first semester of her retirement, she has me bumbling around at least an hour before she would normally get up (and at least 90 minutes or more before I would prefer to).
I need to commit myself to seeing some growth happening in me in exchange for these upsets to my natural body rhythm. :-)

Celebrating a Hero

This may have been one of the best-planned, most memorable funerals I've ever attended. And possibly that's because the deceased person honored had planned the service herself! Kristen Reeves, Marjorie Reeves Miller's daughter-in-law told me, "We knew this box existed and inside it was the funeral she had planned. But we had never seen it. What an experience to see, in her handwriting, step by step what was to happen at her funeral service."
Dale had told me his mother's funeral would be a celebration of her life and that God would be glorified, and certainly both were true.
I had known her and worked with her and come to love her long after she had made the move to Cincinnati as a young widow with three young children to start a new life in a new place with no car but a great deal of conviction. It was good to hear how she made life work for her and her kids and how she gave herself to rearing them even while working full-time at Standard Publishing. It was good to hear each of her three children offer their testimonies, with Scriptures and theme headings she had set down in that plan inside that box. It was refreshing to see the beautiful program, to read the fun anecdotes from her grandkids, to enjoy the balloons instead of flowers (her directive), and to anticipate a bright day ahead of us "when we all get to Heaven" (the song she had chosen for us to sing).
It was good to spend a moment of silence pondering our own commitment to the Lord she loved so much and to know that her final wish was for everyone in her funeral audience to love Him as much as she did. It was remarkable to hear that her wish for memorial gifts was that they be given somewhere to tell little children about Jesus, preferably children who wouldn't know about him without the gifts.
We're better people for having known Marjorie Reeves. And we're better people for having remembered her at her funeral. I'm so glad I was there.

Signs and Service

Shawn McMullen has a December  birthday, and we celebrated today at Olive Garden. Good lunch. Big lunch. I was sleepy half the afternoon.

After work I went to visit Marge Miller at her residence at the Lodge, a retirement community/facility not far from work. Her daughter, Angie, posted on Facebook yesterday that they needed to move Marge to a nursing home; after tomorrow she'll be at a place close to where her son Steve serves in Indiana.
I worked with Marge for years before she retired from Standard Publishing. We traveled together on Ideashops, and I worked with her when she was head of the Christian Ministries Department. I dearly love her, and it's been too long since I've seen her.
I had thought I would take her picture; maybe we'd pose together. But she was resting in a hospital bed, connected to oxygen and accompanied by a companion/nurse. We weren't going to take a picture.
But we had a nice visit. "I'm getting weaker and weaker," she said, but her mind is sharp. She smiled and laughed with me, and we reminisced a bit about travels we shared.
"They talked with me about where I wanted to go," she told me, "and I said, 'Wherever it's the cheapest.' But they said, 'We'll go where it's the nicest.'"
We talked about how glad we are to have kids who love the Lord and love their spouses and are involved in good things. (Marge's three kids are remarkable, dynamic Christians. It's quite something to see three kids from the same family who are each so special. Her son Dale worked with us at Standard for 20+ years before the latest layoff there. He's the newest staff member at our church, Trevor DeVage's first new hire.)
"You just have to keep pressing on," she told me. I have a feeling that's a philosophy that has carried her through her 88 years and will until she's too weak to express it any longer.
I'm glad I got to see her. I'm sorry I haven't seen her more in the last few years.

After our visit, I grabbed a snack and went to church for worship team practice. I'm singing with the group at the 9:30 service Sunday.

A Good Sunday

Like so many others in America this evening, I'm watching the first episode of the new season of "Downton Abbey" tonight. I'll see if I can write something coherent while keeping up with the British soap opera clad in castles and aristocracy.
Today was Trevor DeVage's first Sunday as lead minister at Christ's Church at Mason, and it was a good morning. His sermon seemed more powerful and pointed to me, than his trial sermon. I'm looking forward to the next one!

I sat on the front row where I could snap
some pictures of Trevor preaching.

Mark Sullivan recruited me to be one of several filling a new role in the worship services. A "host" will welcome folks, do the communion meditation and offering prayer, make the announcement, and preside over the invitation. I'm pleased to be asked, and I think I'll enjoy this. Today I did the job in the 11:00 contemporary service--the first time I've ever attended it! It was a blessing to help lead.

These three guys were all smiles before church started at 9:30:
Mark Sullivan, Brad Wilson, and Dale Reeves.

We ate lunch at home, tapping some of the goodies we received in our Omaha Steaks package from Ken and Susan. I finished putting away the outside Christmas stuff and read some more in Rohr's book. Evelyn took a walk just a few minutes before the sky opened in a flash snowstorm and I ran out to rescue her. But by the time I found her, the snow had slacked off, and she decided to finish her walk. We had tomato bisque soup from Costco for supper and watched "Sixty Minutes" while we enjoyed it.
I received an e-mail from a friend at church who asked if it's too late to register for our trip in June. I had forgotten that we send him a brochure. I told him it's not too late!

Marking the Day, Measuring My Words

What can I say about Dale Reeves and Shawn Krumm? Many things, but the most timely thing to say is that they are two of six members of Standard Publishing's editorial and creative services departments laid off yesterday as we experienced yet another reduction in force. The other four—Ruth Frederick, Steve Clark, Bob Korth, and Marcy Levering—represent some of Standard's longest-term employees. Dale has been with us for 22 years, and at least three of the above four for much longer.
We received a letter explaining that since year over year sales continue to fall, there is just no choice but to cut back our number of employees. At least it didn't use the word that has been reported to have been uttered by some in upper management. Their category for editorial employees: "overhead."
"I'm sorry about yesterday," CEO Peter Esposito said to me in the hallway today. I hesitated, measuring my response, and said finally, "Well, we're all sorry about it, Peter," and then walked away.
That's all that was prudent to say to him or in this public forum. But since I'm writing a diary, I took Dale's and Shawn's picture today to mark the time when this, not the first disappointment at Standard, has happened. We're praying for wisdom, grace, and joy, and actually it was encouraging to see all three displayed by Shawn and Dale today as they packed up their offices for their last day to work for us.
Meanwhile, I'm not discouraged in my own work, because some positive developments for the future of the magazines seem in store. Shawn McMullen and I are standing at a booth space dedicated primarily to The Lookout and Christian Standard at the International Conference on Missions in Indianapolis this week. I spent time today finishing up preparations for the trip, including two presentations: a workshop Friday and a pitch to college presidents tomorrow for student subscriptions to Christian Standard.

Men (and Women!) in Black and Other Nice Things

Most fun of the day: the whole office dressing in black in honor of Scott Ryan's last day at Standard. (Scott's the guy with the beard, in the center, below.) Scott, a friend and designer who's been with us 15 years, is leaving to do design work at Frontgate. To show him we love him, we dressed like he ALWAYS dresses: black shirt and black pants. Note the guy on the left, our colleague and buddy Dale Reeves who not only imitated the outfit but the beard and sideburns too!
(It's difficult to get a good picture of 40 people, so I'm just posting both pictures, since different folks shine in different shots.)

Best laugh of the day: Reading Jennifer's blog post. Most of my Facebook friends also read her blog, but if you haven't, you should. Below is the picture she posted along with all her "kids say the darndest things" quotes.

Nicest surprise of the day: All the folks who "liked" or commented on Evelyn's and my reciprocal posts to celebrate our anniversary today. 39 years, wow! Not only was it gratifying to read all the congratulations, but also challenging to live up to the nice things they said about us! Wendy has a spiffy new camera, and she took our picture for our anniversary this evening.