It was dinner time and the restaurant I’d chosen was teeming with hungry patrons. The din of clatter and conversation had reached full song. The corporate designers of this restaurant chain had intentionally chosen seating arrangements that allowed for an open line of sight across the entire serving floor—a feature I like for two reasons. ...
Imagine with me, an early farmer working his field. Exhausted, he reigns his plow horse to a halt. With a straw hat in one hand and a red bandana in the other, he squints into the bright sun and mops the baptism of hard work from his brow. Perhaps inclined to curse the sun, his ...
Among my early memories, few cause me to smile more than reflecting on the sillier things I did. By today’s standards, I’m what you might call anal retentive. I remember being a whole lot sillier than I am today. It’s become obvious to me that the older I get the more I take myself and ...
My mom and dad were childhood friends. And like most farm kids in rural Ohio during the 1920’s and 30’s, they never wandered too far from home, often marrying from within the neighborhood. Marvin and Carrie Mae attended the same one-room school house early on and later graduated together from Pleasantville High School. They worshipped ...
If you’re a regular reader of this column, you know considerably more about me than I know about you. Following that assumption, you probably know I’m privileged to be married to Marilyn, who as a life-partner has given herself to working side by side with me in business and in ministry. Unlike many couples we ...
Years ago, before whiteboards and digital screens, Sunday school teachers used a labor intensive visual aid called – The Flannel Graph. Flannel graph is little more than a large piece of plywood or hardboard covered in a pastel colored flannel cloth. Cut out figures of Bible characters, mountain scenery and arching palms would magically cling to ...
This week I was honored by an unexpected celebrity visitor to our church. I learned she had stopped with her driver the previous week and did a walk-through, but unfortunately I had already left for the day and just missed seeing her. So I was doubly pleased when she appeared again this Sunday, well before ...
I’ve discovered I can best maintain my focus while writing in a public place. For the most part, everyone minds their own business and I’m able to lock in on the task at hand. I prefer casual shops—you know, the ones with overstuffed chairs squirreled away in little nooks and crannies. It’s an open invitation ...
I’ve been involved in restoring old cars most of my life. I even managed to make a living at it for a couple decades. Never made a dime but I had a great time! Hey, maybe I should have that engraved on my tombstone—‘He never made a dime but he had a great time’. I’d smile ...
It was late March 1961 and the promise of spring seemed as fleeting as the wintry wind that whipped over our hilltop home near Sugar Grove. Earlier that morning, on my way out the door to catch the bus, I stopped and carefully checked the Deeds Dairy calendar on our kitchen wall to confirm it ...