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Community

Fairs and Community

Last week, I got to go to The Great Darke County Fair in Greenville, Ohio. This year was the 160th running. I began going over twenty-five years ago when I began dating my wife. I learned very early on this was an event everyone in the county looked forward to each year.

As I was pondering what made the fair great, I observed the Italian sausage, elephant ear and walking taco stands. I listened to a barker exclaiming how easy it was to win a giant stuffed bear for my sweetheart. I sniffed the scents of each animal barn. Nothing much had changed over the years. While they sights, sounds and smells were fine, they weren’t great. What was it?

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CHOG News church cartoons Newsletters

I Just Love a Pond Baptism!

Cartoon of a guy with a fish attached to his arm. A woman says, "I just love a pond baptism!"

I didn’t have the benefit of a baptism in the great outdoors. Mine was in a church sanctuary. A few weeks ago, I got to witness over two dozen people get baptized outside. I overheard someone commenting about what could be swimming around that pond. Since this was in Ohio, alligators were quickly ruled out.

It was a great day of celebration and no one came up with a fish, frog or crawdad attached to an arm!

I drew this for the August 2016 CHOG News.

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holiday webcomic

The Simple Things For a birthday

Cartoon of a guy with a balloon. A woman says, "If I knew that’s all it took to give you a happy birthday, I wouldn’t have ordered the mariachi band.”

It’s the simple things that make a birthday the best. Whether it’s a balloon, cake or noisemakers, it doesn’t take much to get a celebration going. It’s the little, frivolous things that make a celebration fun.

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creativity

New experiences and the weather

I wrote this last year when I was living in Arizona. As I review this, it’s a rainy, August day in Ohio. Things change quickly!

One of the great things about moving to a new area is seeing the weather through new eyes. Weather is something we all like to complain about.

When I lived in Indiana, I was always looking forward to the next season. Is it too hot? Don’t complain too much because in six months it will be too cold? Is it too wet? Watch out! A drought could be just around the corner. Do you think the weather is perfect? Uh oh! next week it will be totally different. Sorry about that, buddy!

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Business

Yes, Change is Hard – Inc. Magazine Article

4 o'clock shift at the Ford Motor Company
4 o’clock shift at the Ford Motor Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This morning, I read this Inc. Article on making change happen within a company.

Change Is Hard: 8 Great Ways to Make Sure You’re Constantly Evolving – Inc.

I have witnessed how hard change is at a newer as well as older company. And I have also had the privilege working for a company where change was the only thing constant. All the companies I’ve worked for wanted change but discovered pushback from customers as well as employees. It is ironic that the very change that will benefit customers can be rejected by those same consumers.

Whether you are a leader or follower, change is vital for companies and people to thrive. As the article says, it begins with you. It also takes lots of clear communication to explain why the change is needed and how it will benefit stakeholders in the long run.

One thing the article touched on was how the messy middle affects change. We talked about that in one of my MBA classes. A change initiative feels exciting in the beginning. But when you are in the middle of the change, it is so tempting to go back to the old ways. It takes a lot of determination, self-examination, and clear communication to make change happen.