Pam made her famous carrot cake for the church potluck on Sunday. Actually, her famous carrot cake is three layers. She made a three-layer cake, but kept one at home for me to eat, and only took a double-layer cake to church. I appreciated that.

Joanna Herrick cut the cake. She's around 80 years old, maybe more, with more energy--and certainly more enthusiam for life in general--than I have. Joanna gave me one of her observations from a lifetime in the church.

"Multiple layer cakes always go faster than single-layer cakes," she told me. "That's what I've noticed over the years with cakes I've brought. Whenever I bring a multiple-layer cake, there's less left over."

There you go: an observation you won't find in any church growth books.