Saw this on Chris Elrod’s blog: “”Friendship is like peeing your pants, everyone can see it…but only you can feel the true warmth!” It sounds cute, but I’m not totally sure what it means. Is fellowship the same way? I think I’ve cogitated about it long enough.
For the last month or so, Dad’s been building me a display cabinet for my bayonet collection. I’ve watched it come together with eager anticipation. My bayonets have been displayed in a wall case in the basement, a case which once displayed my niece Paula’s Barbie collection. From Barbie to the battlefield. I don’t think Ken is a bayonet kind of guy.
Anyway, Dad called to tell me that the cabinet was finished. Pam and I picked it up on Wednesday. Last night we decided where to put it–a spot in our great room–and I spent the next two hours filling it up. The bayonets rest on dowel pegs, giving me a lot of flexibility in how I arrange them. I fit all 43 bayonets, plus 4 fighting knives, into the cabinet with room to spare. I’ll be able to squeeze in another 8-10 bayonets.
The cabinet is beautiful pine with black hinges and handles. There are four doors–two large ones for the upper part, two smaller ones for the lower part. I LOVE it.
Here are some photos–the entire case with doors closed, the upper part, and the lower part. Click on the thumbnail to get a large view.
Barack Obama rolls a 37 in bowling. That’s my kind of guy. A common man, in touch with the blue-collar values. A champion of the working class. Everyday folks.
37? I’ve not bowled in 20 years, but short of an unexpected quadruple amputation, I think I could exceed 37. For crying out loud, Stevie Wonder could do better. Or Stevie Hawking.
What were they thinking?
I regularly read Craig Groeschel’s “Swerve” blog. He’s the pastor of >LifeChurch.tv in Oklahoma City, one of the most innovative and internet-savvy churches in the country. He puts some outstanding leadership stuff on the blog.
I just learned of a new initiative which I think is pretty exciting. They call it “One Prayer.” It’s a four-week (or more) series starting June 7-8, focused on the premise, “If God would answer one prayer for the church at large, what would you pray?” Various megachurch pastors will prepare messages in advance titled, “Make us _____.” Groeschel will do “make us One.” Perry Noble of Newspring will do “Make us Dangerous.” Ed Young will preach “Make us Creative.” And there will be many more.
Churches can download these messages and show them in their services. I sent a note to my pastor about it. It sounds like a pretty neat thing to me. Something the broader body of Christ is combining to do.
You can watch a video by Craig Groeschel here, and also visit a special One Prayer website.
We introduced Michael Neale’s song “More and More” today at Anchor. People loved it. Get it from iTunes. It’s really a great song.
I heard Michael Neale last September at the MinistryCOM conference in Nashville. The event was hosted by The People’s Church, and Neale is the worship minister there. He led worship each day, and that’s where I first heard “More and More.”
Pam and I returned to that church a month later while on vacation, attending a Sunday morning service. Michael Neale is truly a gifted worship leader.
Logitech is pathetic. I had to reformat a drive, and just needed a Macintosh mouse driver to download. Could I find it anywhere on their website? Nope. Tried searching, tried their tedious help menus. I tell you, they closely guard their mouse drivers. Don’t want just anyone walking in off the cyberstreet and downloading a driver. You open that door, and pretty soon, everybody and their neighbor will be downloading drivers. It’ll be anarchy.
After searching in vain for way too long, I sent a message to customer support. “You sure make it difficult to find a stupid mouse driver. Why is that? I’ve wasted far too much time trying to find a stinkin’ driver for a mouse. This should not take a rocket scientist.” Yes, I had excellent people skills.
BUT, it wasn’t that easy. No no no. I had to copy down the serial number and some other number from the mouse. THEN, before it could be sent, I had to create an account, complete with my email address and other info. Logitech obviously considers it a matter of company security to protect their drivers. I guess they only have so many of them online. If I download one, then that’s one less driver they have available. At least, that’s how their tiny minds view it.
So the automatic reply from Support returned said they received my request and will respond within 24 hours. The other option would be to just make their drivers available where idiots like me could find them.
I used to prefer Logitech mice. But I’ve had lots of trouble with Logitech mice lately, and this doesn’t help my attitude. Fortunately, Microsoft–it pains me to say this–makes some great mice, and I can easily find anything I need from them online. Yes, I’m talking about the hated Microsoft, the Mordor of software companies. I’ve just said something good about Microsoft. This really hurts. And I blame Logitech.
L-r: Me, Terry, Joe (drums), Tom, and Tim.
The Anchor worship team played for two hours last night at The Grind coffeehouse, over on the east side of Fort Wayne. I’d never been there before. Nice place. The smell of wonderful coffee overwhelms your senses as you enter the front door. In the photo, it looks like I’m playing the keyboard with just one finger. I was probably punching in a setting.
Ah, the start of baseball season. The fresh spring air, the crack of bats, the green grass, the history, the tradition. This is the time of year when I tell myself:
“I’m unbelievably bored. How long ’til football starts?”
Last Friday I spoke for an hour about church communications to a class at the Huntington University Graduate School. Ray Seilhamer, the prof, invites me to do that about every two years.
A couple students had laptops open, and paid only partial attention to me. I doubt they were taking notes. Checking email? Surfing? Working on Sunday’s sermon? Is that what professors contend with in every class? Probably.
Merlin Mann, on the 43Folders.com blog, mentions the growing trend in business to hold “topless” meetings. Topless as in “laptop-less.” No laptops, Blackberrys, iPhones, or other personal devices allowed. The result is more eye contact, people connecting with each other rather than with their computer screens.
In a previous post, Mann gave “9 Tips for Running More Productive Meetings.” One was this:
No electronic grazing. Period. Laptops closed. Phones off. Blackberries left back in the cube. You’re either at the meeting or you’re not at the meeting, and few things are more distracting or disruptive than the guy who has to check his email every five minutes. Schedule breaks for people to fiddle with their toys, but fearlessly enforce a no grazing rule once the meeting’s back in session. Emergency call to take or make? They have to leave the room. No exceptions. If you’re too busy to be at the meeting everyone else has made firewalled time for, just leave.
I say “Bravo!” I rarely take my laptop to meetings anymore. Haven’t for years. If you’re going to be in a meeting, I contend, then be there.
I, like millions thousands hundreds scores several other people, was disappointed that perennial Oscar nominee Randy Newman didn’t perform anything at this year’s Oscar ceremony. Fortunately, there is water in our desert. Newman has released a whole album, based on the movie “Leatherheads.” I’m sure every song is typical Newman: nasally, whiny, generally unbearable, and most certainly Oscar-worthy. Something to look forward to at the 2009 ceremony.
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