Entries from March 2009 ↓

For those of you who share Indiana Jones’ fear of snakes, this story is the kind that will freak you out.

I love the quote from the guy:

“Fortunately I’m not the panicky type.”

Good thing.

We once discovered an Egyptian Cobra in our kitchen when I was a kid. We didn’t have a mouse or mid-size rodent problem…

RUS’s are, of course, a whole ‘nuther story… :-)

• Another great night with our Life Group leaders. Term 2 is going to
  rock. #
• Up but not running. Coffee required. Urgently. Now. #
• Im still amazed at how popular certain church/ministry conferences are
  featuring speakers/presenters who have no track record of succes … #

I’m still amazed at how popular certain church/ministry conferences are featuring speakers/presenters who have no track record of success at all. I like ideas people, but I would rather take financial advice from Warren Buffett than an ideas man.

Mostly, these ideas guys are famous for writing books, not necessarily actually getting the job done effectively. Writing books is a huge skill, and getting them published is pretty amazing too. But writing books is not local church ministry.

Go through the list of some of the books being bandied around as key references for the future of ministry, the church and leadership, etc., and ask yourself whether any of these people have actually done what they’re writing about?

I have discovered that it’s one thing to have nice ideas – it’s quite another to make it happen in reality. Unfortunately, there’s a whole circuit of gurus out there writing books that others are trying to use as their guides to ministry success (however you want to define that), and it’s a bit like a guy who has never been married or had kids trying to give advice about parenting. It’s absurd.

I guess I’m a pragmatist. Sue me.

Apple has this wonderfully interesting “Summary” utility service that allows you to obtain a summary of large chunks of text. The algorithm used is complex and it always intrigues me that somewhere in Cupertino there is a person/s playing around with this sort of stuff.

I decided to run the tool over Obama’s recent inauguration speech, and here’s what I got:

“America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”

I think it actually did a pretty good job of grabbing Obama’s big ideas of hope and legacy.

From a conversation between a journalist and a senior British diplomat:

“The world, Matt, is a jumbo jet”, he whispered.

“The Americans are in the cockpit and First Class. Everyone else is in Economy and we [the Brits] are in Business with the possibility of an upgrade.”

This is both funny and not funny, and likely quite an accurate reflection of world politics.

It does raise the question about where Australian bootlicking foreign policies (going back to the 60′s) place us on the plane…

• This long weekend has been long from a ministry perspective. Time for
  some sleep. #
• What the heck happened to summer?! Freezing this morning! #
• Busy but productive day doing some planning & getting my head around some of
  the big things going down. Staff meeting in 15 mins. Prayi … #

• A different sort of Sunday night – just me & my two youngest. Watching
  Indie Jones. #
• Will not / cannot make the same mistake as yesterday – coffee first up
  this morning! #
• Only thing worse than a rainy day for a wedding? A rainy day on a boat
  for a wedding… :-) #

• 36 degrees = not ideal weather for wearing a suit. Phew! #
• One of my favs for Saturday dinner… Hmmmmm… #
• It’s go time. Had the weirdest sleep last night but woke up feeling
  very excited about this morning’s services. #
• Just realized (with great horror) that I haven’t had a cup coffee all
  day. Yikes! Fixing that right now! #

I was chatting to someone the other day about Facebook and the amount of time it takes to keep current with updates, etc., and it occurred to me as I was talking to them that my habits may not reflect those of others. Facebook takes very little of my time, but there is a huge payback for the brief time I do invest in it.

It seems to me that some folks seem to live on Facebook. I can only assume that they’re connecting in through a phone, otherwise I’m very concerned for their health if they’re chained to their computer 24/7!

I myself ONLY use Facebook (and Twitter) on my iPhone. I seldom use a computer to connect in. Updates are done quickly through email (to both services), and I scan through updates and other goings-on very quickly perhaps once or twice a day, and I love that the iPhone app allows me to skim through and keep up in that way. In a way, because it’s only my phone that I use to access these sites, I think it operates as a bit of a filter because I only tend to drop in when I have a spare moment here and there, and when I’m at my computer I am focused on real work. I am not sitting glued to Facebook all day long.

Facebook has provided me with some unique insights into the lives of a bunch of people in my life and beyond. Some of that is just pure gold in terms of being able to keep up with what is happening in people’s lives, some of it is just hilarious with some of the very witty banter, and some is profoundly disturbing to watch some folks play out their life dramas in an abbreviated kind of soap opera of text bites, crying out for attention in some terribly unhealthy (and perhaps even dysfunctional) ways. Still, on the whole, Facebook (and Twitter) have helped me have a deeper ambient awareness of what is going on, and tools like this are certainly changing the way we relate to others.