Notes from the Trail

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Most of you who read Notes from the Trail know that I saw the light back in ‘88 and went Macintosh. Of course, for me, it was not a switch. In many ways, it was my first time in front of a computer. I took Typing in high school, not Microcomputing, or whatever. My generation was on the beginning of the wave. I was in the right place at the right time but had no idea. Story of my life. A good friend from high school had a brother a year older than us, and he got involved in a little computer startup company and is today retired from that same company… Dell.

Anyway, I thought those of you who pay attention to this sort of thing would be interested in this very well-written article by John Gruber at Daring Fireball. He contrasts Microsoft and Apple over the past two decades and arrives at some interesting conclusions. Tell me if you agree with him.

BTW…
Q: How many Windows users does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: One, but he’ll swear up and down that it was JUST as easy for him as it would be for a Macintosh user.

And have you seen this commercial yet?

If you haven’t stumbled upon FilmLoop yet, find the nearest rock and trip!

I am secure in my manhood. I am secure in my manhood. I am secure in my manhood. My breasts are not growing. My breasts are not growing.

That’s my new daily mantra to be repeated until I am able to enter the world with confidence. I repeat this to myself for a full 5 minutes before I slide into the driver’s seat of our minivan. Yep. You heard it right; I am now driving a minivan. After several months of searching, enlisting the eyes and ears of others to help search, we found Caro her “dream” vehicle and purchased it yesterday. It’s a 2002 Toyota Sequoia SR5 with all the trimmings. It’s a beaut, and we got a great deal on it. We’ve been shopping these things for months, literally.

Anyway, because of our commitment to be a one-car-payment family, that means that my quad-cab midnight blue, V8 Dodge Dakata SLT is on the block. Sniff. And I’m now driving one fine minivan. I think I’ll get a lift kit put on it, and a winch, and a mounted spot light. Maybe some tractor tires.

No, I’m not compensating. Whatever gave you that idea?

Anyway, as Carolyn now literally skips down the sidewalk to the carport, singing joyfully, I check traffic patterns and try to avoid as many bubba jams as I can. (Bubba jams are conglomerations of pickups with shotgun racks and large, bearded men wearing camo - about 80% of the traffic here in Monticello).

One day… I hope to acquire a used Jeep Wrangler for under $5K. So if you hear or know of one, please holler. I don’t think my daily mantra is helping.

I finished the 10-week Bible study I’ve been doing yesterday, and as always after completing something like that, I was somewhat at a loss to know where to go this morning to focus my devotional thoughts and quiet my mind before God. I resorted to a trick I learned from Donald Whitney. He advocates taking a Psalm a day and a Proverb a day. Whatever day of the month it is, look up that Ps/Pr. Since the book of Psalms has 150 chapters in it, you skim the Psalm to see if it catches your heart/attention, and if not, add 30 to the number of it. For instance, this a.m., I looked at Psalm 25, but then went to Psalm 55, where I camped out.

Anyway, I was struck in Psalm 55 but just how much I could not relate to the first half of the chapter:

Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea;hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught at the voice of the enemy, at the stares of the wicked; for they bring down suffering upon me and revile me in their anger. My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me.

As I began to reflect and meditate and pray through the passage, I discovered an interesting perspective developing within. Initially, I began to think like this… "I’m so worthless. I live in peace without persecution or threat to my health or family due to my faith. Yet there are thousands of believers across this planet today experiencing horrors and humanity-destroying grief. I’m such a loser. How can I be so selfish as to just skip over this Psalm and think ‘it doesn’t apply to me?’"

However, it seemed as if the Lord stepped in during this moment of self-flagellation and gently and lovingly reminded me of something… It was He that created me to live in this time and place. It was He that placed me in a country where we have these freedoms. In His Sovereign choice, I was placed here, for this day, for this hour, and for the benefit of the larger Kingdom. What right do I have in wallowing in false guilt?

My prayer response went something like this:

Thank you, Father, that I live in peace. Let me not feel guilty about it but praise You for Your grace and mercy and sovereign choice. Let me not seek persecution or condemn Your bride here for its lack. At the same time, let me not avoid it or excuse Your bride from compromise. Help me to understand better what my expected role and mission is in the global church when I live without fear of opposition or pain as a result of my faith in You.

This prayer and other thoughts led me to begin praying for the persecuted church, for my brothers and sisters in Christ around our world today who are being mocked, ridiculed, stolen, raped, tortured, and slaughtered because of their firm and vibrant faith in Jesus Christ.

I’ve provided some links below for you to begin learning more about the persecuted church. I’d also recommend you pick up Randy Alcorn’s excellent novel Safely Home which compellingly leads you into the world of the Chinese underground church.

BTW, I’ve got one, but am looking for nine others to do an online Bible study that I plan to write. It will be 4-5 weeks long. Comment below if you’re interested!

Links to help you learn, pray, & intercede:

• persecution.org - contains news and info about world sites of persecution
• Voice of the Martyrs - tracks events and occurrences around the world and lists needs
• Prisoner Alert - tracks those in prison unjustly and details prayer needs
• Persecution Blog - amazing list of resources in right hand link column for further info
• Open Doors - an excellent ministry detailing current needs with a proven track record
• Release International - amazing way to track persecution globally
• Persecuted Church Blog
• Compass Direct - news organization dedicated to following Christian issues around the world
• World Net Daily - another Christian news source

Sorry to drag you into my personal world of introspection today, but I truly hope it will help us to:

1. Be thankful for where God has us
2. Intentionally and purposefully live in ways that connect us with our world
3. Intercede daily on behalf of the persecuted
4. Live sacrificially - whether that means going, giving, or laboring regularly to alleviate suffering wherever we find it

If you’ve spent any moments which have unexpectedly turned to hours surfing the net in the past month, you will readily identify with this entry, I hope. When I get up from my desk after a long time on the net - whether blogging, researching, playing, or interest-surfing - I tend to feel somewhat frustrated with myself for “wasting” time.

Although I’ve learned, been inspired, encouraged, challenged or entertained in those monitor-staring moments, I still feel like life would be better lived with human interaction. I appreciate lurkers who eventually comment and encourage me, and I also appreciate the direct emails from folks who have been encouraged by my blog or something, so all is not a “waste,” but there remains this unsettled feeling about having spent so much time in front of a machine.

Then there is the gnawing sense that there is just too much out there for me to get my little brain around. The net is endless for one person to process, and it’s growing by milllions of pages daily. The sheer immensity of information available is boggling. I have a deep thirst for truth, for knowledge, for understanding, and when I stumble across things that are beyond my own intellectual level on the net, I marvel at my minute mind. It’s humbling.

There is so much out there! So much to take in, read, understand, grapple with, digest, assimilate, know, taste, see, climb, swim, give, and experience… I grieve deeply that I CANNOT plumb the depths of creation. I will NEVER be able to climb Mt. Everest
or see a fraction of the beauties of this planet. Untread valleys and islands abound on this planet, and I will not be their Columbus. At 38 years old, there are a few things I could passionately set my mind and body to accomplish while I’m still able and perhaps achieve them. However, by doing so, I will naturally rule out the option of thousands of other high pursuits.
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