Notes from the Trail

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I’ve got to point your attention to an excellent article that Mandy wrote for ignorantprotestant.com the other day. I was privileged to help her in a couple of areas, but it was really her brain-sweat that produced a wonderfully informative and provocative piece.

She interviewed a few unchurched families in our area. They were gracious enough to answer five questions. The results of the survey may surprise you in a few areas. Swing by IP and check out the article.

One of the things that our leadership team at church has wrestled with as a result of the survey is whether small groups are harder for a “new person” to attend than what we previously thought. Our church is organized around small group ministry, and we all believed that most people in our area who did not go to church would be more apt to come to a fun, informal gathering in one of our homes than they would a church service. 

However, nearly all of those who responded indicated that small groups and a large evangelism-type crusade were the events they would be least likely to attend. I would imagine that perhaps when they heard the term “small group” in the question, that they envisioned being trapped or cornered in a home with some Bible beaters. That’s obviously not how our small groups function. Rather, they are much like dinner parties (sometimes without the dinner, but always with the party!). They’re laid-back, laughter-filled, encouraging gatherings of friends and families who simply are trying to live the life Jesus asked us to.

I’d be interested in following your thoughts and comments on the survey over at IP. I manage that site as well, so feel free to leave a comment there as well.

Carolyn was swamped getting ready to go take pictures, and it was lunchtime. Adelyn and I are the only other ones in the house, with Sam being at children’s camp with First Baptist. I popped some leftovers into the microwave for myself, and Adelyn said she wanted a PBJ. No problems there, I thought.

Until I opened the fridge. 

We were totally out of grape and strawberry jelly - a big no-no around here. It’s almost as bad as being out of toilet paper, only less messy. 

I could hear it now, “Where’s the jelly?!” She doesn’t do plain.

I found it sitting behind another jar of BBQ sauce - a jar of apricot preserves. Kind of jelly like. I had already done the peanut butter on the bread, so I thought, “Maybe she won’t even notice. They’re kind of sweet.”

I called her to lunch, and we sat down to a nice daddy-daughter lunch. I was anxious. I felt like I was hooked up to a polygraph machine.

“Hey! What’s this?!” she demanded after the first bite. The polygraph jumped dramatically.

“What do you mean? It’s jelly.”

“But what kind?” she persisted with an accusatory stare.

Sweating and getting nervous, I lied, “Uh, I don’t remember.”

“Weeeelll, it’s nasty,” she declared and promptly slam dunked the poor sandwich onto her plate.

“Oh cmon,” I said, “Just try it. It’s good,” and I took a bite to prove it.

Doubtfully, she took another bite. “Nope. It’s nasty,” she judged finally.

On her way out, Carolyn passed through the kitchen and pronounced a mommatude without knowing what was going on, “Adelyn, don’t waste food. Eat it.” And she breezed out.

Adelyn and I sat and stared at each other. I was trying my very hardest not to crack. Finally, I burst out laughing. With a curious tilt to her head, she said, “Why are you laughing, Daddy?”

I explained to her the whole attempt. I knew she wasn’t going to like it, but I had tried to pass it off on her. A poor attempt. She giggled and promptly jumped up to get a plain piece of bread. As she began to chew, I said, “Don’t you want something on it?”

“No, that’s OK. I like bread.”

Reflections:

Instances like these make me wonder if God doesn’t sometimes shake his head in consternation when we do things that we know in our hearts He isn’t going to like. We try to pass it off, rationalize our actions, etc., but the fact remains, you know what pleases Him and what doesn’t. 

Life (and lunch) would be so much easier if we got things right the first time.

BusySync is a powerful application for the Mac that allows syncing your iCal calendars with Google calendars and back. You can change an event on iCal and voila! - it’s instantly changed on Google. However, the best part about BusySync is that what you change on Google calendar is also changed on all your Macs running BusySync. It works both ways.

I first read about BusySync over on Richard’s blog a few months ago, and I decided to give it a try for our church’s calendar. We had been using Airset for our church’s group calendar prior to this. Airset has some remarkably powerful features, namely reminders for your participants, but Airset’s interface was clunky and left much to be desired. Some of our church’s members never could quite get the hang of it. [Related article on Airset.]

Google’s calendars are easy to use, add events and subscribe to. I needed a syncing program that allowed me to change something on Google and on my Mac and have them sync both ways. With most sync services, you have to choose a “primary” calendar to make changes on and then subscribe to it in your calendar program. The only thing wrong with that is that you can’t make changes in your desktop calendar program to your subscribed calendars. On the other hand, if your desktop calendar software is your primary calendar, you can only publish it to Google without the ability for someone to make changes to the events or add to it there. Not good for group purposes.

Enter BusySync. It was extremely easy and intuitive to set up, and after using it for 30 days, I decided to purchase a license for it. Enter disappointment. The good folks at BusyMac wanted $25 per computer for the software! Aaaah. You’ve got to be kidding me! I emailed one of the guys at BusySync to ask them why in the world their price was set that way, and he sent me the following link in response:

• http://www.busymac.com/faqs.html#dotmac-diff

I had asked him how BusyMac justified charging per computer for a piece of software that only did calendars, whereas the .Mac service was $99 per year but provided contact, calendar, email, web pages, and 10 gigs of web space. You can see how BusySync would add up - and it only does calendars.

Since that email, Apple has announced its overhaul of its .Mac service slated for next month. It will be called MobileMe. There’s no word yet if it will provide syncing with Google calendar, although the latest update to Leopard offered easy syncing with your Google, Yahoo, and Exchange address books. However, for only $99 and new 20 gigs of web space, MobileMe may offer such an attractive lure that BusySync will have to decide how to remain in the same pond.

Overall review: 

BusySync is an excellent piece of software that does exactly what it says it will do. I have had no syncing issues with it at all. It is intuitive and easy to use. Unfortunately, its price is a little over-the-top for what it offers. If you’re looking for calendar syncing software just for you, then it’s a great choice. But if you need something for your church or office, it’s just not cost effective, in my opinion.

When my family made the celebratory trek to Stephenville, TX last month for my brother-in-law Jeff’s graduation (yes, there are two of us in the family, but I was here first), we stayed in the Texas Inn there. It was relatively inexpensive and clean - fine for our purposes. I was rather surprised to find out it also had free WIFI, so that more than made up for the signs.

Plastered on every space spot of wall and door were various signs instructing us what not to do. Ranging from the improper disposal of feminine hygiene products to the banning of hair color, these laminated sheets of no-no’s were a bit disconcerting. For some reason, they reminded me of a cafeteria worker in a bad mood. I don’t know why. Before we checked out -on time, because we didn’t want to break one of the posted notices - I took a few shots of our banning banners. I also made sure that one of the kids hadn’t hidden a lamp in their luggage. These folks apparently love their lamps.

The strange thing is that as we enjoyed a comfortable and convenient and clean stay, I couldn’t help but form an impression of the owners. They were certainly not people, I wouldn’t think, that enjoyed spontaneity or levity. Rather, I imagined them to be rather stern and generally un-fun. It’s a completely unfair assessment, I realize, but the plethora of signs painted an impressionistic montage that shaped my perception.

Perhaps the thing that was most unusual was not that there were rules but that there were so many of them - and that they were unusual. I could certainly understand the point behind them all, but some of them seemed like some of the inane modern health warnings on products we see today like:

“Do not use if you cannot see clearly to read the information in the information booklet.” – In the information booklet.

“Caution: The contents of this bottle should not be fed to fish.” – On a bottle of shampoo for dogs.

“For external use only!” – On a curling iron.

“Warning: This product can burn eyes.” – On a curling iron.

“Do not use in shower.” – On a hair dryer.

“Do not use while sleeping.” – On a hair dryer.

“Do not use while sleeping or unconscious.” – On a hand-held massaging device.

“Do not place this product into any electronic equipment.” – On the case of a chocolate CD in a gift basket.

“Recycled flush water unsafe for drinking.” – On a toilet at a public sports facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

“Shin pads cannot protect any part of the body they do not cover.” – On a pair of shin guards made for bicyclists.

“This product not intended for use as a dental drill.” – On an electric rotary tool.

“Caution: Do not spray in eyes.” – On a container of underarm deodorant.

“Do not drive with sunshield in place.” – On a cardboard sunshield that keeps the sun off the dashboard.

“Caution: This is not a safety protective device.” – On a plastic toy helmet used as a container for popcorn. 

“Do not use near fire, flame, or sparks.” – On an “Aim-n-Flame” fireplace lighter.

These and others were taken from this site.

There was a group of people in the Bible who seemed to cause a negative impression on others due to their preponderance of rules. They were called the Pharisees. In one of Jesus’ renown run-ins with them, He said, 

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for men to see…” (Matthew 23.2-5)

It’s not that rules are wrong, but needless rules create a hindrance in the spirit of men and women. It’s what Jesus described as a “heavy load.” Jesus redefined the heart of the law when He told the gathered crowd, “You have heard it said…. but I say to you.” He was able to do this because He was the author of the law. He knew perfectly the intent of the rule, or the law, which is why the crowds responded in astonishment - “because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” (Matthew 7.29)

If we’re not careful, we ourselves will become practicing Pharisees. We’ll set up needless traditions and regulations that hinder people from approaching God. The important thing is what Jesus described as the greatest commandment in Matthew 22.37 - loving God. The way He said it makes it plain that if we love God with all that we are, we will want to be obedient to His Word. If we love our neighbor as ourself, then we will voluntarily and joyfully limit our own freedoms for the benefit of others, if need be.

Whenever rules run amok, it turns folks off - whether in a hotel room or a church.