Notes from the Trail

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There’s a powerful new ad by Apple on their website today commemorating the life and commitment of Rosa Parks to civil rights. I have to confess that I am an Apple fanatic. A Macintosh geek. A Mac Daddy.

Let me trace my Mac Roots. In 1988, at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, I was a sophomore journalism major. Dr. Bill Downs spent a wad of money on the latest,greatest desktop publishing computers, and challenged us to be the first yearbook in the nation to produce an entirely “camera-ready” yearbook. It was a daunting task for a bunch of 20 year olds.

Our yearbook and newspaper offices were soon decked out with the coolest looking “computers” (could you call them that?) I’d ever seen… Mac Pluses! Everywhere you looked, we had a box with an 8 inch black and white screen and a small box with a button on it attached to a cord. They called it a “mouse.” Crazy.

And so we went to work… and I felll in love. Using Adobe Pagemaker, Microsoft Word, and a few other programs, we missed our goal of being the first, but the OBU journalism department became Mac-dominated. And I was converted.

Since that time, there’s been a long parade of Macs in my life, including a
Mac LC, a Performa 6400, a Powerbook G3 333 Pismo, a Powerbook G4 17″ 1ghz, the first Powermac G5 1.8 single, an Emac, a Powerbook G4 867, and we’re now waiting the arrival of our first mini Mac.

Somewhere along the line, I began to realize how many unfortunate and lost people there are in the world who have to live with these things called computer viruses (what’s that?) and who even have to reformat their hard drives regularly or reinstall system software. You know them as PC users. I’ve taken it upon myself (since Steve Jobs seems totally clueless about how to produce a convert in non-urban areas) to escort these poor, imprisoned, and misled PC users into the marvelous light of the Mac.

In the last year, I’ve made more than 6 converts single-handedly in our town of 9000 (with several more in the making). Now that’s not much, but when you consider that there is little to no Mac presence here, that’s a major inroad. Because everyone of these new converts talks about their Mac experience…. How fun it is, how problem free it is, and computing has become enjoyable to them again. They have no fear of wanton viruses anymore, and no longer do they plan a week of their lives every quarter to reformat their hard drives. (When do PC users have time to enjoy life?)

What am I passionate about?
That brings me to this question. As much as I love the Mac, I love Jesus more… My faith in Christ has totally changed my life, and He has brought forgiveness, peace, and purpose to this struggler. I’ve personally witnessed the miraculous, and been a regular partaker of His grace. Yet, while I’ve made several converts to the Mac platform this year, I am unaware that I’ve led anyone to the throne of grace. To my knowledge, I’ve opened no “Windows” into the reality of Christ for anyone this year. That’s humbling.

You heard it here first… I am hoping and planning to start a “MACUG” (Mac Users Group) in Monticello thr first of next year. My express purpose for doing so is to tie two passions together. I hope to discover fellow Mac users and learn from them. We’re going to have a blast. As they learn about me, I am committed to opening my heart and sharing with them my first love… the creator of Apple… Jesus Christ.

The bitten Apple logo is my reminder that sin has entered the world, and the only solution is a love relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Next time you see a commercial about the iPod (how cool is the new video iPod?!), look at that logo and ponder the bitten apple. Could it be that your life and mine was profoundly and eternally directed by an ancient decision? Chew on that one.

From the land of the double-click…