Stuff Jesus Digs

Dad, It's going to hail!

The cutest thing. We're leaving a baseball game and Clay says to me, "Dad, It's going to hail!". Now, it was 80 degrees when the game started and there was no chance of hail so I responded, "What?". He said he heard very clearly on the radio that it was going to hail. We went around and around for a few minutes, me trying to figure out what he heard. We finally figured it out. The forecast was for "Isolated Showers" or as my son heard it, "ICEolated Showers". What is hail if not rain showers that have been ICEolated. I love my boy!

Chris Lomont's Superballs Page

Link: Chris Lomont's Superballs Page.

Restroom Kindness

I really enjoy even the hard parts of running a company that deal with personal development, helping people move and grow, and helping them see their strengths and weaknesses. The parts I really dislike is dealing with thigs like body odor and the like. This situation is one that was brought up occasionally where the people who's cubes were anywhere near the restroom were having to deal with horrible smells and/or large amounts of deoderant spray.

Generally my first assumption on these sort of things is that people are being too sensitive. This was not the case in this situation. Having experienced it myself, I can certainly see why people would complain. We do have an extra set of restrooms on the other side of the building so I wrote the following email. My wife April suggested I put it up here, so here it is.

---

Hi Everyone.

I honestly hate sending these kind of messages.

For the people who sit anywhere near the restrooms in the office or walk by them, the odors have become a serious issue in their productivity. (Really hard to enter things into FileMaker when your eyes are burning and watering.)

We're asking that you use the restrooms on the other side of the building if you have any of the following situations apply to you:

1> You are looking for reading material on your way in.

2> You consider weighing yourself before and after.

3> People in the area around you occasionally light scented candles.

4> You notice that even though our bathrooms are busy, the one that you were in this morning is mysteriously still not being used.

5> It was you who caused the paint to peel in the guys restroom.

6> You are thinking that simple #1 or #2 doesn't describe what you need to do. Like if the rating moves to the Richter scale for example.

7> Welcome to Moes!

8> You generally find that a quick one or two second spritz of air deodorizer isn't enough.

9> You've used the words "I feel like I'm going to explode."

10> Something climbed inside you and died.

So please be kind to your fellow workers, consider getting some advice on improving your diet, ask your Dr. about colon cancer risks, and take care of yourselves!

Thank so much.

Eric

Feeling Guilty at Starbucks

I'm in line for a grande, non-fat, 2 pump, no water, chai late.

Does children dying in Africa cross my mind?

How can I reconcile the fact that the change I drop in the tip box after buying my Late might be the difference of a life saved or lost. It doesn't stop there. What about our vacation last summer? What about the dinner out while on a business trip. I guess I can feel guilty about those things.

But what about my tithe? Does giving $100 to my local church each month give more honor to God than saving the lives of 3 children? Wow, it is really easy to get caught up with all the guilt and questions and end up not doing anything.

What does God want me to do today?

Link: two and two makes five: Church and Money.

emergent-us: Our Response to Critics of Emergent

Interesting to see Emergent coming out with some solid statements of faith. I've found it interesting that many who call Emergent their own, define Emergent by what it isn't and where they have come from, rather than who they are today and what they believe.

Seeing some information in writing being presented as "the Emergent response" is comforting in a way, but also disturbing. Having attended a couple of the Emergent conferences and having heard a number of the guys in the response speak I'm wondering how painful it was to actually get something that long together and agreed on by all.

Emergent is something that I generally have a really good feeling about the desires and the results. I know in my life, my changed perspective about God and church has been amazingly freeing, both emotionally and in terms of ministry. My feelings about the process are something different altogether.

There are some listed in this response who I generally agree with what they say and how they say it. There are others, who I generally agree with what they say, but I rarely agree with the manner in which it is presented. There are also those who I've had a hard time resonating with anything that they are coming up with.

I guess the beauty of the "conversation" is that all the voices don't have to be right all the time.

It is encouraging to see this group of people come up with something that at the very least, they can agree on together, and relieving to see that it is something that I can generally agree with too.

Link: emergent-us: Our Response to Critics of Emergent.

Simple Organizational Stuff

The last couple weeks I've been working on getting things together
organizationally speaking. A couple days at the Oregon coast was a
big help. This week I'm at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference
and I'm finding tons of time to get things organized while sitting in
sessions or late nights in the hotel.

Funny that I'm seeing things from an organizational perspective. I
even noticed this morning that items around the sink in the bathroom
had organized themselves. Things with a lid (deodorant, cologne,
Advil, shaving cream, etc.) on the left, things with a handle
(toothbrush, razor, brush, etc.) on the right. Being right handed,
stuff with a lid, ended up in my left hand after I put the lid on
with my right. Things with a handle, just got put down on the right.
Not sure if it has anything to do with being more productive but I'm
certainly gaining an eye for the natural organization of things.

"I have faith in Steve."

Apple announced that come next year, they will be transitioning their computer to Intel chips from PowerPCs. I got quoted. (Well kinda, if I'm spelling out what my faith is in, I don't think Steve Jobs would be the top of the list. ;-)

Link: Developers Finding Their Feet After Apple-Intel Announcement.