Eureka! It makes sense.

A friend of mine found a verse that explains how I feel about serving at Quest.

“Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” Romans 5:2 (NLT)

I really don’t deserve the honor that God has given me by getting to serve at the church I get to serve at. Lives and eternities change on a daily basis, in part because of what I get to do. Sometimes I’m the star quarterback, sometimes I’m the waterboy. Always, I’m a part of one of the top teams (and I really mean that) in the world doing the only thing that really matters–affecting eternity.

If you’d seen what I’ve seen–Biblical stuff like brain tumors vanishing, if you’d met the people who started their faith journeys in places of such brokenness–like prostitution, addiction, prison, you’d reorient your life to be a part of the call that God’s given you.

I’m nothing special. I’m just a man who loves God and wakes up happy no matter what the circumstances (like my job issues), because of who loves me and what He lets me help with.

Paul

One Odd Contest

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Okay, now this is weird. So you know that at ebay, you bid and the person who has the highest bid wins. You have to go to the site, and find what you want. You keep dibs on your bid in the browser and you hope that there’s not another guy fighting you over pennies.

Now, there’s an interesting alternative:
bid4prizes. What if instead of the highest bid, you were trying to get the lowest? Now, everyone could just bid $.01, but this is where the contest is. You are trying to get the lowest UNIQUE bid. So, if NO ONE else bids $.01, you win, but if they do, the next highest bid that no one else bid wins. Make sense?

To top it all off, you can bid from your cell, texting updated bids, so you don’t even have to be online. It’s a little “Price is Right”-ish. The prizes rock, too we’re talking cars and flatscreen tvs.

Wanna Play with Mii?

I don’t own a Nintendo Wii, but I do know that you can make an icon to represent yourself in playing. You can make your own with the Mii Editor. If you own a Wii, you can play with my Mii by emailing me. Paul at technobabelshow.com

Paul

When I worked in TV, we did this sort of thing all the time

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made shorter people look taller and taller people look shorter. The morning anchor where I worked was about 5′ 5″ (at most). The morning weatherman was in the 6′ range. She’d sit on a padded seat. He’d lower his seat, so that they both looked about the same size. To further the illusion, I’d shoot him (with the video camera of course) from slightly above when he stood at the chroma-key wall. The back-up weather person was about 5′ 5″, so I’d shoot her from slightly below to make her look taller. One of the sports guys was about a foot taller than the other, so the short one would stand on a phone book and the tall one would spread his feet slightly when they stood together. This only worked because you couldn’t see their feet.

From our friends over at Bag of Nothing, The BBC reporter who was caught short…
This is a picture of one of the basic techniques in making a shorter person appear taller. Fun stuff.

Paul

Information about my “phone” company

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You might know that I use Vonage. I’ve been pleased because for the same amount of money as telephone and dial-up I could get Vonage and cable modem. What’s great about it is that anyone who can use a phone can use it once it’s set up. The technophobes in my life just pick up the phone and dial it just like normal.

Now, there’s a forum about all things VOIP including Vonage, so stop by and take a look.

Paul

Arghh! When will the church realize that God loves us all?

You know that I read Bag of Nothing, a blog by a guy who must have a job where he sits at his computer bored most of the day (like I sometimes do). He posts A TON.

Anyway, he had a story about a church with a familiar sounding name (not mine, but a local one) with a pastor who wouldn’t do an interracial marriage. Arghh! There are lives and eternities on the line people and we’ve still got pastors involved in racist behavior? This is really making me angry!

Read more about it here:
Interracial Marriage Refused

Paul

Dialup at Work? Yuck.

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I once had a job where the owner gleefully told me that he had “an AOL account if you need to check email or something”. This would have been wonderful in 1998, but this was 2005. If you’re a business owner, please get business broadband. It’s like air conditioning now days; it’s expected that you have good networking for your people. It’s not that expensive and really helps to acquire information and the like. Even in a clothing store, it’s really helpful to have.

Paul

Video in Worship–They’re noticing

I found an article called Lights! Camera! Worship! that talks about using video in worship. Apparently, some are just starting to notice this trend. I guess when you do something every week, you assume everyone knows that it’s done. I guess not.

Anyway great article about Fellowship Church and their use of tech.

Paul

One of The Marks of a Healthy Church…

I remember reading an article (sorry author) from a member of the staff of a large church (sorry church) in a magazine (sorry magazine). I think they might have been Relevant (magazine) and Mozaic (church), but I’m probably wrong. Anyway, the author said that the mark of a healthy church was some heresy. Not, in the leadership, but in some of the attendees who don’t yet know Jesus.

I remember agreeing with the point in general. Fast forward to the season we’re in at Quest. We had someone baptized recently who was a former prostitute. We’ve had our fair share of former atheists, drug addicts, dealers, homeless, etc., come to know Jesus and have radical changes happen in their lives. That’s not hugely unusual in a downtown mission in a large city, except we’re more of suburban church in the middle of Kentucky.

This occurred to me last night as my life group threw a cookout for a member who was just released from jail to go to treatment. On the same day, another friend of mine was bailed out before her court date.

Like many of you, I grew up in a middle class church surrounded by suit and dress wearing business people. I never thought I’d be saying things like, “So, it wasn’t that bad in this jail?” I never thought I’d speak with people in treatment for addictions on a weekly basis. I never thought I’d have friends who were formerly homeless, including a man in his seventies who describes himself as a former “hobo”.

I’m so grateful God is erasing this prejudice in my mind. I now know we’re all people–all equal before a righteous God who radically loves us despite the fact that not a one of us deserves it.

I can never go back to “normal”.

Paul

Search Engine Jargon Defined

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Ever heard someone say a term and didn’t know what it meant? Whether it’s “CAPTCHA”, “CPM”, “Pay per click” or some other “SEO” term, I found a site that defines them: Search Engine Glossary I had fun learning what “Adwords Haiku” means.

While you’re there, you can even find out the Top Yahoo Rankings. I found that interesting, but then again, I’m a geek.

Paul