the stuff in my head

On my way to my car this morning, I noticed a stream of water flowing along the floor of the large indoor garage area under my apartment building. It was coming from a car that had already been out in the snow and salt this morning and returned long enough ago that the snow had melted. The water was very dirty, partly from the dirt, muck, and salt that covers Minnesota roads during the winter, and partly from the garage floor.

For some reason I stopped and began watching the water slowly creep towards the drain. I was fascinated. It would bob, weave, pause, combine, split, then do it all over again; all in super slow motion. At times it would flow towards me, at a right angle to the drain, not getting any closer to it’s destination.

Suddenly, the stairway door opened an a woman came into the garage- she had one of those wireless ear pieces and was making a call on her cell phone. Feeling silly, I quickly walked to my car.

As I drove to work, my thoughts returned to the water. I thought about how tainted and dirty we get as we go through life. How we’re all trying to get to some destination. For the water, it was the drain, where it would eventually be cleaned, purifed and put back into use. For Christians, it is Jesus- the one who washes away our sins and gives us new life. For others, it is enlightenment… nirvana… getting high… whatever. So often though we get sidetracked, flowing towards anywhere but our goal. Some of us never make it to the goal… dry up… and just leave a stain.

James Surowiecki just published a book on The Wisdom of Crowds. At a recent Emerging Technologies conference, he gave a speech about the “Un-Wisdom” of crowds and how herding and group think can dimish the intelligence of a group.

I think the parallels to the Church are potentially staggering here…

Have you ever met a Christian who seems to know only what they’ve read in Christian books and heard at conferences? Someone who switches their theology whenever they switch pastors, mentors, churches, etc.?

Are we as a Church getting collectively dumber or smarter? Do mega TV evangelists with devoted followers increase the knowledge of God and his Kingdom, or diminish it?

Are we all meant to be carbon copy Christians?

Just thinking out loud here folks, don’t burn me at the stake… yet.

Read the Transcipt here

Make PowertPoint. Better.

Beyond Bullet Points

I’m not sure you need the condenser mic (a dynamic mic would be cheaper and not require AC power) but a good kit nonetheless.

We’ve spent a lot of time looking for high-quality gear that is also compact and affordable. This is our currently suggested podcasting kit. Note that you don’t need a computer in order to record your voice. The mic plugs into the preamp. The preamp plugs into the recording device’s line input, and the headphones plug into the recording device’s headphone jack. Only the preamp requires AC power. The recording device uses a single AA battery which lasts a long time.

Podcasting Kit

This is hilarious (if you’re a geek!) … non geeks should stay away – you’ll only walk away more confused…

Rory and Scott go to TechEd

This is really cool stuff- it allows you to use a laptop/old pc/tablet pc as a second monitor… over Ethernet or WiFi. Yeah WiFi. For only $35. That’s nuts.

I think I’ll get this once I have a bigger desk and can set my PC and laptop side by side – I miss my dual monitors at home…

MaxiVista