Randy Wray’s Blog

I’ve seen him several times on my way home.  He has all the characteristics of being homeless.  It looks like he’s been without a shower for a long time.  He has his own shopping cart. 

Speaking of shopping carts and our musings yesterday regarding automation.  The majority of stores in this town have theft prevention devices installed on the shopping carts.  There are yellow lines on the edges of the parking lots.  The sign says if you take the shopping cart across the threshold the wheels will lock.  I’m curious to try it just to see if it works. 

He carries his things in the shopping cart.  Not that unusual.  You know the place in a shopping cart where small children ride?  That is where his Chihuaha sits.  The times I have seen him walking around he does not seem to be in any hurry.  He just takes his time and pushes his dog around in the shopping cart.  As I said, I’ve got to meet this guy and find out his story.

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If the names Wallace & Gromit are not familiar you should make it a point to get to know them.  Several years ago some friends gave us a box set of three episodes.  We were hooked.  Wallace is an inventor in the tradition of the absent minded professor.  Gromit, his dog, usually fixes the wayward invention.

I saw a machine that made me think of Wallace today.  It was an automated soda / beverage dispensing machine.  The cup drops onto the conveyor belt, goes for a short ride to the correct beverage.  The beverage gently dispenses incrementaly depending on the size of the beverage.  Once filled, the conveyor carries it around where an employee places a lid on the beverage.  What?  You can make such a cool machine and not automate the placement of the lid?

There are many such inventions that amaze and amuse me.  I’m always thinking about the thought process behind such inventions. 
"What we need to do is save 15 seconds by building a machine that will
cost thousands of dollars and require regular maintenance and
adjustments."

I also tend to think, how could we use this technology at church?  So how about automated communion dispensers?  Something that slides out (and makes the sound of a cd rom tray ejecting) from the pew in front of you? 

I won’t even start about the wonderful machine nestled within the heart of your local Krispy Kreme.  That machine is close to Greg’s heart and thus he, and he alone, should share.

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If you are keeping score at home the vote regarding the MEET AND GREET is 3 to 2 against and 1 either way.  For those of you who have not yet weighed in I’d love to hear from you.

There is a car in our neighborhood that has a large decal which proudly proclaims:  "This car is powered by the Holy Ghost."  I wonder what kind of ghost mileage it gets?

 The Greek Orthodox Church, just down the street from us, is having a Greek Food Festival.  They have large, colorful signs all over the front of their property advertising this event.  The Greek Food Festival at the Greek Orthodox Church, as the sign declare, is proudly sponsored by Coors and Coors Light.  Shouldn’t the festival be sponsored by Mythos?  In any case, that’s being powered by the spirit, several of them.

It reminded me of the time I saw a fund raising booth in the parking lot of a store.  The American Lung Society was selling candy to raise money.  I thought it would be appropriate for The American Diabetes Association to to put a booth right next to the ALS and sell tobacco products.

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I’ve been reading my latest edition of REV magazine, a trade publication for ministers, and would like you to weigh in on something.  One of the columns, entitled "view from the pew" allows members of the lay community (non-professional ministry members) to express their opinions on varying subjects. 

The title of this edition was "Let’s Not Stand and Greet Our Neighbor."  In this article the writer has nothing positive to say about the time in an assembly whereinwhich participants are asked to stand and greet someone next to them.  He refers to it as "the most dreaded time of any church service."  He writes:  "If it were up to me and every other parishoner I’ve talked to about this, we’d put a moratorium on "meet and greet" moments at church." He then proceeds to list everything he does not like about "meet and greet" and compares experiences in other venues of life (restaurants, airplanes) and how no other venue requires this.

Thoughts?  My first impression was to think seriously about what he was saying.  I want to be sensitive to elements of our corporate gathering that are not edifying and encouraging.

I’ve heard people complain about "meet and greet" before but their complaints have centered on their opinion that it was not an act of worship and thus should be excluded from the bookends of prayer (opening and closing).  Because we all know that acceptable worship that doesn’t bring down fire from heaven happens between the opening and closing prayer.

I’ve been trying to look at this issue objectively and take into consideration what he has to say.  I don’t want to taint the jury but the more I read the article the more it bothered me.  Especially the part "if it were up to me and every other parishoner I’ve talked to about this."  I know how we are.  We usually talk to the people who think like us.  Besides it would be easy to find the ANTI MEET AND GREETERS because they are the ones during the meet and greet that are not meeting and greeting.

 He says the meet and greet takes away dignity and sets people up to be uncomfortable.  He says it is not a meaningful time of fellowship just a superficial exercise of hand shaking.  It does not build community and does not promote love.  Wow.  Here I thought we were just trying to teach people the value of saying hello to someone else.

What of it?  What have I missed?  Talk to me about the meet and greet! 

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A friend of mine who is an exceptional golfer played a round with an elder and a couple of church members his first week on the job.  After striking a ball, not so well, he gently tossed his club back toward the direction of the cart.  The club traveled with greater force than he anticipated (so he says) covered the distance to the cart in the air stopping upon imact with the canopy strut of the cart.  Upon said impact the club broke in two.  Way to make a great first impression.

 I had that on my mind as I went to play golf this morning with an elder and two members.  I’m happy to report that I broke no clubs.  I damaged no carts.  I said no curse words (that anyone could hear).  And 6 more golf balls were added to the kingdom via the waters of baptism.

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In preparation for an upcoming Shepherd / Staff retreat we decided to read a couple of little books together.  I say little because they are short, to the point reads.  The first book Who Moved My Cheese?, by Spencer Johnson, deals with organizational change in a light-hearted manner in a parable about Cheese.

Here’s an excerpt from the forward by Ken Blanchard:

Living in constant white water with the changes occurring all the time at work or in life can be stressful, unless people have a way of looking at change that helps them understand it.

Ken writes about purchasing 200 copies of this book for every person working for his company.  To answer the question, "why give a copy to each person?" he writes:

Because like every company that wants to not only survive in the future but stay competive, [his company like other] companies are constantly changing.  They keep moving our "Cheese."  While in the past we may have wanted loyal employees, today we need flexible people who are not possessive about "the way things are done around here."

I’m faced with a dilemma in my new ministry position.  It is the same dilemma faced by every new minister, every new staff person, every new employee.  We come in with fresh eyes and see things that need to be changed, we see things that need to be fixed.  Ironically changing and fixing these things is usually what leads to us being fired or resigning.

Imagine how much healthier our churches could be if we had more "flexible people who are not possessive about the way things are done."  Imagine how much healthier you and I would be if we could be more flexible and not possessive about the way things are done. 

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School began today and so begins the new adventure of life at a Christian school. It will be our first time to actually pay for our kids to attend school. Do you notice anything about the picture? Yes, the kids have to wear uniforms to school. As you might imagine this has not been an exciting thing for the kids.

All I’ve heard about the last two weeks has been conformity and the freedom of self expression. Does it matter that I had to wear a uniform my entire grade school, middle school career? No, of course not. So I’m trying to show them ways they can still express individuality.

For example they can be creative with their shoes. How about some nice two-tone, patent leather shoes?  Reese has to wear a belt (yes, first time ever) but nothing says he can’t wear a Pat Boone belt, right? And underwear for example. I explained to him just this morning that he could get creative and wear crazy underwear - like his dad - when I used to wear underwear. Okay, I meant to say when I used to wear CRAZY underwear.

I’m okay with the uniform thing. I’m thrilled to be in the same facility as the kids during the day. I’m not wildly excited that I have to leave the house at 7:15AM (being more of a night owl and all) but maybe I’ll reach a new level of productivity being in the office so early. I might even start wearing underwear again. Okay, I meant to say I might even start wearing CRAZY underwear again.

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We’ve been on a mission to find cheese.  Not just any cheese.  Not that cheese that doubles as fishing bait.  Bonus points to the person who identifies the cheese.  And not that cheese that comes in a can.  You know the signs in the grocery store that tell you what items are on what aisle?  The WINCO actually has an overhead sign directing you to Aerosol Cheese.

We are looking for Manchego and Idiazabal cheese.  We are looking not to pay $20 a pound!  If we get desperate enough we may need someone from Arlington to go to COSTCO and overnight us some cheese.

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Madison tried out for a softball team this past week.  The team is a travel team and to say they take it seriously is an understatement.  She went from being the captain of her travel team in Arlington (and one of the top three players) to an unknown player with a lot of potential.  This, as you might imagine, made her nervous and aprehensive.  After two practices she was thinking about not playing with the team.

Enter Dad.  Who tried to reason with her and explain the way things are.  This of course, led to crying.  One of dad’s problems is that he talks to loud and loud talking is often interpreted as anger or coercion.  Enter Mom.  Who began to explain what Dad was trying to explain.

Facts:

1.  It doesn’t matter which team you try out for or play for right now.  You will be an unknown player with a lot of potential, regardless.

2. That being the case, you should give this team a try and see if you like it.  Nothing ventured nothing gained and nothing to loose.  You still get to play softball for a few months during fall ball even if you decide not to continue with the team.

 Reality:

1.  Dad is a loud talker.  But we’ve already covered that.

Madison decided to accept the invitation to play on the team.  She played with them in a tournament this weekend.  The coaches threw her right in the mix and from what I was told she played like an all-star.  She played first base and made several key plays.  She pitched throughout the tournament and had multiple strikeouts and scoreless innings.  Oh, and they won the tournament.  She has a medal.  You know what the medal says?  "Dad was right!"

So here’s where God get’s involved in things we might not think He cares about.  Turns out one of the girls lives close to us and will be going to the same school, in the same grade with Madison this year.  They will both be first year students at the school.  Turns out another girl on the team went to the school last year and will be attending with them.  It is the same Christian school that is located on the church grounds.

God does move in mysterious ways. 

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6AM Telephone rings repeatedly as faxes try to arrive from the East Coast.  Hello?  Time difference? 

Grumble, grumble get up. 

Buy an air filter for the van.

Drop off packages at the post office. 

Get the oil changed in the van.

Fill up the van with gas.  I actually paid a tenth of a cent less than $3 a gallon.  Thank you Costco.

Meet the family and the relatives from Santa Rosa at the church for the big tour.

Grocery shopping at WINCO. 

Sounds like a day off right? 

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