I'm going to try to put together a packet of information to send to churches, Rachel has some Tupperware activities so I'll be home alone tonight. In speaking with Mr. Lippy, one of the Mission Leadership Team (MLT) members at my parents church, he encouraged me not to be concerned with providing too much information. He and the other MLT wanted to know as much as possible. My previous relationship with them means we have a base to stand on already. Mr. Lippy's service on the pastoral search committee at CBC gives him a real neat perspective on the workings of this sort of thing. His encouragement reminded me of a conversation Rachel and I had with my dad and mom in which the topic of secrecy in ministries came up. This secrecy can be very damaging and we discussed briefly what it had looked like when it was absent in a few situations. It, alone, can make the difference between trust and distrust. So, I'm going to capitalize on something God equipped me with. I tend to be very open as long as I don't feel threatened. I'll need to keep this in the forefront.

I thought I'd share my memory verse for poetical books class. It is Proverbs 30:7-9 (NASB).

Two things I asked of You,
Do not refuse me before I die:
Keep deception and lies far from me,
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with the food that is my portion,
That I not be full and deny You and say, "Who is the LORD?"

I've been reading "Friend Raising". This is a book that encourages missionaries in the "pre-field ministry". It reminds us, among other things, that we aren't looking for financial supporters, but friends. I see this as having once been an issue for me, but God has been preparing me to do a better job.

I don't naturally make much of a friend. I tend to be quiet and aloof. This is a personality thing that God has made me well aware of and I've been learning to get past. On the Internet, it is much easier. I don't have to jump in to comment. I can talk without worrying about interrupting people and they have the ability to review what I said if they misunderstood my intention. I can also direct my words to people who have similar interests. In other words, I'm more certain that the intentions in my words are communicated.

If you haven't been noticing various websites taking advantage of "tags" yet, you will. This is another one of those things that the website guys have been talking about for so long that they forgot to tell the rest of the world what it is. I'll see if I can fill you in a bit, since they forgot. :-) It is simple and really useful if you know what the point is.

Computers and humans "see" files like pictures, emails and websites in a very different ways. This makes it difficult for a computer to understand what connections the human brain makes to a picture. Let's say I see a picture of a massive oak tree standing in the middle of a field of wild Maine blueberries. The leaves of this ancient oak have reached the peak of their color change and stand out in gold against the sea of green and blue of the low-lieing blueberry bushes. When we look at such a sight, we see beautiful colors and find aesthetic value. We also immediatly recognize the structure of a tree and field.

Many of you may have heard about the issue over the documentation format that the state of Massachusetts has been making a fuss over. It must sound downright silly to the casual listener of the news, but it has been a big deal in the technical community.

This also is a big deal to the casual listener, but you need a framework to put such thoughts in. Hopefully I can put that together for you. Ultimately, it is about what it costs you to get to your data.

Jones Soda is among my favorite in the category of novelty items. My mother-in-law happened across the Limited Edition 2005 Holiday Pack yesterday while out shopping with Rachel. It is a collection of five bottles of soda, each with a different holiday themed flavor. Jones doesn't have the '05 holiday site up yet, but the '04 holiday site can be found here.

This year the packaging is a bit more of a modern holiday orientation. Last year it was more of a retro holiday look as seen in the picture included here.

Rachel came to the conclusion that the giving page was way over-complicated. That's probably because I made it. She handed me a few sketches and paragraphs with her concept on simplification. I think it helped. We also published PDF forms for both Direct Giving and One Time Gifts.

I'm working on a history page to be added to this mission site. This was by reccomendation of Eric A. He thought that if he'd just shown up that one of the things he'd want to do would be find out about how God led us into this ministry. I thought it was a great idea and so I'm building a page around that idea now.