Marc’s Musings

Last weekend, I helped my parents set up their NetZero dial-up internet access. (It felt so 1990’s!)

The process went pretty smoothly…much to my mother’s irritation. (She’d spent 4 1/2 hours the night before trying to do it. Mom, you’ve gotta plug the phone cord into the laptop!)

But it also had example of the current (dismal) state of customer service.

NetZero noticed the program I was using was out of date and IE wasn’t loading properly. So they had a helpful screen showing me the link for the updated version and telling me how to install it.

But down at the bottom of the screen that shows up if you are having problems connecting to the internet, they said something like, “Need help? You can reach our free customer service by emailing us here at FabulousCustomerService@netzero.com.”

Sheesh. If I’m having trouble with the internet, how am I going to email!

It’s like when your internet connection is down so you call your ISP. Why do they have to point out that “most of the answers” to my questions are conveniently located at their website.

It doesn’t even feel better to yell, “If I could get to your website I wouldn’t be calling you right now!”

I sure am glad most of my life goes much more smoothly than this!

Have you heard of hypermiling? They claim they can get about 40 mpg without a hybrid.

After hearing a brief NPR story on hypermiling yesterday, I tried driving with one shoe off. Weird. But effective.

Here are some tips from Wired.com.

There’s even a www.hypermiling.com complete with a CafePress store.

We have primaries here in Maine tomorrow. We have an incredible privilege in getting a say in how we’re governed.

So vote.

For information on the referendum on tomorrow’s ballot, go to:
http://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming.html.

There are other great resources at: MPBN.net.

Yesterday we had a first: Emily and I sat on the lawn and read for a couple hours. The kids played in a blow up pool.

No computers. No phones. Just relaxing.

We haven’t sat side-by-side on the lawn like that once since we moved to Waterville.

I’m liking this resting thing.

Today, when we told a friend at Vineyard Church of Lewiston that we’d closed VCW, he compassionately said, “This has been a really tough season for you guys, hasn’t it?”

I don’t remember how I responded. But it got me thinking.

I’m really doing fine with closing the church. I miss it. Alot. I hope I get to be a pastor of a church again.

And yes, we’ve been through more “tough” situations in the last 3 1/2 years than I can remember. I’ve been in leadership positions since I was a kid. But pastoring a church was the first time I was required to be a leader.

But God never promised me a thriving, vibrant church. Or tons of healings or salvations. Or anything. As far as I know, He didn’t promise it to anyone that called VCW “home.”

All I know is that God called my family to Waterville. He promised to be with us. And He is.

And we’ve gotten to see the Kingdom break out. People have been healed. Lives have been changed. People are following Jesus more closely than they were earlier.

It’s really good. And I wouldn’t want to be any place else.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy has an interesting article about the giving habits of Xers.

GenXers tend to give less money to religious causes than Boomers. Not a big suprise given that we’re not yet at our “maximum earning” age. But what’s chilling to fundraisers is that:

The difference in giving among the generations appears to be related to attendance at religious services, which has declined nationwide, said Bill Enright, one of the Center on Philanthropy researchers.

A generation ago, more than 40 percent of Americans attended weekly religious services, but that figure has shrunk to about 25 percent, he said.

I know for a fact that those of us under 45 are very open to spirituality and to Jesus. More so than many of our older relations. But evidently we’re not that big on gathering.

That’s scary. I love being part of such an independent cohort. But it makes isolation that much easier. And when we isolate, even Jesus followers, we’re sitting targets for the enemy.

Anyone who’s watches the Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom knows that.

Oops, did I just date myself?

Chris Forbes just posted a link to a great blog post: “Bootleg Faith”.

As a pastor, I’ve become highly aware of the tendency of other people to live their faith off of what I say to them. Scary, isn’t it?

Sure, what I say and do should lead people closer to Jesus.

But it’s scary when people forget that the pastor isn’t God. Each of us need to be hearing directly from God. We definitely need to do that in the context of a community of faith with great pastoral leadership. But simply being in a community of faith with great leadership is no substitute for hearing from God.

In the blog post, Ginger (the blogger) compares her using someone else’s WiFi signal to access the web with the way we often slip into “accessing” God. In it, she says:

But when it comes to my hearing directly from God, I admit, I’m guilty of sponging off other’s signals, from pastor to friends, even shaky two bar signals from popular TV evangelists.

Read the whole post. It’s good for your soul.

(Who wouldn’t want to read a blogger that calls Bible reading “the caffeine of Christianity”?!)

I’m loving using Twitter.com!

It’s so much fun being limited to just 140 characters per blog post. And it’s really neat connecting with people on it.

If you’re on Twitter, feel free to follow me at: http://twitter.com/marcapitman. (You can also go there to see the micro-blogging I do, like my pre-church and during church tweets!)

It’s weird to think that two weeks ago today, we closed the Vineyard Church of Waterville.

I’ve posted new pictures from that day at:
http://marcpitman.com/2008/05/18/funeral-for-a-church-an-order-of-worship/

I also have pictures from our gas pay down a couple at:
http://marcpitman.com/2008/05/16/free-gas/

I’ve been wanting to blog more about the last couple weeks. Church in Lewiston today was ???????? ????? ????????awesome.

But it’s now almost 10 p.m. and I am supposed to be in a “rest” period. So I’m going to bed.

Night, night!

I just found this note Cale wrote about a year ago.