Un-Wired-er

So I was driving to the School this morning to drop off 2 of my kids, and when I turned a sharp corner, my coffee spilled. Because I was trying to drive, I shouted, "Grab that!" to my kids. That's when one of them quickly grabbed the cup (which has a lid, but was still spilling) and put it into the cup holder. Upside down.

So then I had a small pool of coffee filling each cup holder.

But that's not the "un-wired-er" part, it just set the tone for what happened next. In my last post I mentioned that most of my current technology is on it's last ragged leg. Well, now I can add my electric razor to that mix. After the coffee incident, I went back to driving...and shaving. (I know that may freak some people out, but I keep my eyes completely on the road while driving and shaving. Fortunately, I've become pretty familiar with my face over the years. Or maybe I should say, "unfortunately." But, I digress.)

Anyway, when I finished shaving, I tried to turn off the razor, but the button was stuck. It would not budge. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz was the constant noise as I tried to turn the silly thing off. Bzzzzzzzzzzzz It just wouldn't stop. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz All right, I get it! I get it! Bzz. It was like a scene from "The Return of the Pink Panther." "Turn off! Turn off! You swine razor!" Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

About 10 minutes later, by some wierd fluke, I tried to turn it off again, and it just went off. "Snap!" and no more buzz.

That's when I glanced in the mirror and noticed that I had missed a spot...

Un-Wired...

I used to be wired. I mean, really wired. I had the latest gadgets, and was always upgraded on time. The latest version of any of my techno tools was the one I was using. I even poured over Wired(tm) magazine each month.

But not now.

Since planting North Point, the cash flow has been in a totally different hemisphere than when I was on staff at a stable, established church. As a result, I've stretched my current technology to the absolute max over the last year and half or so. And now it's starting to go out in a blaze of glory, as it were.

So here's the latest. My Toshiba Satelite 1805-S274 laptop was getting the job done just fine until the cool 15.0" diagonal TFT active-matrix display developed a short somewhere in the hinge and stopped working. This of course, is when I developed a short somewhere in the hinge and stopped working.

But, still ever the resourceful one, I hooked it up to a different monitor while I had it at home, and "worked it back and forth like crazy" till it came on while I was on the road. Not the best scenario, but it worked.

Then it developed a short in the power cord. Just a little thing. Just a little wire... A slight adjustment, and it was fine, usually. That is, until this past Sunday. On that day the short decided to hide forever within the wire and make itself unavailable for correction. What a little electric punk. And before long, the battery power had also gone the way of the dodo bird, and "Mr. Toshiba" was now officially in a coma. No amount of resuscitation would turn the thing back on.

This is a major problem. (I've got to remember to back my files up one of these days...)

So I ordered a new cable from the company, and it should be here today. $74.00 and 4 days later, I can finally get to a ton of work related items that have been lying in the dark abyss of electrical blackout, including Sunday's message that has been in limbo on the hard drive for four days.

Oh yeah, the Cd player lid is broken, my Pocket PC bit the dust, and lightning took out my DVD player. I'm typing this on my old Desktop that I've had since 1999 that is running windows 98.

Me go back to cave, now. Work on Blog later. Ug.

My great reason for "Affair Proofing" My Marriage...:-) 

At the Celebrate Roanoke Event on Saturday, 10.02.2004 

Affair Proofing Your Marriage:: Sunday, 10.03.2004

This Sunday the message is called, "Fleeting Glances: Affair Proofing Your Marriage." I have to admit that this is a message that has been emotionally tricky for me to prepare for. Not because I have something to confess, here, but because I have so many friends and family members who have slipped into the danger zone and have ended their marriages because of an affair. I also know that without some basic guidelines in place, it can happen to anyone.

One friend of mine in particular just went public with an ongoing affair. I'm not sure if it was because he was caught or because he just felt that it was time to bring it into the light, but either way, it came as a shock to everyone. He has children and he was the pastor of a large church. The ripple effect comes into play here, in a big way. I wonder how many people will give up on God (Who is perfect & loving) because of this guy (Who is imperfect & selfish) who has made a series of bad choices?

The truth is, all of our choices affect the people around us. That's why we absolutely need to be talking about this issue. Especially in church. Marriage was God's idea, after all - and He knows how it works best.

I'd love to hear some feedback/stories or anything you think might help me prepare for this message...

Tall Tales...

This past weekend I was the guest "Story teller" for the Wild, Wild West Fest Education Day in Keller. Basically six or seven groups rotated through different stations to learn about horseshoeing, the cowgirl musem, and other "frontier type" stuff. What a hoot.

I was invited because North Point has participated in many Keller Parks and Recreation events as volunteers, and the director knows I am a pastor. I guess she figured that I could tell a good story. (I'm not fully sure how to take that, but was glad to fill in nonetheless.)

So here's the deal. I did a bit on "Tall Tales." Rather than just tell the kids (1st-5th graders) about Johnny Appleseed or Pecos Bill, I decided to give them the characteristics of Tall Tales, and create one "live on the spot" with their help. That's when the fun began. I asked for a volunteer Teacher from their group, and we made up some stuff about their background - essentially I made them the hero of the story.

I Used 4 basic characteristics of Tall Tales:
1. Hero usually had an interesting/unusual birth or childhood.
2. Hero usually had a special superhuman ablility of some sort.
3. Hero usually had a big problem to solve.
4. Hero usually had a special item or animal that helped them solve the problem.

I know that there are more characteristics, but I only had 25 minutes for each group. I took each one of those and made up something goofy and the kids & adults were soon laughing out loud. I made sure the Teacher was the ultimate hero by the end of the story. Pretty fun interactive kind of thing.

So there I was. Dressed like a cowboy dude. Cow pattern bandana straight from "The Far Side." Straw Cowboy hat. Brown Eastland brand shoes instead of boots. Unshaven. Talking about Tall Tales.

What's funny to me about this is that I'm no cowboy. I don't even like country music. I was born and raised in the city. Sure, it was Shreveport, but it was still the city! North Point Fellowship is a contemporary church. This Sunday, the band, Everlight is leading worship with lead & rhythm guitars, bass & drums. They're leading off with a song by "The Benjamin Gate," for heaven's sake. I don't own a truck. It was acting pure and simple.

I remember thinking that this particular event might not exactly represent who I am or who North Point Fellowship is very well. I was not even looking very forward to it. But I have to admit, when the groups all laughed when they were supposed to, the adults were giving me great feedback and the kids were giving me their complete attention - it was a pretty fun time, all in all. But based on my look and the event itself, even I was a tall tale!

And I lost my voice. And had my photo in the paper (The Keller Citizen). ... On the front page. The caption read, "Right, Johnny Leckie - Pastor of North Point Fellowship in Roanoke - spins a tall tale using teacher Jack Hartsfield's fictional past."

Normally that would be something I was, er, shooting for. But now I'm thinking, "Are people going to see this and think that I'm a cowboy guy?" Will they come to North Point expecting to hear, "Shall We Gather At The River?" "Howdy?" "Y'all come back now?" Straw hat. Cow pattern bandana...

Hey, folks. I hope you show up at North Point anyway. But don't expect the Tall Tales. ...Or the hat.

The Next Step

Welcome to The Next Step!

This is the natural next step for me and for North Point Fellowship, the church that I Pastor in the Alliance, Texas area. It will allow me to go deeper with messages and series that we do at North Point, and also provide a place for me to allow people to preview articles and a future book that I am working on.

I'm glad you're here. I hope you enjoy the content that is on its way. Look for more around October 2004.