Mobile Ministry Magazine

I was reading at the website Autoblog a few minutes ago and one of the articles pointed to another website who reported that Audi sent an email to owners letting them know that some problems weren't problems, but features. While the article made a great point about sometimes designing something innovative as a good thing only when it is easily learned. And in a moment of reading that, I wondered how often we walk into a setting where we assume that someone knows that something is doable because they use a particular tool. I say this in reference to the Bible and maybe no knowing passages, but also in technology and not knowing abilities.

I can remember when people first saw me with my old Palm Zire71 PDA. It had a great hidden camera feature, but to those that knew nothing about hidden cameras, cameras in PDAs, or even PDAs, they thought that it was broken but that the "break" was some new fangled feature. After explaining it to them, they realized the value of the hidden camera and some even looked to purchase that model. But the point is clear, we might have a new way of looking at the world thru the lens of Scripture with our technology, but it means nothing if we cannot speak simply.

In terms of that website, I continued reading the rest of the items on the front page and a reoccuring theme was apparent, if something doesnt work as advertised or is easy to grasp quickly, why would someone engage it. With many people, the stress of a problem means they need a solution quick. And if the technology fails, or the index fails to reference something very needed, then the value is lost.

So as you take this holiday to show some new gadgets and even some old ones, remmber to share a bit of understanding. You will turn the light on without even realizing it.