Microsoft

I never realized how accurate this ad is until the past couple days when I had to do some tech support on a Vista machine in a church office. It's ridiculous how often you get asked to do, well, just about anything in Vista. Of course, it's all because the base operating system has so many security holes that make it an easy target for a third-source that might want to damage your files. All of this reminded me of a quote I heard a while back, "Mac OSX, because making UNIX user friendly, was easier than fixing Windows."

All of this got me to thinking about how we address various issues in our life, be it a personal struggle, relationships, a group we're a part of, or whatever else. When an issue comes, are we like Microsoft folks who focus on eliminating the symptom (there's a risk for a security breech so we'll put something in place to guard the gaping hole), or do we take a Mac approach and address the actual problem (getting rid of the hole)?

I'm thinking, more often than not, when confronted by something, we look at what's right in front of us, the symptom, and try and deal with that, rather they trying to diagnose what's behind the symptom (the actual problem). The problem is, we address one symptom and another appears ... and then another ... and then another ... and then another.

However, if we operate diagnostically and use the symptoms to lead us to the actual problem, we can actually find a viable solution.

Thoughts? Are you a symptom or disease kind of person? Have any examples to share?

Many of us love Mac ads, be it Mac vs. PC or just a new product being unveiled with catchy music. So, what happens when Microsoft attempts to be creative? This:

On another note, for all of you in the LCMS, doesn't this remind you of most of our video production and creative communications?

The other night I watch the D5 joint-interview featuring Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (download via iTunes here). While the two are obviously very differences in their personalities and they exchanged some entertaining barbs, as they sat there on the stage together, either they are amazing actors or there is no bitterness between them. I found this to be incredibly refreshing.

As I mentioned the other day, I've been reading Alan Hirsch's The Forgotten Ways. While it has a few elements of brilliance (there is a blog on the way both here and on the Genesis blog about his "Jesus is Lord" chapter), there is also this incredible bitterness. As a friend put it, according to Hirsch, Jesus said something to the effect of, "Oh crap, what am I going to do now?" when Constantine became a Christian. Flowing out of this is the general idea that the last 1,700 years of Christianity have been a complete waste and we really need to hate our past if we're going to look towards our future (note, this is different than looking at our past with rose colored glasses).

It seems to me that it would be far more productive to celebrate the good things that flowed out of the Church while we had home court advantage. Take for example the number of people who are now with Christ because there was so much freedom to share the Gospel or, more directly impacting us, we have some amazing artistic expressions of faith in the fields of painting, sculpture, architecture, and music (talk about wonderful discussion starters on the kind of faith that would drive someone to produce such works).

At the same time, while honoring our past, we can also say that the Church now holds or is moving towards a different place in the world ... a place where we are on the fringes of society rather than in the center. Given this new place, it should force us to rethink how we do ministry. Given that we're in the transition, this means we'll have congregations of both kinds active in our midst, side by side, sharing the same Gospel together. Wouldn't it be beautiful if we, like Microsoft and Apple, could be different but not bitter?

By the way, don't worry, I'm not going to end my friendly barb that describes Microsoft as the Budweiser of the computer industry, that is, a product lacking character, distinction, and style so it can have mass appeal.