A discussion was going on in the office today about a user who has too many handheld items. I think the comment went something along these lines:

"He's got his tablet pc, his ipod, his ipac, his US cell phone and his international cell phone, his Palm, and his dictation device... How can we make all these things into one? WITHOUT using the duct tape feature?"

The "duct tape feature." I'll have to remember to check my devices for that one.

Some days I wish that missionaries were some kind of extrordinary people--the kind of people who don't have laundry to do. But when I dread washing my laundry, I try to reroute my thoughts into two directions.

1) Praise God I have clothes to wear!
2) Praise God for my supporters who through their financial support faithfully provide what I need to purchase clothes and even the laundry soap to wash my clothes with.

From the field: Pray for our young Bible School graduates. Many, like Rajesh, are just 6-8 months out of school and ministering in remote areas of Asia. They are people, just like you and me, adjusting to a new way of life, new responsibilities, and new challenges.

I don't usually post political items here on my blog, so please take this seriously. To quote: "This is one story of many that people normally don't hear, and one that everyone does."

Written by a Marine in his second tour of duty in Iraq, this brief report gives a little-seen, yet balanced perspective and is well worth the reading. Please, take time to read this.

Today at the ministry was busy when our print server failed to restart after a routine shutdown. Praise God for Altiris--new deployment software that made the day a lot easier. Now I've got a small list of things to take care of tomorrow: unloading/loading the dishwasher, installing database software before the day starts, attending IT meeting, working, shopping for veggies, attending prayer meeting, washing laundry, and packing for Thanksgiving in KS.

I was privileged to have supper with my TX pastor and his wife and family this evening. We've been trying to plan this for four months and finally pulled it off. Pizza and salad and ice cream. We talked about the ministry, our churches, our families, Monday Night Football, and dogs.

5 year old Cassidy told me I looked like Fiona when she's not green. Then she decided, no, you look like Cinderella. That's two comments from two unconnected girls in three days. And I'm still not sure whether looking like Cinderella is a compliment.

I was passing a co-worker in the hallway Friday when I decided to ask, "DB, if my sister and I came over to watch your kids, would you be interested in taking your wife out on a date?" Dumbfounded, DB replied that he and his wife had had an evening by themselves only once in the past two years, but he thought they would be very appreciate of the offer.

So Susan and I spent this evening with four delighful youngun's--eating mac and cheese, being "horsies", flying like airplanes, and playing hide and go seek. I hid under the bed--twice. They found me a lot faster the second time. We watched Andy Griffith, read Bible stories, and prayed bed time prayers.

When the happy couple returned, we were paid for our three hours by the joy on their faces.

Oh... and Kimberly soberly informed me I looked "just like Cinderella." Is that a compliment?

Today's funny techie story. Ever get those AOL CD's in the mail offering you a gazillion free hours during the next four weeks? Today's free CD was AOL 9.0 enhanced. I scanned it quickly on its way to the trash can..

The program should start automatically. If it does not, click on Start, Run on your task bar. Windows 3.1 users: Click File, Run from your Program Manager window.

Wait... Windows 3.1 users? On the internet? Using AOL 9.0 enhanced?

You've got to be kidding me.

I can't figure out a good way to explain it, but have you been in a situation where you were surrounded by people who were hurting themselves? Loving the ways of the world and immersing themselves in sin? Perhaps they weren't even aware of the hurt, but you knew. And it hurt, because you wanted better for them.

That's what the missionaries are surrounded by all the time. Sun worshippers--staring at the sun until they go blind. Bhuddists--begging for food in their saffron robes in an attempt to give up everything. Muslims--bowing five times a day in prayer. Dalits--scraping human waste out of the sewer as they pray for something better through reincarnation.

The missionaries are people--just like you and I. Pray for God's strength, for encouragement, for His joy, and for boldness.

There are many days I say to myself that I am going to leave the office at 5:30. Precisely. Then comes another helpdesk phone call. Today SL called at 5:32 to ask about Outlook folder permissions. We dragged the subfolder icon into a separate email and... [pause in writing the blog... called in for a meeting with my coordinator]

15 minutes later...

My sister said that yesterday was the my one year blogging anniversary! How she figured that out I'd like to know. I haven't figured that out yet. She also said she'd like me to get back to my building tour. Oops!

Congratulations to me!

Yesterday was a slower day for me at the office... followed by supper with a friend, a back rub for AJ, and some laundry and cleaning. Today was busier. Got the kitchen cleaned before work and then the workday was full of its own excitement. The printers in Missions stopped working and SG's phone software quit and SLU needed printer drivers. More positively, we hosted a one day Korean pastor's conference, got to eat real Korean food (although I skipped the kim-chee), and started getting computer and network stuff ready for the three new staff we have joining the ministry in the next week.

Three of IT are out sick... including SS, my assistant. He left about 4:00 this afternoon. Pat has been out for two days so far. Praise God for technology so he can work from home!

Today is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Please take a minute to uplift the Christians around the world who are paying dearly for their faith in Christ. Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners... Hebrews 13:3.

As we're playing our songs,
While we're singing them well,
Have we forgotten the lost,
The reality of hell.
If we say we love God,
Want to to see His will done,
Will we offer our lives,
Or just songs we have sung?

Do we even care?
When will we care....

To rescue the perishing,
Care for the the dying.
Jesus is merciful.
Jesus will save.

www.billyfoote.com

I made my cousin a deal this evening. Finish the project he'd been working on for two weeks by the time I finished cleaning the office building and we'd go to the rock climbing gym. He did and we did. We only stayed for a short time before leaving to accomplish our good deed for the evening. We bought a 30" mylar bullfrog balloon and drew a sign saying: "Don't Croak. Get well soon." Then we delivered it to a staff family who has four sick kids. We also delivered a set of Phase 10 cards to entertain them.

I am so thankful... thankful for God's grace. Thankful my cough has gone away. Thankful I didn't lose my temper today when I waited two hours at the dentist office to get my teeth cleaned only to find out they wouldn't clean my teeth today. Thankful that SS is starting to do some of the training. Thankful that God will continue to guide me through whatever he has in store for me.

And thankful for you!

Sunday, November 14th, is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. I'm sorry for not getting the news out earlier, but if you have access to your pastor or a Sunday School teacher, please share this with them. And/or mention it to your Bible Study or during prayer request time.

To quote from the website: We believe that prayer changes things. Exactly what happens is a mystery of faith. God invites us to present to Him our requests and to pray without ceasing. Persecuted Christians often plead for prayer to help them endure. The most we can do is the least we can do — pray.

Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. ~Hebrews 13:3

I finally took time today to snap pictures of the various parts of the building. I photographed the upper level and was almost through the donor relations department when I saw Chris trying desparately to find a file on his computer. Having just converted to Windows XP, he was pretty confused. So I laid down my camera and tried to help him find the file. Without a document name, location, creation date, or content text, finding a document can be a challenge. And we didn't find it. He finally concluded that he just hadn't typed in his notes from that meeting yet. So no success. But at least we were able to get ready of the nosy little puppy dog and teach Chris how to search in the Windows XP interface.

I think we did pretty good--considering I've only worked on XP 3-4 times in my life. Computer change too quickly!

Post note: THANK YOU for your prayers for my cough. It's almost all gone now! It did show up this afternoon when I had the hiccups. And I had the hiccups--THREE TIMES!

I must be growing.

The lyrics of an old hymn/new bridge have been coursing through my mind all day. Even this evening, as I clambered around the walls of the rock climbing gym with my cousins, the song continued to echo.

Rescue the perishing...
Care for the dying...
Snatch them in pity...
From sin and the grave.
Weep o're the erring one...
Lift up the fallen...
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.

Church, Open your eyes once more...
And see what Christ died for.
Jesus is mericiful. Jesus will save.

www.billyfoote.com

Scope creep. No, it's not some weird guy who actually uses mouthwash. It's a result of an undefined project. Have you ever had one of those? A small request that suddenly becomes larger. "Stacy, we'd like some really simple lights for my one-act show. Just a couple of _________." You set the lights up, but... that's not quite what they wanted. Just a few changes. And a few more. And suddenly you've put 50 hours of work into what WAS just a small lighting request.

I had scope creep just after I arrived two years. Asked to find out how to link and position a picture in a word document. Got it! Then could I make a macro to do that automatically. Well, okay. Here you go. But we wanted the macro to do this too. Well, we can add that. And next thing you know I've spent 2 months writing macros for this four hour project.

My assistant had scope creep yesterday and today. He was asked to create a power point presentation for when Bro. KP speaks this weekend in CA. 16 hours of work later, SS had a script and 140 slide PPT ready. He stopped by to check the final product and found out the leaders were expecting a presentation of 4-5 slides. Oops.

My cousin SS and I stayed out late (10:30) last night setting up a staff member's home DSL account. It took longer than we anticipated since it wasn't a linksys router, but rather a modem/router/accesspoint all in one from 2Wire. But since supper and snacks came with the night's engagement...

Today SS did power point training Part 1 for the staff--teaching them how they can put together their own power point presentations as they speak at churches and share the ministry with their supporters. Each of the staff members raise their own support so that when you sponsor a missionary, 100% of the support goes to the mission field.

Thank you for your prayers for my cough. I think it's slightly better today. Your prayers are hugely vital part of the ministry. I was just thinking back to a year ago when I was tired so much of the time for no particular reason. Then the dental work had to be done and they discovered the low-grade infection that had been raging throughout my mouth. Thanks to your prayers, that is taken care of now and I feel so much better on an everyday basis.

Glory to God!

Today is a big day! I'm on my way to vote! Then off to the office for special prayer (one of our IT members was in a car accident yesterday--he's home but hurting). After prayer, I have my monthly meeting with my coordinator. Then we have 18 people who are changing offices at the ministry today. Leadership has made some changes in an attempt to use our resources most effectively. So we'll be swapping network cords and phone cords and installing new printers. And I need to finish my newsletter.

The staff moving makes it rather confusing for my prolonged building tour. Do I tour you through the way the building used to be set up? Or the way things are set up now? Maybe I'll just take it one step at a time.