real words

Open Letter to YouVersion

Well, I asked my loyal readers/followers/friends what would make youversion.com better and neither of you had a single idea…or you think YouVersion is perfect just the way it is.  Actually, Darren tried to leave a comment, but alas, comment part of my blog went belly up; that one’s on me.  (By the way, the mission critical parts of the blog are working, but there are some cosmetic things I’m still working through.)  I even provided an idea to prime the pump, “Out-Google Google/Youtube; make on-line sermons, (youtube, vimeo, tokbox, podcasts, etc.) searchable and cross-referenced via search terms, Twitter hashtags, etc.”  But, I got nothin’ from you, so I guess I’m on my own.

As visionary as my prime-the-pump suggestion was I realized that it’s an awfully selfish suggestion.  Ultimately it’s born of a desire to make my life easier.  Oh, and it’s also trying to show-off; to show how outside the box I can think…well, maybe not that far outside of the box.

All of my other ideas were self-serving as well: syncing bookmarks between platforms, i.e. Firefox and iPhone; downloadable reading plans; off-line reading; live chat with friends…on and on ad nauseum.

So, here’s an idea that really doesn’t help me at all.  It’s what one of my best friends would call a “Kingdom Idea.”  And, yeh, I’m intentionally trying to get out of the box.

With that said, I’m offering an open letter to youversion.com; let’s think of it as a challenge.  That’s right, I’m throwing down and talkin’ smack!  Let’s see what you got, playahs!

My idea starts with a client for the One Laptop Per Child initiative [http://wiki.laptop.org/go/The_OLPC_Wiki] notebook called the “XO”.  An open-source Linux client for Sugar should be easy.  How about an Adobe Air app for the Microsoft XP “lite” OS that runs some XOs?  Another possibility is a Java client.  Porting the existing smart phone Java client for youversion over to the XO shouldn’t be too difficult.

Rwanda is getting ready to distribute 100,000 XOs to their children [http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1997940,00.html?xid=rss-mostpopular] and then follow up with a distribution to at least half of their 2.5 million remaining school children.  What if each of those had a copy of the Bible, or even just the New Testament, in Kinya-rwanda, French and English on it?  That would rock like a hurricane!

Peru and Argentina plan on distributing 260,000 and 60,000 respectively.  A Spanish translation on each one?  Dude!

I realize there are a ton of “politically incorrect landmines” to this plan of installing Bibles on PCs distributed by governments.  I don’t know Mr. Negroponte, chairman of the OLPC idea, personally and I don’t know his spiritual disposition, but there probably will be some substantial hurdles to overcome the “proselytizing” aspect of this.

So, why not develop, build and distribute our own $100 PC?  We can call it the “tO!”  Get it?  The “t” looks like a cross.  Oh, well, marketing isn’t my thing.

But really, it can be done.  We’ve spent $250 billion in American churches over the last decade or so.  We can certainly can poney-up $181 per notebook (yep, that’s what the XO costs) to equip missionaries to build relationships through education and technology.  Yeh, I know that there are technophobes who think that technology is inherently evil, but once upon a time the Guttenberg press was cutting edge and look where that got us.

We don’t need to start “over-there”, either.  We could start right here with at-risk kids in our cities or on Native American reservations.  There’s no shortage of beta-testers.

And, the money is out there, too.  I’ve worked a telethon for CBN, c’mon Patty Rob.  Or, how about the Salvation Army?  They’re still working through that cool $1 billion from the Kroc’s (the brains behind McDonald’s).  I know that the Kroc donation is intended for Kroc Centers, but think about each kid that comes to a Kroc Center with their own PC with the youversion app on it.  S. Truett Cathy?  I’d give up my profit eating Chik-fil-a coupons to free up some funds for this project.  I don’t know Mr. Cathy, but I bet he’d be all about this.  Hey, Southern Baptists…how about throwing some of your Great Commission Resurgence money behind this?

Yep, the money is there.  Besides, God’s plan done God’s way never lacks God’s supply.  He owns the cattle on a thousand hillsides.  If He needs to raise some capital He can sell some burgers.

Anyway, there’s my idea.  Do with it what you like, but please don’t waste it.  And, if you need someone to head up this project, then I’m available.  Hmmm, I guess this idea was a bit self-serving after all.

Oh, one more idea…how about a cooler mobile app icon?  Really, is that brown thing really representative of the most progressive, visionary Christian on-line presence in the world?

Catherine Booth in Prison

I actually wrote this several years ago, but am posting it now in honor of my mom’s birthday which is actually tomorrow. We celebrated last night via a Skype conference call (isn’t technology amazing?).

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,” Isaiah 61:1
 
I’m going to steal my mom’s best sermon illustration.  My dad likes to talk so mom doesn’t get to preach much, but when she does, duck.  The Holy Spirit moves, hard.  Some people live what they preach, mom preaches what she lives.  She walks the walk before she talks the talk.  So when she finally talks, the gospel has already been preached through her life.

This one particular story is of Catherine Booth, wife of William Booth, Founder of the Salvation Army.  It’s not commonly known, but Catherine was not only a dynamic preacher, she also had tremendous impact on William’s establishment of the Salvation Army.  In particular, it’s commitment to complete abstinence from alcohol.

Once, when preaching in a prison, there was a small voice that heckled Catherine, deep from the bowels of the prison, “If you love me, show me.”

At first Catherine ignored the voice, and continued on with the sermon.  But the voice grew more insistent, “If you love me, show me.”  The voice echoed through the stone corridors, it cracked with each word.  As Catherine continued the message of hope, the voice continued to haunt her from the darkness, “If you love me, show me.”

When the sermon came to its conclusion, Mrs. Booth walked deeper into the recesses of the labyrinth, the wailing continued, “If you love me, show me.”  Catherine felt her way through the darkness, the stench choked her lungs, the voice pierced her soul, “If you love me, show me”.

At the very end of the hallway was a single cell.  Peering through the bars stared a ghostly apparition.   A pair of deep set eyes, hovering in a face gaunt with emptiness, were glazed with the apathy of hopelessness.  The face of oozing sores, swollen blistered lips, and infected boils seemed to hang in the darkness.  And through clenched teeth, the mocking voice continued to pierce the soul of Catherine, “If you love me, show me.”

Catherine’s reached toward the voice and took the bony face in her small hands.  But the voice continued, “If you love me, show me”.  Brushing away hair crusted with dried blood, Catherine drew the face closer.  And the cry continued, “If you love me, show me”.  Catherine’s lips pressed against the infected cheek and kissed the soul of hopelessness.

Love had been shown.  The bridge had been built, the cross had won out.  The love of Jesus had been poured through the life of an eccentric evangelist’s wife.  Looking through the eyes of Christ, Catherine saw what the world had ignored.  She saw a lost, tortured, frightened child, in need of a Savior.  And like the Savior, she not only had compassion, she showed compassion.

There is no place in the Bible where it says that Jesus had compassion without His acting on it.  He prayed, he fed, he healed, always an action.  Never just words.

Look through His eyes, see the hurt He sees.  Let His love, His compassion, overflow through you.  When confronted with anger, see the torment.  When persecuted with callousness, see the pain.  When ridiculed with contempt, see the soul lost in the darkness.

And put His love to action.  Your love will run out, His never will.