Free WIFI in and around Lititz, PA

A staff member and I were conversing the other day about free WIFI areas suitable for working out of the office. They were thinking of heading down to Panera Bread toward Lancaster. But I shared of WIFI locations I had learned of in and around Lititz. Do you know of others?

Giant Food Store at the Shoppes of Kissel Hill - They've put in a adequately decorated indoor/outdoor cafe that serves Bucks County Coffee, has nice seating areas that appear comfortable and a picturesque fire place.

Brick House Cafe two blocks north of the square in Manheim - a relatively new coffee shop that serves sandwiches and wraps, has a hodge-podge of indoor seating with a second floor seating as well, in addition to a small serene outdoor seating area.

Starbucks at the Shoppes of Kissel Hill - I'm assuming they offer WIFI as 'Bucks has the reputation for offering it at every store, but I can't say I've confirmed it. Their seating area leaves a lot to be desired, especially needing more seats, but I bet you could be in Saladworks and still get a signal. Not that Saladworks is a cozier environment.

Elementary Hallway at Grace Church - Yeah, we've actually offered free WIFI in the elementary classroom hallway since 2000. The signal doesn't reach too far beyond that hallway, but for what it's worth, it's there.

Those are the WIFI hot spots that I know of, can you think of others?

Bringing pets to Grace Church

Did you see the Golden Retriever in church a few weeks ago? One of the families in our body is training a dog to be a seeing-eye dog and asked for permission to bring the dog with the to church for exposure to people.

With a daycare and school, and the potential allergies of the children in our care, we have to be cognizant of the animals that enter our facility. Anytime you wish to bring an animal into our building, we ask that you seek approval from Rick Bernhardt, Pastor Scott or myself. This should not be misconstrued as an anti-animal stance. We are very fond of animals and feel they play a vital part in the education of children so long as the allergen concerns of each child are addressed in advance... thus the need to request in advance prior to bringing your animal to the building.

A mug, 32 packets of gelatin, 1 pack of lime jello

Should you happen to forget a common item in my office, you never know where it might end up...

Tuesday's with Lenny: Ephrata Fair

Dad must've heard an add on WDAC for an upcoming fair or something which prompted him to request that we check one out. If you've never found it, the Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs is a great website for finding fair dates. In fact, until only recently, I insisted that the local fairs be listed on the master calendar at church due to the impact fairs have on week-night ministry attendance.

We headed out to the Ephrata Fair this evening right after leaving work. Beth and I had checked the fair out several years ago, so this wasn't my first experience. I'm really intrigued at the cultural similarities though physically they're miles apart - Fiesta in the farming town I grew up in the Philippines and the fairs of Lancaster County are eerily similar. Then again, Roots Country Market is almost exactly identical to the town market of Labo; Labo's just has a better fish section... smells worse and has more flies than Roots. Other than that, you could click and drag one market or fair from one country and drop it in the other and you'd see very few differences. So we headed to Ephrata for Fiesta...

Dad and I walked as much of the fair as we could discover. We happened upon the Cornerstone Mennonite Church booth. I was well on my way to keep walking by, but Dad stopped to talk. See, close to 30 years ago he participated in a similar type of church outreach at the Princeton Shopping Center handing out copies of the New Testament. About eight years later Dad was at Washington Bible College recruiting future missionaries and had a conversation with an individual who, upon being asked how he came to know Christ, shared a story about accepting Christ when talking with a group that was handing out New Testaments at the Princeton Shopping Center. The guy returned from his dorm room with the New Testament he received that day with the church's name imprinted on the back. The whole point of this is, Dad stopped at every church booth we passed Tuesday night, Cornerstone, the Bereans and the Gideons to share this story with them. He saw an opportunity to encourage them and seized it. Dad's abilities are limited, but it's not keeping him from constantly on the look for where God is working and how he can become a part of what God's up to. All the while I've got my head on a swivel to identify the nearest restroom and contemplating other matters...

The children's rides amuse me. I was so tempted to ask one of the operators how frequently their ride is inspected and what organization certifies them. As I watched little kids plunging up and down, riding in circles or teens on the ferris wheel, I'm checking my mobile phone and identifying the nearest cross street, at the ready to dial 9-1-1 and state the position of the accident.

And what's with the fish?!? You'd think PETA would be flipping out over the cruelty to those gilly-scaled creatures crammed in itty-bitty living spaces with vibrantly colored water.

Oh, and I'd love to see the financial statements of the whole deal. Like how much income do all of the game booths generate? And the operators, do they have a day job? What about the electric, I noticed the trunk lines running across streets etc.; how much electric does a fair consume?

I haven't frequented the area fairs enough to observe whether the same stands move from one fair to the next or whether you get different rides and food stands at each or not.

I enjoyed myself, finally getting the pulled-pork bbq sandwich I missed out on at the Rodeo. We sat by a ATM machine that apparently had an appetite having eaten the ATM cards of 4-5 people in a row. The day the fair starts taking cards is the day we'll start accepting cards at Grace. Actually, I'll come back to that topic in an upcoming post.

Dad faired well. Like clockwork, his medications slumped just after dinner time, but trooper that he is, he chose to press on and not miss out on the festivities. Food is amazing motivation. On our way out, we passed the U.S. Marines booth. Dad stopped there too to thank the Marine for his service to our country and his already three tours in Iraq. I hope I'm as tenacious in seeking out ways to encourage others in spite of the hand I'm dealt.

Tuesday's with Lenny

On Tuesday nights during the school year, Beth has rehearsal with the Ephrata Cloister Chorus, so except for when I have an Elder Executive Committee meeting to attend, I often spend Tuesday nights with my Dad.

Growing up, Dad and I didn't have the closest of Father/Son relationships and heading off to boarding school when I entered grade 4 didn't help. I can't imagine how difficult that was for my parents. Until that fateful Sunday night, one of my Dad's traditions with his two sons was to tell us purple squirrel stories. It was only when my parents dropped us off at the dorm that afternoon that it dawned on me that the purple squirrel tradition would end. Lovingly, Dad spend the better part of an hour walking around the yard, recording installments for us to listen to each night on a tape recorder. I don't know to this day whether that was premeditated or not. Sadly, we only listened to one or two episodes; it just didn't fit in with the dorm schedule and I let other interests invade my time. Never would I have guess that 20+ years later, we'd be where we are today.

Since Dad's moved in with us, coming up on 3 years ago now, I've had a lot of opportunities to share new experiences with him as we've traveled to doctor appointments, worked on getting his business matters in order and also pursued items of interest. He's not the man I knew growing up, the shell is the same, but his capacities are but a fragment of what was. Even so, we're able to experience things together and weld a relationship together.

And so many Tuesday's during the school year, Dad and I are doing something together. Last night, we took in the Ephrata Fair - more about that next time...

A silhouette against The Son

I don't consider myself a morning person, but I find the crack of dawn to be one of the most beautiful times of the day. I just marvel at the spectacularity of God and His creation. As I took a moment to ponder daybreak this morning the normally vibrant and colorful plants, trees and fowl were degraded to mere silhouettes, unique in their own right, but devoid of their wonder, overpowered by the magnificence of the rising sun. It dawned on me that we too will be eclipsed and a mere silhouette in the glory of the Risen Son!

Is our love for God evident in everything?

"When you do not pay your bills, you're marketing. When you do not cut your grass, you're marketing. ...You are shaping perception in the hearts and minds of your members and your target community..." Richard L. Reising

We're pretty good at paying our bills on time, and we're doing our best to keep the grass mowed, but I admit the exterior of our property doesn't reflect how much we love God and His people. If you'd like to help us in that cause, contact me.

Do you call Him LORD or Lord?

Ever notice when reading your Bible that you see Lord printed in all uppercase or small caps sometimes? As we print the Bible passage for the bulletin each week, we try to maintain the exact same printing as you'll find in your published Bible and that regularly means manually adjusting Lord using the small caps font feature in our publishing software. The English alphabet/language (who am I to be dissecting English?) doesn't convey the nuances of the Hebrew language like Hebrew text does; for one, English has fewer names for God than Hebrew does.

One minor tidbit I picked up in Bible College is that anytime you see LORD in all caps/small caps, it's specifically referring to YHWH or YAHWEH, commonly referred to as the Tetragrammaton. From the Preface to the New International Version, "...the translators adopted the device used in most English versions of rendering that name as "LORD" in capital letters to distinguish it from Adonai, another Hebrew word rendered "Lord," for which small letters are used.

The profs in Bible College also stressed that anytime we referenced to the books with numbers that we specifically use numerical numbers and NOT roman numerals such as 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings as opposed to I and II Samuel and I and II Kings. Though why this was stressed I'm still trying to figure out. Until I do, I won't require such usages in the Sunday bulletin, but we do attempt to faithfully reproduce the scripture text as accurately as possible.

Strengths & Weaknesses

I've been thinking about my strengths and weaknesses. I've looked to improve the areas that I've considered to be my weaknesses. In school, the classes in which I received lower grades were the classes I focused on more deliberately in my studies. In sports, the weaknesses of my soccer game have been the areas I've worked on. I've been challenged to look at that in reverse - focus on extending my strengths. The theory is that I have weaknesses because I'm not good at them. Concede that, cut the losses and invest my energies in the areas where I'm good. I've been chewing on this paradigm shift for a while; it's intriguing.

I don't like the light this perspective casts on our weaknesses. It's biased toward strengths, as if that's the only good each of us has to offer to God and His world. From a human mindset, sure, that make sense, but we don't operate in a human-mindset controlled world. Our weaknesses are equally powerful - that sounds hilarious, but as I've thought about so many Bible characters (Aaron, Moses, the disciples, among so many), I see characters with weaknesses that God specifically selected to exploit for His use. God called upon men who were self-proclaimed poor public speakers to speak to His nation. He called upon fishermen to record His message for all mankind.

Yes, I think there's tremendous value in me looking for ways in which God might be challenging me to offer my strengths to further His Kingdom in new and different ways. And yes, to look to do the same for those I oversee. But, even though it goes against rational thinking, to use weaknesses as the sole reason for not giving anyone the opportunity to participate just doesn't sit right with me.

People fascinate me

It all started at a seminar I attended recently, I've been thinking every now and then about the things that I love doing and the things I loathe doing. My wife and I were picking up some groceries the other day and ran into an acquaintance from church. We conversed for several minutes, catching up on what was happening in the person's life... new job, new school, kid growing up etc. I walked away feeling encouraged and uplifted. I was hardly the topic of the discussion, in fact, I'm not even sure they asked how my wife and I were doing, but I came away excited.

People just fascinate me. I enjoy hearing their stories, where they've been, where they're going and what's going on in their lives. My encouragement stems from seeing firsthand evidence of how God is working in their lives.

I love people.