Month: February 2019

Life with a Chromebook

 

Screenshot 2019-02-19 at 4.35.12 PM

I did it. I’ve made the switch to Chromebooks. This Chromebook is now my main computer.

I am currently using the HP x2. This is my fifth Chromebook. Prior to, I had been a MacBook user. About a year ago, I made the switch to the Samsung Chromebook Plus. But, after a few weeks with the Chromebook, I had to switch back to the MacBook for two main reasons.

  1. I had difficulty printing documents.
  2. The Chromebook was not syncing with the church office cloud network.

Those were deal breakers.

But, here is the remarkable thing about Chromebooks – they get better with time. Google is regularly improving Chrome. With their regular updates and improvements the issues I had are no longer issues. So about four months ago, I started using the Samsung Chromebook Plus as my main work laptop.

Here are some of my reflections about the Chromebook experience.

Pros:

  • Cost – even though the HP x2 is a higher end Chromebook, it is still about half the cost of a MacBook
  • The screen – the screen on this thing is amazing. The Samsung Chromebook Plus/Pro and Google Pixel have better screens, but this one is right up there
  • It’s fast – for what I do, this is a great machine. I can already tell this is faster than the Samsung Chromebook Plus. My main use is writing documents on Microsoft Word. For that, this is more than enough machine for me
  • The stylus – I don’t use it much, but when I do need to use it, it is very handy. I use Squid from the Google Android App Store to take notes by hand. The writing experience is almost like writing with a pen and paper
  • Battery life – I can typically go all day without having to charge
  • Google handles virus protection
  • Any Chromebook is my Chromebook – we have three Chromebooks at home. With any of them, when I sign on with my google account, all my settings are there. The laptop may be different but it’s all my stuff that’s there on the screen. Love that

 

Cons:

  • Some of the Android Apps are buggy with the Chromebook. Android Apps can be used on the Chromebooks, but they are designed for android phones. And some of these apps don’t play well with the Chrome environment. I have noticed that I can have close to a dozen tabs open and the processor has no problems handling that, but if I have two or three Android Apps, the processor begins to lag.Because of that, I refrain from using the Android Apps and work on things like Twitter, Evernote, etc on the Chrome web page
  • Not every place has access to wifi. Google has made it better for work when there is no wifi (i.e. on a flight), it is still not a stand alone machine like a pc or a Mac
  • I don’t like the rubber/plastic track pad. After using the glass track pad on MacBooks and on the Samsung Chromebook Plus, the rubber/plastic track pad feels cheap

Bottom Line:

I am pleased with my life with a Chromebook. I love that Google continues to improve the Chrome experience.

Messy Grace

Recently there have been multiple high profile scandals involving evangelical leaders. Accompanying the scandals, entire leadership/elder boards have resigned due to their slow response to the scandals.

Why did it take so long for leadership/elder boards to respond to the scandals?

I don’t pretend to understand nor know the details. However, I suspect it has something to do with the nature of the church.

You see, of all institutions on planet earth, the church is the one organization where she ought to lead in the area of grace.

And, that’s the problem. Grace is messy.

Leading by principles is easy. Here are the principles we live by. You’ve broken trust and violated these principles. You’re out of here!

But, what about grace? What about restoration? What about giving people, even leaders, the opportunity to repent?

God is all about restoration. Yes, that may mean being removed from leadership for a time, but ultimately what God desires is restoration and forgiveness. Yes, there are consequences to all actions. And, yes, grace needs to be applied.

Grace is messy. Practicing grace is hard, confusing, and messy.

I am no expert in practicing grace. But I do try my best to practice grace. I have no other choice, for without grace, I have no place to stand. I am a sinner. Worse yet, I am a repeat sinner. Without God’s grace on my life, I stand guilty of sin.

God is an expert of applying grace and truth.

Every leader is a sinner graced by God. Graced sinners have great difficulty in knowing how best to apply grace and truth.

Grace is messy. Practicing grace is hard. It is downright confusing.

Yet, we are called to practice grace. We have no other choice for we are all sinners who have been graced by God’s love and truth.

Grace is messy. Practicing grace is hard.

Church, keep at it. We can get better at practicing grace and truth. We must. We hold both grace and truth in tension.

The one thing we must not do is to gloat at the failure of others. And, unfortunately, we have witnessed some of that too.

Practice grace. Uphold truth. This is the church

Life Without Facebook – Reflections

I haven’t been on Facebook for several months. I chose to deactivate my account. I deleted the Facebook app from my phone and from the laptop.

The main reason for deactivating my Facebook account was because I was frustrated with the political posts. I am not sure if anyone has ever changed their political views because they saw a post on Facebook. The thing that political posts do is to alienate and aggravate.

So, after several months of being Facebook free, here are some reflections.

What I miss about Facebook:

  • Seeing posts of my friends. Facebook is a tremendous tool to help people stay in touch and be in the “know” with what friends and their families are up to. I miss “seeing” my friends on Facebook.
  • It’s a fantastic tool to get a message out to a mass of people. Recently we had to cancel church services because of the snow. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. are fantastic tools to get the news out to people.
  • I miss the jokes, yes – even the cat videos, and the inspiring quotes I used to read on my feed.

What I’ve gained from deactivating my Facebook account:

  • Time. Mainly the time I used to spend mindlessly scrolling through the Facebook feed.
  • No longer getting frustration and angry of the divisive and offensive political posts. I am purposeful and selective about what news I am reading because so much of what is happening in our country is so incredibly frustrating. Even though I could control what news I choose to read and see, it was aggravating to have political views thrust on my feed.

For the most part, I am perfectly happy with the decision to go Facebook free. The biggest draw back is no longer “seeing” my friends.

Will I ever go back? Maybe.

For now, I am content with Twitter and “seeing” my friends on Instagram.