Super Geeks
I was recruited for a job here in Topeka by a man named Dave. Dave was (and probably still is) a super geek.
A story should illuminate this. The company I worked for had several remote groups of people and my department was one of them. That meant that I’d occasionally need to drive to one of the other buildings for a meeting. The main campus was near downtown and my office was in White Lakes mall so I could either drive up Topeka Blvd or Kansas Ave to get to the meeting. At this point, we had more things to get done than time to do them so travel timing was important.
One day, I questioned, out loud, which route was more efficient, Topeka Blvd or Kansas Ave? Without skipping a beat, Dave replied Kansas Ave because he had wondered the same thing and tracked travel time on each route to compare. He would have been happy to share his analysis with me but I replied that I trusted him.
Another example involved his daughter who was about the same age as our young teen son. We were talking about how our kids would be dating soon and he told me that he came up with a formula to determine if the age difference was acceptable for his daughter to date. My memory suggests it takes the boys age, divides it by 2 and then add 7. So, if the boy was 18, his daughter would have to be 16 to date him. At 22, she’d have to be 18. And so on. To be honest and probably somewhat sexist, I never considered any age limitations on who my son could date.
“You have an abundance of workmen: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and all kinds of craftsmen without number, skilled in working gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Arise and work! The Lord be with you!” - 1 Chronicles 22:15-16 ESV
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” - 1 Corinthians 12:4-12
Just to let you know that I have super geek tendencies also…When we lived in Wisconsin, our son debated with me whether he should be allowed to wear shorts to school. After a few debate sessions, I set the rule, which he eagerly throws back at me today, that if the forecasted temperature wasn’t expected to breach the 70-degree mark, he couldn’t wear shorts to school. The irony is, and don’t tell him, that it makes me proud whenever he throws back one of the life lessons I tried to teach him.
