Life at Work – Page 10 – A Liddle Good News

Nothing to write home about?

A dear fellow who was one of my co-workers back in Dallas wrote to me – some time ago now – that it had been a while since I had written anything. He was right. And he was very kind to put it so mildly.

I like to distinguish between the terms reason and excuse. To use myself as an example, there are reasons why I haven’t written, but there are no excuses for the absence of communication. I hope that makes it clear.

Why am I sad? Because I've been a bad boy. The newsletter that we sent out last fall summarized our first two years here. I just read it again, and I think it was a fair description. What’s not fair is for you who care about our lives and our work to hear from us every two years, or nine months, or whatever gap causes you to ask, “I wonder whatever became of the Liddles?” or “I wonder how the Liddles are doing?”

I’m not going to try to use this space to give yet another belated summary of a long gap in time. Over the next week, though, I’m going to – I’m really, really going to – alternate between writing about our work and describing our
home life to give you the insight into our Wycliffe ministry that you deserve.

For those of you who pray to the Lord our God for us – you patient, forbearing souls – please pray for the fortitude I need to set aside time to write as I should for people who care.

The four basic needs

I wrote a few months ago about being asked by Wycliffe Germany to upgrade their wireless network. As I discussed the project with their current director, Angelika Marsch, I mentioned that I have observed that people aren’t content anymore with the traditional needs of food, clothing, and shelter. We (yeah, me, too) have added a fourth: Internet access.

When conference or meeting attendees arrive at the venue, they ask three questions, and not necessarily in this order:

Where is my room?
When (and where) is the next meal?
How do I get on the Internet?

Most people have brought their clothing with them. (Well, those are the only kind I provide support for, anyway.)

So my goal at the Wycliffe center was to give guests (and staff) a great experience with Internet access. Whether folks are inside or outside – it is, after all, a beautiful setting with cool weather – their devices should be able to connect quickly. The new equipment we ordered arrived over several days, and I set to work right away as each piece arrived and prepared it for installation. Some things, like the wireless access points you see in the picture, could be set up en masse.

Once I installed some core equipment around the center that would provide both data and power to the new wireless system – and at faster speeds than before – the rest of the installation went very smoothly. The center manager and I went from one spot to another, securing mounting plates and plugging the little “UFOs” into the network. Gradually, the new wireless network took shape and became active.

During the meetings that inspired the upgrade, we received nothing but compliments from the attendees. Since then, many people – whether guests or everyday staff – have commented on the improvement. There are areas in which I know I can make some improvements, but this experience has been very satisfying, and the sight of people happily and comfortably doing email or connecting with family back home is all the reward I need.