As the Director of Information Technology at Messiah Village, one of my favorite questions to explore with people is, “What is technology?”

I’ve got a few standard answers to this question.  The first one is, “Technology is scary things with buttons.  When people are no longer afraid of something, then it is an office supply.”  Think of things that were amazing 10, 20 or 40 years ago – photocopiers, adding machines, solar calculators, and cordless phones.  Now, these things are commonplace.

Another way to define technology is, “Things that make our lives easier or more productive.”  This could include microwaves, cell phones, and email.  But also, by this definition, I could include one of my favorite office productivity tools, my wall-sized whiteboard.  My whiteboard holds random bits of important information, to-do lists and workflow sketches.  It is a constant multi-color reminder of where my department is heading and the things we need to do to get there.

Do Not Erase!!!

Here at Messiah Village, recent technology innovations include major upgrades to the Chapel audio-visual experience, enhancing communication to our residents, clients, staff and friends through a Facebook presence and through the premiere of our first ever video Christmas greeting.

How does technology affect your daily life?

I think I will share a story from about 50 years ago when the youth group from our church was scheduled to do devotions at the county jail. Now back then things were very different. At the jail there was a cell about 12 feet by 12 feet in the center of a gathering area and it had bars on all four sides. So the worship leaders entered that cell with a portable organ (not electric in those days) and after the door of the cell was locked the prisoners left their cells and gathered around the cell where the youth group was. Now we sang songs, played some instruments and began a devotional message. The leader would share a few thoughts and end a sentence with a word like sing and then one of the youth would share a verse like “Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth”, Psalm 96:1. The leader then shared a few more thoughts and ended with the word blessed and a youth quoted “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust” Psalm 40:4.

The next verse to be shared was James 5:16 “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” So the leader ended a sentence with the word confess, the leader waited but no young person gave the verse. Thinking the teen hadn’t heard, the leader spoke again and ended with confess. There was another pause and then a prisoner spoke up and said, “I did confess. That’s why I’m in jail!”  We shared laughter.

We all enjoy learning new things during life, through personal experiences as well as book knowledge.  The concept of “lifelong learning” has indeed become popular these days as we hear about many adults who attend classes and engage in all kinds of unique experiences (with no tests or papers of course!).  They simply have a desire to learn and be enriched during this significant time of their lives!

The Pathways Institute for Lifelong Learning® offers many outstanding opportunities to learn, engage, and be enriched through classes, trips, cultural events, and service projects!  In fact, two excellent classes were offered including “The Enneagram – What is Your Type?” and “The Making of the Atomic Bomb”.

In her class on the Enneagram, Ms. Nancy Kohlstruk provided a unique opportunity for Pathways participants to learn about their own personalities and understand how they relate to others.  One person commented that the class was “eye opening, and offered another insight into human nature – mine and others”.  Someone else remarked that the “class came at an ideal time in my life and was very informative!”

The class about the Atomic Bomb taught by John Luetzelschwab, Ph.D., provided an opportunity for attendees to learn about the history as well as development of the atomic bomb.  Participants who served in World War II also shared their own personal experiences from this significant period of history, enhancing the learning experience for everyone involved.

The spring 2010 term of the Pathways Institute has many more exciting classes and events to come through May, and we’d love to have you join us!  To learn more, check out our website:  www.thepathwaysinstitute.org or call us at 717-591-7213.  We look forward to hearing from you soon!

While very young, but already serving in the United States Navy, and as a crew member on the fleet’s oldest Battleship , the USS Texas BB35, we prepared for the invasion of North Africa. (Walter Cronkite, a young reporter at the time, was aboard with us).

In 1942, we assembled the largest naval armada ever assembled and sailed for Bermuda.  At Bermuda, we refueled and waited for the Pacific fleet portion of our Armada to move through the Panama Canal and join us in our conquest of North Africa.

Like other young sailors aboard the Texas, I maintained a diary of my activities through the previous years, and therein lay my true “Blog.”

Somewhere between Bermuda and North Africa , in the South Atlantic Ocean, I decided, for some reason or other, to destroy my little red diary by throwing it overboard into the South Atlantic ocean. As you will see, this was not a very smart move on my part.

Several months later, a woman was walking her dog on the beach below Baltimore and discovered my little red diary lodged in the sand, and fully intact. She picked it up and forced the lock which allowed her to open the front cover and see the fully legible content.

The prevailing winds and ocean currents had carried my diary back from the South Atlantic to the sandy beach below Baltimore, MD, where it was found by the lady.

Both my name and that of my parents, plus their home address (Valley View, Schuylkill county) and  telephone number appeared inside the front cover.

The lady who found my diary chose to contact my Mother to tell her that she found my diary. As you might imagine, my parents, who were already elderly at that time, thought the worst since I was not able to contact them before or immediately after we invaded North Africa, and they immediately assumed that my ship was sunk and I had been lost.

The lady also chose to send the diary to my Mother who in turn returned it to me when I next visited my home.

So you see, believe it or not, strange things do happen!

When was the last time you played croquet?

I think I was ten years old the last time I played. I remember it was a really hot day. My family had gone to my Great Aunt Odell’s house to visit on a Sunday afternoon. I remember my brother and I played that afternoon in her backyard, while my parents visited with my Great Aunt.

It is funny how we have “light bulb” memories of certain events in our life. Most of the fun things I did with my brother I no longer remember, but this sticks out in my mind. Was it because it was something different to do? Was it because we did it at a distant relative’s home that we rarely visited? I don’t know. I’m just glad I have the fond memory.

These memories have recently come to the surface with the announcement of Wicket on the Green, Messiah Village’s upcoming charity croquet tournament on Saturday, April 24.

When was the last time you played croquet? Is there someone you may wish to play with and create a “light bulb” memory that is hard to forget? I think I will invite my brother to come and play croquet on April 24.

To learn more about Wicket on the Green visit www.WicketOnTheGreen.org.