Last week’s article on ‘best practices’ struck quite a nerve with your fellow readers. I received four emails by 9 a.m. that morning (which is rare), as well as a fifth one earlier this week. I thought you might be interested in reading them:
“Loooove your column today!!! The ‘best practices’ segment resonated with me. I’ve always wondered who decided what best practices are in light of the different work setting of audiologists. Bravo and keep it up!”
“Shots fired in a glorious battle versus ‘best practices’! That’s a really good piece. Not just the rant I’ve dreamed about making (although even that would have been justified), but good sources, anecdotes, etc. Love the landing on Wisdom, even if seeing The Message makes my right eye twitch like Commissioner Dreyfus from The Pink Panther movies.”
“Sent your ‘best practices’ blurb on to a colleague…A number of us are grinding our teeth around here and your words are sweeter than the honeycomb, bruh.”
“We don't use the phrase ‘best practices’ in our session or even as pastors. Nor have I ever used it in leading our ministry team for students. However, are we using a pseudonym for 'best practices,' and if so, what might it be? In other words, are you aware of other ways we might be in danger of saying, ‘well that's how we've always done it’ for solutions to problems when we're actually saying something else? Just trying to keep my 'best practices' radar plugged in.”
“I wanted to send a quick email to share how grateful I am to see that ‘best practices’ are being questioned. As you know, our family is anything but typical when it comes to how we do anything. Most of that is due to my husband. He grew up watching people doing things within the church (and outside of the church) just because ‘that’s how it is done’.
Fast forward to our desire to start a business and do things in a way that hasn’t been done before; the pushback we received from friends, family, and the industry was remarkable. Some of it was well-founded concern (such as we didn’t know anything about business); however, most of it was the lack of imagination and ability to see what my husband’s vision was (ultimately, the vision God gave him of what it could be).
All that being said, we are firm believers in thinking outside of the box and choosing to try new and different practices. Sometimes those ‘best practices’ are what stop businesses and individuals from flourishing. It makes me wonder how many inventions or new ideas have been thwarted due to someone’s ‘best practice’?
Thanks for your thoughts, I am always excited to read them!”
Grateful for everyone’s feedback. Keep it coming, and as always, thanks for reading.
Craig
PS: And now the answer to the question of who was the pseudo-celebrity in the picture? The answer is Donald Miller (big guy in the grey sweatshirt).
Searching for God Knows What conference, Glen Eyrie Conference Center (circa 2004)
Back in my camp and conference director days, I did a conference with Don right after Blue Like Jazz and just before his second book, Searching for God Knows What was published. It was a good conference and fun getting to know him better, so I grabbed a picture to mark the occasion. Here’s what he looks like and is up to now:
Author, entrepreneur Donald Miller
PPS: As a reminder, you’re welcome and encouraged to email me directly with feedback, ideas, links, etc. at cmdunham [at] gmail [dot] com. Just know that, unless you specifically tell me not to, I may quote you here (though it will always be anonymously).
Hot Takes
Plenty of goofy things going on this week that caught my eye, so I’ll go with a little different (read: shorter) Hot Takes format this week in order to get a few more in:
“There are days when I wonder if this will be the final volume of writing that I compile. Today is one of those days, but for the most novel of reasons: the coronavirus - a pandemic (declared so as of last week) that has shut down the world through its spread and fears - is here.
Beginning (supposedly) in Wuhan, China, and transferred from an animal to a human, the virus has circled the globe and killed thousands since January, with little that humans can do about it except ‘social distance’ from one another in order to ‘flatten the curve’ of transmission. At particular risk are the elderly, but no one really knows where this is going and how it can be stopped.
President Trump and governors of most states have called for restaurants, bars, and coffee shops to shut down (at least for the purpose of reducing dining/drinking room interaction), San Francisco has called for residents to self-quarantine for three weeks, and people have made runs on grocery stores for (of all things) toilet paper.
Ironically, on the day that the WHO declared Covid-19 at pandemic, this box of toilet paper - a regular order - showed up on our front porch. I remember being amazed that it was still there when we got home at the end of the day.
The media has certainly caused panic in their politicization of the crisis, but it seems quite legit these past few weeks since it has come to the U.S. It’s no Spanish Flu or Bubonic Plague, but it is a fascinating exercise in dealing with ambiguity.”
The ambiguity was definitely complicated by the fact that Megan and the girls had arrived in sunny Los Angeles two days prior to enjoy Spring Break. Having socially-distanced at the beach (helped by chillier weather than Californians enjoy) and disinfecting everything they touched (according to the girls, the smell of Clorox Wipes instantly returns them to this trip), we decided they should come home, as there were threats of California going into lockdown.
Megan and the girls catching some socially-distanced L.A. rays.
“Personally, I’ve been a man alone with his dog these past few days. Megan and the girls are on Spring Break in California, and while it’s been good being alone, there’s a deeper than normal melancholy I’ve felt while watching world events unfold.
Waiting for the girls to return to Bozeman while we kept tabs on the news.
As is typical, my first feeling is one of guilt - of enjoying being alone; of having little real responsibility for anything anymore; of being healthy and not worrying too much about becoming sick.
My second feeling is one of empathy - for those who don’t enjoy being alone; for those who have impacting decisions to make on behalf of others; for those who are ill or worried about becoming so.
My third feeling is one of lament - that our world is being so ravaged by this virus and people’s fear of it; that there is so much finger-pointing by our government leaders; that our scientists and medical professionals are viewed as suspect by so many.
My fourth feeling is one of helplessness - at not being able to come to the aid of every small business owner forced to close down; at not being able to encourage every parent unfamiliar with or afraid of being home with their kids; at my own physical and intellectual limitation of not being able to make the spread of the virus stop.
And yet, somehow still, my fifth feeling is one of hope - that this new common enemy to the world will wake us up to the fragility of life; that we might re-evaluate what is really important for human flourishing (and why); that God might draw us closer to him and to each other as we learn (again) how to trust.”
I remember that first week into the pandemic as being a confusing time, partly because I was concerned for Megan and the girls returning safely, and partly because I was still getting used to not having anybody - family, school (I had been let go the previous November), or work (I was still only part-time at Montana Instruments) looking to me for leadership. I’d always felt that times of crisis made for some of my best leadership moments, but I had no one to lead.
March 18, 2020, Wednesday, 2:20 p.m., Home
“Megan and the girls cut their trip short by a day and are due to arrive tonight back in Bozeman. I’ll feel better about getting them home, and then whatever will (or won’t) happen can do so. Today, I read an article in which a billionaire was calling for the President to lock down the U.S. for a month, have the government pay wages, and hope for the best. Honestly, it sounds better than more of the indefinite plans with no real timelines forecasted (though the need for martial law would be there and scares me). People would most likely panic.
Still trying to find my place in all of this. With nothing/no one to particularly lead or anyone really looking to me to do so, I wonder how these days and months ahead will go? I’d write, but who would read it? I’d speak, but who would listen? I’d try to help and serve, but we’re still on the cusp of what is to come here in Montana (only 10 cases in the state), that the only real crisis is more of fear than transmission.”
Megan and the girls made it back, only to start teaching and learning by way of Zoom. This was an adjustment for all of us, as our small house and weeny wi-fi were put to the test. We upgraded our Internet and began figuring out our rhythms, enjoying the novelty of all of us being home together even in the midst of our daily duties. It was fun, though I recall thinking multiple times to myself how grateful I was that we were going through this with older kids rather than small children. (I prayed a lot then for families with little ones during this time.)
Megan’s Zoom classes produced new-found inspiration, so she made a meme.
March 22, 2020, Sunday, 8 p.m., Home
“We ‘attended’ church from home this morning via the Internet per the Governor’s request that there are no groups meeting of 10 or more now.
I confess that being home (I haven’t left the house since Friday) is quite nice and I’m probably enjoying it more than I should. It reminds me a bit of all the weekends I would stay at home in my room in high school listening to music, reading (not nearly as much as I do now), and just being quiet. Social media is much more of a distraction now (thank God it didn’t exist when I was a kid), but I’m so grateful for the ability and desire to be alone for long stretches without seemingly needing much of anything.
I’m still trying to identify some kind of contribution I can make to help others beyond myself, but Montana is in the preliminary stages of things. As of this afternoon, there are only 34 cases confirmed in the state and up to 10 in Gallatin County. The difference is that the most recent four were contracted locally, so that makes the self-quarantine efforts that much more important, I suppose. Unfortunately, the numbers of sick and dying are rising around the world, so it will be interesting if efforts to ‘flatten the curve’ of infection will work.”
One of the highlights during this time came when I received official notice that I was considered “a critical infrastructure worker serving an essential business” as part of the Department of Defense’s supply chain. This letter gave me freedom to leave the house and go to work without having to worry about being stopped, so I carried it with me at all times. It ended up not being that big a deal because it was Montana and no one really cared. Nuts.
No roadblocks, no gate checks - this document lived in my glove compartment in anticipation of local authority crackdown, but never saw the light of day.
April 6, 2020, Monday, 10:30 a.m., Home
“Really struggling right now with purpose and motivation on most fronts. Not sure where I am with God on any of this these days. That’s not His fault, I suppose, but I don’t even know if it’s a fault issue for anyone. Just feels the world is out of whack even more than usual and no one knows what to do about it. The quarantine is on through April 24. I don’t really mind it, but it’s not been a productive time personally. Thankfully, I’ve slept better the past three nights; dreams have been good, too, which makes it all the better.”
While it was written before the pandemic hit, The Rolling Stones moved up the release date to April 23 for their song, “Living in a Ghost Town,” which I remember marveling at both for its prescience in capturing the feel of the quarantine, as well as for it being the best song the Stones had put out in decades (the video was great, too).
By the time Cinco de Mayo rolled around, we decided to push the limits of quarantine and held a party with our Growth Group outside and pseudo-social-distanced. We were rebels.
It was a beautiful May 5, perfect for margaritas and Mexican food.
May 20, 2020, Wednesday, 7:20 p.m., Home
“I look back at these past two months of social distancing and quarantined isolation and I lament that I haven’t done more with this time at home. True, I’ve read a lot of books and written some letters and the like, but most of my spare time (which, sadly, includes plenty of my work time as things are slow) has been spent also on Facebook, Twitter, and Netflix. I finish the days with little to show for them, and I wonder what I could have, would have, should have with those weeks, the likes of which I may not get again.
School finished early by Memorial Day weekend, so we took the whole family back to Illinois for a week-long visit to see the cousins and the farm, and then made it back to Montana for the start of summer (and the Governor’s eventual mask mandate in the middle of July).
Hanging with the cousins, Covid be damned!
Millie’s first “real” part-time summer job involved a mask.
Those first few months of the pandemic were indeed novel ones - different from any I’ve lived through. But in the midst of so much ambiguity and fear, we tried to model a steady resilience with and to one another, as well as attempt to bring joy to others when and where we could.
Katie Dinosaur was always a neighborhood hit on a random Saturday afternoon.
Indeed, there was loss for so many - of life, of livelihood - and while we surely did not experience either of these as much as others, we know those who did, which was hard.
As we tried to do then, we’re still trying to trust God for His purposes now (for surely they are many) in and through this pandemic. We rejoice in His common grace of granting our scientists success in the creation of the vaccines, and look forward to looking back at what He chose to do during this time that we don’t know about yet. If there is a verse that comes to mind, it is this one:
“The LORD foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.” (Psalm 33:10-11)
The Lord has His plans and His purposes. May those of the pandemic be manifest to future generations as they, too, learn to live and deal with life’s ambiguity.
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