I'm older than I've ever been.

I have always made an attempt to be able to make conversation about many topics. My secret is to learn enough about a topic to ask good questions. Then if someone I encounter shows some expertise in a subject I can ask a question or two and reveal that it is not the first time I have thought about the issue or topic. It works well just about all the time; especially if I don't try to pass myself off as an expert. People love to talk with someone who is interested in their vocation or passion.

But there is an area in which I have no ability to do anything but to appear completely lost. That's because I am lost. Back in my early 20's I served briefly as a sound man at my church. It was a simple sound board and it didn't take much technical knowledge to run it. Mostly if I watched what was happening and kept anyone from picking up a dead mike I was okay. I didn't like doing it, however, so when someone came along who did enjoy it, I was glad to hand off the job. It was then that I decided not to try to stay current in my knowledge of sound technology. That was back in the days before personal comupters and video screens. Multimedia at that time meant carousel slide projectors, overhead transparency projectors or 16mm movie projectors. That was in that era that I stopped learning about those things. I wanted to be seen as "not an option" for any future sound booth assignments. My strategy has worked perfectly for years.

Fast forward to today. I am a pastor of a church with an intimidating array of multimedia equipment. I am the one who is at the church during the week, so when visiting musicians or preachers come, they also come to me with their technical questions. My batting average is perfect. I always give moronic answers because I don't even know what to call the various thingamabobs that are back there. I know we can show a video, but don't ask what format. I know we can mike a guitar, but don't ask me about anything more than that because you will get a blank stare and a shrug of the shoulders. I know we have internet, but don't ask me if we have a static IP address. I don't know and I don't want to know. We have some amazingly proficient and faithful technical people who happen to work at jobs which won't allow me to call them and quiz them about technical matters during the day. In this connected day and age, I sound increasingly old and outdated. Maybe that is why the lady at Taco Bell assumes that I qualify for the senior discount and gives it to me without even asking. Seven years from now I'll actually qualify.