once?
Chapter Eleven
Is God in the details?
W ill Grey draws a neat, perfect square on the whiteboard. âSquare footage. For those of you in the retail sector, this is the measuring stick for ninety percent of your operations. For those of you in the service sector, itâs less important depending on the type of business youâre proposing, but it canât be overlooked.â Heâs in a dark suit and tie tonight, one-hundred-percent serious businessman. I wonder if itâs for my benefit.
âJosh Mason.â Will points at the man I call cyber-guy. Josh wants to fire up VibeNet, the next fabulous people-connecting Internet engine. Long hair, knit cap, artful glasses, goatee. Handsome and charismatic but with a geeky edge. A haircut that looks like he never combs it but probably ran him two hundred dollars. Drives to class in either a Jeepor one of those European scooters. His laptop is hands-down the coolest gadget Iâve ever seen. And you should see his cell phone. I have a feeling Iâll be seeing Josh on the cover of Small Business Tycoons Monthly in five years, if not fewer.
âYep?â Josh pokes his head up over his laptop.
Believe it or not, Josh is my ideal Higher Grounds customer. Think about it: how likely is someone like Joshâin all his intellectual superiorityâto darken the door of a church? I know this is a sweeping generalization, but it will be the same type of sweeping generalization that will keep Josh from ever giving Christianity a serious thought. Youâve got to fight that kind of thinking out in the everyday grind of the real world, not from a church pew.
I could get Josh to show up at Higher Grounds for a cup of coffee. He might resist at first, but Iâd get him eventually. Then, weâd start doing what people do over coffeeâtalk. And even though I could never match philosophical wits with Josh, I could introduce himâover coffee, of courseâto someone who could. A lively, engaging debate would ensue. Thatâs where things would get interesting. Where Josh meets people who think like him, but have discovered that Jesus makes sense to people who think like him.
All this happens because weâve found a common ground for people of faith to meet people who need faith. An accessible meeting place where faith meets the world and the world meets faith. Where common ground gets taken to a higher ground.
Ahem. Iâve digressed just a bit. But now you see my passion for the subject. You see why I canât let this dream go no matter how high the price.
Back to todayâs lesson.
âJosh, what kind of square footage do you need?â Will asks.
âIâm in cyberspace, man.â Josh spreads his hands. âNo walls, no limits.â
âJust you, your brilliance and few gigabytes, thatâs it?â
Josh smiles confidently. âThatâs the beauty of it. Tiny start-up cost, millions to be made.â
âPlanning to explode on the scene, work like a dog for two or three years, then sell it for a multi-million-dollar profit and retire to Fiji, are you?â Will sits on his desk. Iâve noticed he always sits like that before making a big point.
âSomething like that, yeah.â
âAnd the computers, electricity, files, paperwork, desks, lamps and such go where?â
âGot that all figured out,â replies Josh. âI got a huge garage with a heater in it. Half of Silicon Valley started in a garage, so I figure Iâm just keeping with tradition.â
âAnd when VibeNet goes global,â Will gets up and returns to the whiteboard, âwhich, of course, it will, youâll need employees and their files and their computers and their desks andââ he throws a look over his shoulder to the class ââis there anyone here waiting for their chance to work in a garage?â
âIâll have my millions by then so it wonât be a