The Perfect Blend by Allie Pleiter

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Chapter Eleven
    Is God in the details?
    W ill Grey draws a neat, perfect square on the whiteboard. “Square 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, it’s less important depending on the type of business you’re proposing, but it can’t be overlooked.” He’s in a dark suit and tie tonight, one-hundred-percent serious businessman. I wonder if it’s for my benefit.
    â€œJosh Mason.” 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 I’ve ever seen. And you should see his cell phone. I have a feeling I’ll be seeing Josh on the cover of Small Business Tycoons Monthly in five years, if not fewer.
    â€œYep?” 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 Josh—in all his intellectual superiority—to 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. You’ve 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 I’d get him eventually. Then, we’d start doing what people do over coffee—talk. And even though I could never match philosophical wits with Josh, I could introduce him—over coffee, of course—to someone who could. A lively, engaging debate would ensue. That’s 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 we’ve 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. I’ve digressed just a bit. But now you see my passion for the subject. You see why I can’t let this dream go no matter how high the price.
    Back to today’s lesson.
    â€œJosh, what kind of square footage do you need?” Will asks.
    â€œI’m in cyberspace, man.” Josh spreads his hands. “No walls, no limits.”
    â€œJust you, your brilliance and few gigabytes, that’s it?”
    Josh smiles confidently. “That’s the beauty of it. Tiny start-up cost, millions to be made.”
    â€œPlanning 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?” Will sits on his desk. I’ve noticed he always sits like that before making a big point.
    â€œSomething like that, yeah.”
    â€œAnd the computers, electricity, files, paperwork, desks, lamps and such go where?”
    â€œGot that all figured out,” replies Josh. “I got a huge garage with a heater in it. Half of Silicon Valley started in a garage, so I figure I’m just keeping with tradition.”
    â€œAnd when VibeNet goes global,” Will gets up and returns to the whiteboard, “which, of course, it will, you’ll need employees and their files and their computers and their desks and—” he throws a look over his shoulder to the class “—is there anyone here waiting for their chance to work in a garage?”
    â€œI’ll have my millions by then so it won’t be a