‘my father’s dad was from Scotland” … Scot you have gone up in my estimation so much!!! Ever make it back to the Old Country?

Scot,
I appreciated it when you e-mail me when I submitted a knee-jerk reaction to a post. I was so ticked off. I was criticizing someone for not being gracious and my tone was not gracious.

Hey, Scot. I’m one of the “I know you’re busy” senders. When we write that at the top of a post, it’s not simply an attempt to guess at your workload. Really it’s a shorthand for saying: “Here’s something that I want to correspond with someone about BUT:
1. I don’t want to presume that you want to correspond about it;
2. I don’t want to presume that if you wanted to correspond about it, you’d want to do so with me;
3. I don’t want to put YOU in the position of having to reply “I don’t like you go away” or even to be the one who has to bring up “I’m actually kind of busy.”
We’re not trying to tell you you’re busy, we’re trying to give you space and a very easy way of saying no. A supplicant should do that. When I write to you with my agenda, it’s only right for me to make it clear to myself and to you that I know that if you respond at all, it is gracious and generous of you to do so.
How does one communicate all that without making a big, ceremonial deal out of it? One says, “I know you’re busy and I’ll understand if you don’t have time to answer.”
And it’s important for us folks with questions to keep that attitude. Not everyone has eight arms and four keyboards going constantly like you do. You may be an ordinary guy, but some of us are probably a little more ordinary than you.
But that’s not what I wanted to comment about. What I really wanted to ask was this: Why didn’t you go up to the board and erase the first four letters of “Scott”? The teacher would never have gotten it wrong again after that.

WOW! You took time to write this, Scott … err . . . uh . . Mr. Professor Dr. Rev. Scot MacKnight
I was with Conrad: seeing defiant little Scot strutting up to the board, pausing, taking the eraser, wiping off that errant “t”, all but slamming the eraser down, a crisp turn on your heels (in your ankle top Keds, of course), a strident return to your seat & a final wipe of the nose on the sleeve, while all but glaring at the infidel teacher.
Thanks for the “real version”, but I’ll hang on to my fantasy.

I think the “I know you’re busy” is a cultural phenomina, which equals: bowing or acknowledging to BUMP INTO YOU, or intrude, or to say “excuse me.” Because in essence we ARE bumping into you in cyber space and you can’t hear our carriage driving up the road for 5 minutes prior to knocking on your door. I think it’s a bit of civility, even if we aren’t quite sure how to go about it in e-culture.

I’m guilty! My apologies.

I can appreciate the name issues. My brother’s name is “Nickolas,” with a “k,” one of only two people, including my great-grandfather for whom my brother was named, I’ve ever known with this spelling. Throughout his school career, my brother had to deal with teachers who thought that somehow my brother didn’t know how to spell his own name properly. These days, he almost invariably goes by “Nick.”
And in a somewhat different, but relevant variation, when I got married, I hyphenated my name: Baker-Wright (now you know where “B-W” comes from!). I’m continually frustrated by people who try to call me “Mr. Baker,” despite the fact that my name has never appeared as “Baker” without the hyphen immediately connecting it to “Wright.” And even if it did, wouldn’t most people read “Mark Baker Wright” as “Wright” being the last name, with “Baker” as the middle? It’s infuriating! (I can at least understand the few who never got used to calling me something other than “Mr. Wright,” since that was my name until a few years ago!)
And then there’s the issue with all the online forums that refuse to accept a hyphen as a legitimate character when filling in one’s name. It’s part of my name, world! Get used to it!

Hi Scot and Folks: Not bad for administrative stuff, it’s necessary from time to time, and as Conrad; so am I, guilty of the “know your busy”-and Scot ya know I invite the full learning experience from you, so, probably I will continue to say that I feel like you are busy- here’s a suggestion- take it as respect, for that honestly is what is meant; anything wrong with that? You run an incredible house of ideas here, with incredible contributors, the quality of this blog is amazing- and I for one, hate it when I mess up and go overboard, which I’ve done on occasion, but consider this- you and the brothers and sisters who take the time to contribute here are for real on a whole new front in discipling- it’s never existed before- it does now, and the question really is, what are we who love the Lord going to do with it? Scot I love what you are doing with it – thanks for doing it, and I know your busy but…thanks for taking the time to hear out my heart…I promise I won’t take yours lightly – ever.

Scott, I know you’re busy but, thanks for reading and riting so good. And thanks for that time that you emailed little ol’ me on my confusing, ranting post on your blog.

Scot:
Too bad we weren’t in the same kindergarten class, I could’ve bailed you out!
Scott

I’m pleased you aren’t too busy for people. I have a different sort of request. I read in CT about the “Jesus we never knew” and the little quiz you gave that showed people imagine a Jesus much like them. I can’t get people to believe this, though I can see it. Would it be possible to get the questions from you so I can prove to them?