The first thing many smartphone users do when they sit down at a restaurant is connect to the local Wi-Fi network. Ordinarily free, establishments often have a simple password for the network posted on the wall to prevent non-customers from logging in. One Thai restaurant, however, decided to break the norm and give its customers a not-so-simple password to access the internet. The sign on the wall of the Texas restaurant did not contain a standard string of digits, but an elaborate calculus equation (the kind of math that contains more letters and Greek symbols than actual numbers).

A curious and determined patron of the restaurant posted a photo of the equation on social media with the caption "Where are the math wizards at?" He eventually found some help, receiving hopeful suggestions such as "I wouldn't be surprised if the password is something like 'DependsOnN,'" and "[maybe] some variation of 'One', '1' 'One Hundred Percent' or '100%'" and several assertions that it must be a trick question. At the time the story was reported, the original user who had posted the photo had tried every single suggestion and was still coming up empty. A sympathizing social media user commented, "I am sorry that we have failed you," to which he earned the noble and inspiring response: "We haven't failed, we just haven't found the correct PW yet … we will eventually."

Potential Preaching Angles: Similar to the exclusivity of a closed Wi-Fi network, guests or visitors to a church can often be wondering what the "secret password" is to fitting in or being accepted. They can often view the church as a place for perfect people, without room for brokenness or doubt. Of course, this apparent exclusivity is actually the opposite of the Gospel, where we are assured that "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13). We believers must ensure that our churches are not full of cliques and secret passwords, but honesty and warmth.