A day at the office for Richard almost always started the same way. Parking in the space marked "Pastor Richard Wolf," he would enter the administrative suite through a limited-access back door, head for the desk of his assistant and place his Palm Pilot in a hot sync cradle cabled to her computer. A beep confirmed that the latest version of his schedule was downloading.

With a cup of coffee, he would walk swiftly to his office and shut the door. He'd learned that if you moved fast, kept your eyes down as if deep in thought, people would leave you alone. This "I'm carrying the weight of the world; don't interrupt me" posture had lately become a trademark.

At his desk Wolf would examine the freshened PDA for the contours of his day.

One Monday morning he muttered a bad word when he studied the Palm Pilot and saw that every hour had been crammed with administrative meetings and staff appointments. He said the same word again when he realized that every other day of the week was similarly crowded. ...