November, 2008 | Robert's Blog

November 24, 2008

our copper charlie brown CHRISTmas tree

as many of you know tapestry is doing advent conspiracy to celebrate CHRISTmas. you can get a great idea of what advent conspiracy is all about by just going to the advent conspiracy link above. the short version of it is that we are trying to bring the CHRISTmas holiday back to being a holy day for us. we’re doing this by worshiping our LORD through trying to spend less while giving more and then using some of the money we save to buy clean water for those in need.

part of our worship for the advent season is changing the way that we value CHRISTmas. we are taking notice of everything we see that GOD has done during our week and placing those events on our own little “charlie brown CHRISTMas tree.” i bought 1,000 shipping tags to write these GOD sightings on. people are grabbing some of the tags to take with them and record events during the week. then they bring those tags back and place them on the tree. these should make for a wonderfully and meaningfully decorated tree by the end of advent.

of course, since we’re going to be buying clean water for people it seemed only appropriate to make this tree out of copper water pipe. i built our sparse little tree last week and then improved upon it this week. i’ve pretty much decided that i’m going to change it a little each week. i could say that there was an artistic reason for this but the truth is that each week i realize a way i could have down it better. so example, last week it had a mere three branches, where as this week the little copper tree has sprouted several new growths that make it look better (i realized there wasn’t much room for many tags to be put on it). the next improvement will be welding. i have used plumber’s epoxy to join the pipes the past two weeks but if things work out right that will change this week.

my goal is for the artistry of the tree to suck a little less each sunday night. the good news is that it’s pretty easy to improve each week from my original design. 🙂

November 23, 2008

need to add this to my list of things not to do again

i need to remember NOT to drop from waist level a 4d size maglite on the top of my foot. it hurts very bad.

SIDE NOTE – just want to give a shout out to elizabeth pam’s british friend who apparently reads this blog. just to give you a heads up – we will eventually be heading over there to have tea with you and your family.

November 22, 2008

southern on the roof

snow season is about to enter central wisconsin and leaf falling season has left. today this meant that i was going to seize our afternoon warm spell (it warmed up to 30º this afternoon) to blow all the pine straw off of our home’s roof. that way the straw wouldn’t be there to possibly cause problems later in winter when there will be two-three feet of snow sitting on top of our house. it’s a pretty quick job, only about 15 minutes, and since it was pretty warm i decided that i didn’t really need a coat on over my sweatshirt. this would have been right if it had not been for the ladder falling over when i was finishing the job.

our house is a little tall and i am old enough now to where my bones get brittle in the cold weather. therefore, i thought that jumping off the roof was out of the question. thankfully in my wisdom i had earlier convinced pam to have two kids just for such instances (don’t ask me why i didn’t think of sending them on the roof in the first place). so i began to shout for the boys to come and help their wise father. the problem with having a tall house is that the family room is invariably always on the bottom floor (aka the former basement). this means that sound doesn’t travel so well to the family room. thus my shouting didn’t do any good. no problem, because i had my cell phone in my pocket (thus the above photo). i called the house.

i’m not sure why but for some reason GOD has decided to make 11 & 14 year olds deaf. HE is wise so i am sure there is a good reason for making them deaf. i’m just not smart enough to figure it out (it actually seems like it would have been a better idea to have made them mute – but this is probably why GOD doesn’t ask me for advice). the result of my kid’s deafness was that while i could clearly hear the phone ringing within the house yet my adolescent boys where not able to hear it. at this time i decided to take the above photo so that pam and the boys would know how i had died of exposure. the photo would also serve two other purposes 1) proof for life insurance – thus taking care of pam, and 2) extreme guilt for my deaf kids.

i called three times with no answer.

while i was calling our home phone number a breeze began to develop. even without a jacket 30º is really not that cold. however 30º with a strong breeze IS QUITE COLD. i stood on the roof facing the full force of the breeze which was strong enough to freeze me but not strong enough to have swept all the pine straw off the roof in the first place, which would have saved me from ever having entered into this situation.

on my fourth call the phone was finally answered, the ladder was finally lifted up, and i decided not to shout at my kids because i realized they wouldn’t hear it anyway.

November 20, 2008

netflix on xbox 360

the new xbox 360 update is great. my kids think the new dashboard with its avatars are wonderful and we all think having our netflix account on the xbox is terrific. i wasn’t sure how good the quality of the video stream would be but it is wonderful. watching the office and heros on the stream is a good thing. great update.

SIDE NOTE – there are many reasons that i hate it when pam is gone but the one last night was because the cats meow a lot at night when she is gone. stupid cats.

November 19, 2008

baching

pam is presenting at the asha convention. she’ll be enjoying chicago till sunday. this means that the boys and i are baching it until then.

once a month i visit with a group of pastors for a book discussion. actually i belong to several different groups that i visit with once a month but this one is specifically for a book discussion. anyhow, i have been recently hit by something that i know i must do also but i initially notcied in some of these pastors and that is to “give the benefit of doubt” to people we agree with while at the very same time not doing it for those we disagree with. in the group i am the odd man out and probably agree the most with the thought that this the majority of this group doesn’t like. therefore it has been easy for me to notice when they have automatically assumed the worse concerning a statement that could mean several different things. they want to disagree with the statements from the group they don’t like and therefore they want it to mean the worst possible thing. the irony is that after a group discussion concerning whether or not we agree with the title of the book the leader of this book discussion stated “we all know what he meant to say and therefore we should just assume it means this.” he then no longer referred to the book by it’s real title but instead called it by the title he said the author “meant to use.” that’s a big benefit of doubt. 😉

this post isn’t about trashing on this group because i like these guys in spite of all this. what i’m trying to do is to remind myself to give those i disagree with the same benefit of the doubt that i would give to those that i agree with. that means even those in this book discussion. it seems only fair.

SIDE NOTE – thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday yesterday. it was a good day.

November 18, 2008

Senior Adult Choir Hip Hop

this is great and i so wish that i had done then when i was doing youth ministry (right now i’m the closest thing to a senior adult we have at tapestry).

the senior adult choir agreed to sing parts of hip hop songs for an intro to a youth ministry thingy. what a great way to get senior adults and youth together on something, cross a few boundaries, and make a great video at the same time.

November 16, 2008

the videos from tapestry 11.16.2008

just because some people want to watch them again, i’m posting the videos from tonight’s tapestry.

the first one was from advent conspiracy and is a further explanation of what we will be doing.

Advent Conspiracy Interviews from Robert Terrell on Vimeo.

the next one is from the onion. it’s about halloween but i thought it was a fun way to enter the discussion of the real meaning of CHRISTmas – the kingdom of GOD versus empire.

there were also two commercials (one from best buy and one from hyundai) that were examples of what CHRISTmas isn’t about.

and that’s your tapestry video round up for 11.16.2008

November 14, 2008

tapestry advertising warning

i’m not sure why but i always feel guilty blatantly advertising on my blog for something that is going on a tapestry. i know it’s stupid. anyhow i just thought i would post the graphics for the 4×6” cards for advent conspiracy at tapestry and the 11×17” poster (which is the same as the front of the 4×6” card, only bigger.

here’s the 4×6” card – front and back.

here’s the 11×17” poster

like i said the front of the 4×6” is the exact same as the 11×17” poster. so i’m not real sure why i posted it. anyhow if you want to print one up now you can.

November 12, 2008

the trophies

this is what you win when you do well in curling. the one of the right is from winning the ‘08-‘09 open tournament and the one of the left is from coming in second on our evening for the ‘08-‘09 season. i don’t drink alcohol so i’m not an expert here but i’m pretty sure the short glass is meant for whiskey sour old-fashioneds which are a big deal around here. of course, i could be completely off base in my guess. could my drinking blog readers help me out here?