i'm leaving on a jet plane

i’m in the louis armstrong new orleans airport waiting for my plane to start the trip home. i have a few minutes to waste and therefore i am writing this and thereby wasting your time. see, this works for both of us. 🙂

  • thanks josh for letting me hang out at your house. staying at josh’s and hanging with he and meg is always a blast. i love wisconsin but i do miss the conversations we used to have in “the suite.”
  • i wish i would have gotten to see a few more former students from the parkview youth ministry. i’m not sure why i was getting messages two hours after the fact from them but it just didn’t work out. it was probably for the best. i was really tired and therefore probably wold have accidentally killed someone.
  • the seminar was great. dr. cole is a very intriguing person and thanks to him i have moved from thinking that the prophet jeremiah was a wuss to thinking that he was probably a wuss that i would have li9ked. i’ll have to do this again sometime.
  • the temperature swap i am about to go through is from 53 degrees to -16 degrees and this is happening without me having my winter coat (i left it in my car because it was too bulky). i am wearing a thin sweater and i have a sports jacket with me. it’s going to be a VERY cold walk from the madison terminal to my car. i truly hope my car starts.
  • i don’t miss the louisiana weather but i do miss the food. hmmmmmm.
  • louisiana is a great place but i have to say that one of the things that i can’t stand about the region is a desire to show status that seems to be pervasive within the region. while in the security line today i heard a guy answer a question from a security guard concerning him probably being a biker because he was dressed in harley leather and had also just told the security guard that he had three harleys (sorry for the confusing structure of that sentence) by saying loud enough for me to hear 1/2 way down the line, “oh no i’m not a biker. i make $480,000 a year.” huh? i think the guy probably tries to fit his supposed income into as many conversations as possible. it’s just a weird culture.
  • i had a pastor tell me this week that he really respected what tapestry and i are doing because we are in a place of such darkness. WHAT! point isn’t a place of darkness. in fact, i would say that light shines brighter still in point because it isn’t hinder by as much fake faith (though there is always some anywhere you go). anyhow, i turned it back on him and said that he had it wrong. the bible belt is the place of darkness because there is so much more fake CHRISTianity in the belt than else where in the country. that fake stuff really messes stuff up for real CHRIST following. of course, it does make all the cooler the churches in the bible belt that really act like the bride of CHRIST.

well we’re board in a few minutes so i’ll go ahead and post this. PAMELA & BOYS I’M COMING HOME!!!!

jeremiah papers

for those of you who are wondering, which basically means pam and my parents, the seminar on jeremiah that i have attended this week has been wonderful. i think i have actually gone from thinking that jeremiah was a cry baby to liking jeremiah. it ends today and i’ll be glad to be back home but also a little sorry the classes are over. of course, the joy continues because i have a 20 page exegetical study of a passage from jeremiah due in two weeks,

speaking of papers i thought i would post the two i have written thus far for the course. i’m not posting these because of them being any good, they haven’t been graded yet so they could turn out to be complete crap. instead i’m posting them so someone else will at least have an example to bounce ideas of form off of. when i began prepping for the seminar i tried finding some samples of what others had done for similar seminars so that i would have some idea if i was on target or not. i couldn’t find any. therefore i thought i would post mine so during the next semester when someone googles nobts biblical, exegetical d.min seminar they would at least have an example of what has been done.

here they are

they always impress me

one of my favorite churches in the nation is the ring community church in baton rouge. they won’t like that i am blogging about how awesome they are, but that’s okay because they will get over it.

i love these guys and girls and every time i get to spend time with them i am more and more amazed by all that they are doing with CHRIST. this week while i’m studying at nobts i’ve gotten the chance to spend a good it of time with some of the ringers (basically the ring’s pastor, josh, has been nice enough to give me a place to stay for the week and this has meant that i get to spend a good bit of time with josh and meg). while talking with them this week i accidentally learned that they spent 25% of last year’s giving on taking care of people’s needs within their community. they’ve been buying cars for people in need, fixing up houses, buying groceries, etc. this is above and beyond their missions giving. 25% of the budget is HUGE. they still have salaries, rent, printing, and more to pay but they believe in matthew 25 so much that they give generously. i don’t know of another church giving that much. if you counted all the extra money they are giving for missions (which i know is at least another 10% probably more) that 25% would jump much higher.

to give you an idea of how big this is most churches spend about 70-80% of the money they have on buildings and salaries. having a place to worship and people to lead it is expensive. some churches spend much more than 80% on these two items. that doesn’t include the programs that go on at a church, the copying and office needs, the equipment needs, toys for kids in the nursery, sunday school or small group literature, and the many other things that are a part of doing things in a church. most churches are lucky to give 10% to missions and a little something extra to help those who come to them in need. now do you see how impressive 25% plus a minimum of another 10% for missions is?

the coolest part is that they didn’t tell me this in a manner of bragging or even on purpose. we were talking about giving and their budget and josh said “yeah, we kind of spent more than our budget was supposed to be, but that’s okay because $40,000 of that was because of spending $34,000 over and above our people in need fund.” that’s when i asked how big their budget was just so i would understand what that $34,000 overage meant. they hadn’t even thought of it being 25% of their budget (in other words $40,000 of a $160,000 budget). it was no big deal for them, which, of course, makes this all the cooler. i’m sitting next to josh right now, he doesn’t know that i’m blogging about how cool i think they are and probably wouldn’t like it if he did know i was doing it, and he just said, “yeah it’s kind of cool that we actually gave more to meet these needs than i get in salary.” he’s right.

i hope more of us can be like this church. i hope tapestry will show them up. 😉

human trafficking awareness

human trafficking

today was national human trafficking awareness day. we spent time tonight at tapestry talking about it and a few ways we can fight against it in the name of CHRIST. personally i would suggest getting involved with the international justice mission but there are other ways also.

here is the article i mentioned during tonight’s sermon. the writer attempt to buy a young haitian boy. it takes 24 hours and $50. please do what you can to fight against this evil.

not so much

bright and early tomorrow morning i will leave for new orleans for my class for this trimester. i will go from a beautiful snow covered land of 15° to a swamp of 44° (present temp on both). don’t get me wrong, i like louisiana and i love the poeple there, but I LOVE WISCONSIN and of course i love the people here too.

anyhow, i promise you that during my stay in NOLA i will be jokingly asked several times, “aren’t you glad to be down here where it’s warm?” i’ll smile back, be nice to them, and probably even nod a little but the real answer is that i love the winter here in wisconsin. yes it gets cold but that’s small price to pay for ice fishing, curling, sledding, and snow skiing. for example, this afternoon pam and i had an hour before we needed to leave for tapestry so we decided to go cross country skiing in the woods behind our house. that’s right! we didn’t have to travel, there was no cost, and it really wasn’t a big todo. we just grabbed our stuff and walked out our back door.

so while i am going to be pumped about seeing some people that i love (i get to stay at josh’s, which is always a blast), i am definitely not going to be excited about being in the warm, humid weather. instead i will probably be thinking, “if this was in wisconsin i could go skiing after class.”

here are a few photos from this afternoon. jealous?

IMG_1232

IMG_1222 IMG_1228_edited-1

that's right, pam fell down IMG_1224

the week in tweets – 2009-01-10

  • RT @ysmarko – “Following JESUS at a safe distance leaves you safe and distant” #
  • It’s a wee bit frosty at the moment in the Point area. #
  • hail to the LORD’s ANNOINTED! Great David’s greater SON! #
  • @meganckelly – interestingness has nothing to do with twitter. part of the fun of twitter is connecting with others’ conversations. in reply to meganckelly #
  • @OhLiv18 – yeah, that song drives pam nuts. in reply to OhLiv18 #
  • has no place to stay in NOLA because the Providence house is full. Time to start plan b’ing it. #
  • @meganckelly – i’m assuming you’re talking to me? @replies – remember the @ratterrell. that’s key. in reply to meganckelly #
  • @meganckelly – anyhow, i’m really thinking about it right now. i’ll have to decide and plan it tomorrow or the next day. in reply to meganckelly #
  • @joecausey – i think i could take you in wii golf and i definitely could in wii bowling. in reply to joecausey #
  • @DaddyGriffis – oh i seriously doubt it grif. i rule on bowling and like i said i’m pretty dominate on the golf. but i guess you can dream. in reply to DaddyGriffis #
  • @bsheets – my sympathies ben in reply to bsheets #
  • @bsheets – yeah i bet you have to be used to it and pull for OSU. three years in a row. that’s rough. in reply to bsheets #
  • @shmonnie – you’re normal? in reply to shmonnie #
  • @Joshross – deep thoughts for a tuesday in reply to Joshross #
  • has to finish 1/3 of his paper on the Messianic Thought of Jeremiah – I have to do this! #
  • just realized he has a curling match at 6:15 – the paper will have to wait. #
  • “action over institution” a wonderful phrase (and method?) in an article on church of the savior – http://tinyurl.com/9q2z4l #
  • I probably shouldn’t work on three separate parts of my present paper at the same time. #
  • @ppolnaszek – it all sounded good until you hit mickie d’s. in reply to ppolnaszek #
  • @meganckelly – so are you sick then? in reply to meganckelly #
  • I think I am falling in love with Google Book search – I hope Pam’s not jealous. #
  • is on page 10 of 15 on the first paper. This would be so much easier if I didn’t feel that I have to have a reference for every sentence. #
  • is beginning to wonder if turning in a paper that basically says “Jeremiah cried a lot” would be accept by his prof. #
  • @ppolnaszek – no i can promise that i have never in my life been jealous of anything involving mcdonald’s – NEVER! in reply to ppolnaszek #
  • The good news is that I will finish my first paper tonight. The bad news is that I have a second one to finish. #
  • I just put my require C.S. Lewis quote in the paper – one last paragraph and this one is ready to be proofed. #
  • FINISHED WITH THE FIRST DRAFT! oh yeah, and the Gators won – YEAH SEC! #
  • @edstetzer – that’s really impressive – the weight loss not the parachute pants. in reply to edstetzer #
  • Just finished my haircut and trying to kick into gear for the second paper but I don’t really want to discuss diachronic and synchronic. #
  • according to “this american life” polls of people’s taste say this song (http://tinyurl.com/2o7tt2) is the worst possible. i like it. #
  • @calvinb – horrible. NO!!!!!!! it was brilliant! in reply to calvinb #
  • @calvinb – it’s even better with an xbox. in reply to calvinb #
  • I guess I’ll finish my last paper tomorrow. It’s bedtime for me now. #
  • http://twitpic.com/11o5b – i think this is my favorite wedding program ever – eric & natalie’s program was printed by dwight k. schrute. #
  • Just finished my second paper and I now begin to proof them both. WooHoo! #

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worst song by the numbers

i’ve mentioned before that all of you should listen to “the american life” but i want to give you yet another reason to listen to it. in this past week’s podcast, “numbers“, they played two songs that have been developed by polls of typical musical taste of americans. they have a song that should in theory be made of the musical elements that the most americans like and a song that is made of elements that the most americans hate. here’s the worst possible song. it is hillarious. you should download it right now and place it on your ipod.

here’s the link.