we are a three driver family who have been living with two cars for about 9 months. my mazda 626’s transmission died at the end of last winter and it just wasn’t worth fixing. we don’t often need a third car but every now and then one would come in handy. we now have a “new to us” 3rd car. i spent a $100 on eric g’s 1992 nissan sentra. i shouldn’t take long for it to be worth every penny … which isn’t really saying much 🙂
i had a message secretary tonight
tonight i had a first for me. i usually end messages sunday nights in tapestry by asking if anyone has anything that needs to be added before i end. quite often this leads to some wonderful things. tonight when i asked the question one of the threads asked “what was the second thing you said at the end?” you see, i have a habit of ever now and then during my messages speaking in a conspiratorial whisper that can be hard to hear if i’m not facing you..
now i prepare pretty well for the sermons i do. i spend a lot of time studying beforehand and i develop a pretty thorough outline BUT i don’t write a full manuscript. i am not speaking from something i have memorized word for word. so i tried m best to answer her by giving her a general summary of my last point. i just wasn’t word for word sure of what i had just said. when i finished my summary another thread said “oh i wrote it down” and she then read off to the other person the word for word statement that had been missed because of my whisper.
i’ve never before had a “message secretary” who was ready to read back what i had just said. as a pastor it was kind of a cool experience for me.
SIDE NOTE – apparently i have a new title. since i don’t really like people calling me “pastor robert” (versus people introducing me to their friends as their pastor – which i do love) tonight i was called “shepherd bob.” i think i like that title. 🙂
the right to bear arms
this is a graphic from a busted tees t-shirt. i think it is quite funny. if the 2nd amendment discussion was about you and me having the arms of a bear it would be awesome.
come on saints
i’m a packer fan and have been since the 8th grade. that and the fact that i love my kids is why i posted that photo yesterday. even though i believe the new orleans saints are possibly the biggest threat to keeping the the packers from winning the nfc and going to the super bowl i do really hope they kill the detroit lions. i want to like detroit but i believe they are a dirty defense right now. come on saints.
SIDE NOTE – i am trying the aside feature of wordpress with this post just to see what it does.
maybe
i have been a part of touched twice united clinics and i’m on the executive board of TTU, so i obviously believe in its mission. i love what happens at TTU clinics. the above video isn’t a TTU clinic but it is something that we could fit into a clinic (and in fact some things similar have been fit into some clinic). i’ve wanted tapestry to do a clinic for awhile but it just hasn’t worked out yet – it is a lot to ask of a small VERY new community.
maybe this year?
i know we have enough photographers to do something like this and i’m sure we could get others. i used to do senior portraits for the multi-housing ministry when i was the youth minister at parkview baptist church in baton rouge. i loved doing it. i’ve emailed the high school counselors here in point asking about doing the same thing to no avail.
i need to talk to some more threads about us getting into gear on doing a clinic. the video was just the kick in the pants i needed.
found this old photo
and it makes me smile. 🙂
if this happened to noah i’d …
noah plays 9th grade basketball on his school’s A team. i saw this video of one high school, primarily one player’s, fouls that probably should have been called flagrant. actually in my opinion two of the fouls should have resulted in the teen and his coach receiving a warning that if another foul like them happened the player would be ejected and the 5th foul shown probably should have resulted in an immediate ejection (though obviously if it was the kid’s only foul it would be much harder to do that).
as a father i’m i’m not entirely sure how i would have responded? taken noah out of the game? told noah to accidentally get this guy in a spot that would keep him out of the game? i’m not proud of the thought. i’m just not sure how i would respond.
i do know that i would be going ballistic on the refs for not taking care of business and the opposing coach for either teaching or allowing this behavior.
12 hopes for 2012
i really like shane claiborne. i heard him speak on a podcast in 2005 and thought the simple way (the intentional community that he is a part of) sounded like a cool place to check out. so i went there for a week and that made me like claiborne all the more. he lives out what he talks about and that’s awesome.
shane posted over on the sojourner’s website “12 hopes for 2012” and i think they are great. i find them food for great thought and very challenging. the only problem is that they will actually cost me some effort … i prefer hopes that at best cost me nothing personally and at worst cost someone else instead of me. 🙂
here they are:
12. Do something really nice – that no one knows about.
11. Spend more money on other people than I spend on myself. Love my neighbor as I love myself. And love myself as I love my neighbor.
10. Laugh often… especially at advertisements that try to convince me that I must buy more stuff in order to be happy.
9. Learn a new life skill – like carpentry, pottery, or canning vegetables. Teach someone else I life skill I know how to do.
8. Love a few people well, remembering that what is important is not how much we do but how much love we put into doing it.
7. Write a letter to someone I need to say thank you to. Write another letter to someone I need to ask to forgive me.
6. Track down a critic or someone I disagree with and take them to lunch. Listen to them.
5. Compliment someone I have a hard time complimenting… and mean it.
4. Choose life. Do something regularly to interrupt the patterns of injustice – do something to end violence, bullying, war, capital punishment and other mean and ugly things.
3. Pause before every crisis and ask “will this matter in 5 years?”
2. Get outside often and marvel at things like fireflies and shooting stars. And regularly get my hands into the garden… so when I type on the computer I can see dirt under my fingernails.
1. Believe in miracles. And live in a way that might necessitate one.
it’s trash night
increasing wedding officiating
tapestry and i seem to be getting involved in more weddings from within our group each year. here’s a year by year on the wedding officiating that i have been doing:
|
2009 |
involved in 1 wedding |
|
2010 |
officiated 1 wedding |
|
2011 |
officiated 2 weddings |
|
2012 |
scheduled to officiate 2 weddings already |
i’ve told pam that my personal goal is to do an extra wedding each year and i’m hoping for a 3rd wedding for 2011 and it looks like it will probably happen. i am pretty excited about this because i think it is a really good sign that things are going well in our group. i think it speaks of how we value strong relationships and community. it also reflects that as a group we are drawing younger people, one of the groups that aren’t typically becoming involved in a church.
the picture above is of the group of threads that drove to milwaukee (2 1/2 hours away) to be a part of joe & kaylin’s wedding. when someone (or two in joe & kaylin’s case) from our group joins with another we want to celebrate what GOD is doing in them. we want to celebrate it because we believe strong, healthy relationships reflect the nature of GOD.
SIDE NOTE – we had our first baby dedication this year so i guess i need to set up a new goal of an extra baby dedication each year 🙂
SIDE SIDE NOTE – the above photo is from adam h, one of the wedding photographers in our midst. you really should check out his website. he is awesome.