Category: personal

I just want to make sure that all “threads” know that this week we will gather at the Metallos’ home (2727 County Rd K N, Custer, Wisconsin) for a baptism gathering instead of meeting at Washington Elementary School. We’ll still meet at 6 p.m. and we will still have pick up at the Debot Circle at UWSP.

Since this is a Tapestry baptism we will also feed each other. The Metallos’ are baking potatoes so please try to bring a salad, dessert, or something that would make for a good baked potato topping. Feeding each other is important so please be a part of it.

This is a great time to invite people who don’t know much about the way of Jesus. Instead of hearing the good news of Jesus’ kingdom they will see a physical example of the good news of Jesus’ kingdom. Also they will experience a community of people who love each other. Invite as many people as you would like.

Here’s the facebook link to the event.

Dear Mr. Lewis,

I’m writing you while I have a few moments at a local coffee shop before I meet with a couple of recent guests who have visited Tapestry, the church I lead, on a few Sunday nights. I’ve been meaning to write you for quite some time. Not sure why I haven’t before. I guess it seems somewhat odd to write a dead man, even though I am sure you are more alive now than you ever were before. It is just that I wonder what you would think of what I have done and continue to do with your thought and writing. I really wish I knew the real you rather than just the you that I interpret from your writings. Your thoughts have influenced me more than anyone outside of the Holy Spirit through scripture. Your words flow from my mouth more than  most people realize. I wish I had been able to get to know you enough that actually call you “Jack”.

Anyhow here’s my quick question before I have to stop writing – why is it that the people who talk the most about being certain of their faith seem to do the least amazing acts of faith while the people who seem to do the most amazing acts of faith often express doubts? Am I wrong in this? It seems to be true from my personal experience but I realize my experience doesn’t really count as the way things really are. I think of your character Ransom from the Space Triology. Ransom was amazingly intelligent yet often seems not to know what is exactly going on in regard to his faith or what his faith is pushing him to do. When he ultimately fights Weston/Satan he still doesn’t seem exactly sure of what he is supposed to do, he just acts in faith. I know it is a fictional story but it tells a story that I have heard many times in reality.

Mr. Lewis people who express how certain they are usually bore me. I am most impressed and inspired by those who have doubts and fears and still act in faith. Is this because of Søren Kierkegaard‘s “leap to faith?” Do these great acts of faith usually come from someone leaping to faith as a result of their uncertainty? Is there any faith without the leap? Seems like you are saying this in The Screwtape Letters when you have Screwtape write to his nephew:

Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.

Makes me wonder if most of the great heroes of the Christian faith would describe themselves as having acted out of certainty or in midst of doubt and questions.

Thanks for being there for me to write to Mr. Lewis. I look forward to actually meeting you one day.

Robert

Earlier this year my friend Andy L gave me a great early graduation present. He remembered that not only do I love C.S. Lewis, an easy thing to know if you spend a few minutes with me, but I also love Alister McGrath and he therefore bought Alister McGrath’s biography of C.S. Lewis for me. Really a great gift that I am very thankful for. The problem? Well I have been avoiding reading it because I was so worried that I might not like it and I wasn’t sure I could handle it.

Really, I have been putting it off for a few months. What would I do if one of top favorite authors wrote a lousy book about my favorite author? I wasn’t sure I would be able to handle it. I know this is stupid. After all I usually love what Alister McGrath writes. Yet still I avoided it. Well I finished “Turn of the Screw” and thought I should finally man up and start reading it.

I am glad to report that after beginning to read it yesterday I am thus far really enjoying it. Whew. That feels better.

Thanks Andy.

A while back I started looking for a good, cheap rifle for deer hunting. I am a duck hunter but I go out with friends deer hunting every now and then. I have been using a friend’s Winchester 94 which I like but I would eventually like to get my own if for no other reason that being able to add a scope. Anyhow I write this to say that while I would not describe myself as a fan of guns I am not opposed to them. I have my guns for hunting (including the 410 my parents gave me when I was 12) and that’s about it.

While searching for a deer rifle I walked into a somewhat local gun shop and heard a person describing how his 8 year old daughter only felt safe enough to sleep when she had her loaded .22 pistol beside her bed. He described how some people might say that made him a “gun nut,” but he had trained her properly on how to handle her gun and, therefore, he was certain she could handle herself. All he knew was that the only way his daugther felt safe enough to sleep was with the pistol near by, so he made sure it was there for her. He added that he forced the issue of putting a flashlight on the barrel of the gun so she could identify her target before she shot it. I stood in the store slack jawed until I decide I would go elsewhere to look for a deer rifle.

Before I write anything else I want to stress that I don’t know this individual or his daughter. For all I know I could have been walking into a fictional story. I heard 10 minutes of loud conversation and that is all I am writing about. I know what I heard but I don’t claim that what I heard actually represents the truth of this individual or his family.

There is a great deal that I could write about concerning this experience. For example, the judgment of an unsupervised 8 year old in handling a deadly weapon in scary situations or the judgment of a 40ish year old dad putting his 8 year old daughter in such situations. What I would like to talk about is fear. I remember my kids at 8. In fact, I remember it fondly. Do you know who they trusted to handle fearful situations? Pam and me. “Dad” and “Mom” where the regular calls when there was something that near them that caused them fear. Otherwise they walked around with certainty that we would protect them. Sometimes, usually when they were jumping off something high, they were a little more certain that I had wished they were.

While a small amount of fear is necessary I believe that parents, and Christians, should focus more on hope. Fear attempts to protect, hope transforms. Fear of sticking your hand in a fire helps a kid. An 8 year old being so scared of an individual breaking into her house (in Central Wisconsin none the less) that the only way she can go to sleep is with a loaded gun beside her bed is another thing.  As a parent I don’t like kids being raised on fear and as a pastor I worry that the church is basing its faith on more fear than hope.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit Paul wrote

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV

The Lordship of Jesus calls us to walk in the hope of the resurrection. This hope leads to us to be an incarnational part of God’s transformation of the world and his ministry of reconciliation. Fear does just the opposite. Fear leads us to pull away from all that might be dangerous. Fear puts up barriers for protection. Hope encourages involvement that can lead to conversion. Fear is “us/them” because we are sure things will merely get worse, while hope is the possibility of “we” because we know that something better is possible. Fear is “I can’t take that risk because I have to protect mine,” while hope is “I can try that because I know He has my back.” Fear is a fight against death, while hope is a fight for resurrection.

I hope those of us who are parents will give our kids such security that they are able to live in hope instead of fear, and I equally pray that those of us who are followers of Jesus will live in such hope that the world around us is transformed through His power.

This past Summer Eric G introduced the boys and I to singletrack mountain biking. All three of us really enjoyed it and therefore I started looking for and purchased our first good mountain bike. Since buying the bike I have gone out at least once a week to the trails around us. Today I learned a few new things:

1. While Fall makes for beautiful trails it also makes for leaf covered trails which makes it difficult to see certain obstacles, such as a bigger than expected rock (1 fall), and also makes it slippery when going up hill, for example you reach a point where you stop going up the hill because the back wheel is freely spinning (1 fall). Probably not the best day to move from traditional pedals to clipless pedals.
2. Deer seem to think that the singletrack trail belongs to them. I saw lots of them today at Standing Rock Park and unfortunately I saw one much closer than I wanted to when I rounded a corner at full speed and it was standing right in the middle of the path. Almost ran into it (1 fall).
3. 45 year old men are not meant to fall off a bicycle more than once a day. I will be very sore tomorrow.

Lots of fun. I’ll go again next week.

So I didn’t blog this past month, other than a previously scheduled post, due to the 14th annual Terrell No TV month (which is actually very limited electronic media). September was a poor month to choose and we are swapping back to August next year.

Anyhow I am now back to blogging and I thought I would start off by posting something for Eric G. You see Eric made a windscreen for the microphone I was using while officiating Drew & Kate’s wedding this past weekend. Here’s a photo of the windscreen he made.

Considering the fact that he made it by trimming down a random block of foam he found it looks pretty good and it worked perfectly. The problem is that Sunday night Eric asked why I hadn’t blogged about the windscreen yet. He said:

Robert, you blog about everything else that happens in your life so why have you blogged about how great my windscreen is?

It was really a rather sad and pathetic moment. I knew Eric was desperate for people’s approval but until this moment I never knew how desperate he was. 😉

There you go Eric. I have now blogged about your windscreen.