Category: personal

i’ll talk about the q conference later. right now i want to talk about the above photo. last night i had the privilege of eating a meal with 3 of the 4 members of the pierce family. the peirces are people that we know from when i was the youth minister at the first baptist church of carthage, missouri. pam and i love them. they are some of my favorite people. so when it worked out that they were going to be in chicago on the same day that i was going to be in town for q we all wanted to grab a meal.

the above stick drawing is something i drew out as a part of the discussion that bart and i where having during supper. some of you know that i love to draw things that illustrate what i am thinking. it’s how my mind works and i believe it helps me to better wrap my mind around things. so naturally when bart and i began talking i pulled out a pen and started drawing things on the paper table clothe that our table was covered with. i drew out a basic stick diagram of a mountain pass that bart, matt (his son), i, and some other friends had walked through during a backpacking trip in 2001. i used the diagram and experience to connect with what we were talking about at the moment.

i would say that i did a pretty good job of visually connecting a very hypothetical discussion except for one thing …

BART IS LEGALLY BLIND!

that’s right, i drew out a diagram for a friend who is legally blind and has been legally blind for quite sometime. it’s not like i didn’t realize that bart is legally blind. nope. i just never stopped to think “why am i drawing something for bart?” matt sat right beside me and just laughed at me. thanks matt.

to quote my boys – EPIC FAIL!

of course, perry has picked up on spiritual issues concerning this.

pam and i watched “precious” saturday night and wow. before watching it i wasn’t real sure about it before because i’m not a huge fan of much of the stuff that oprah winfrey outs out – typically they are way too lifetime t.v. moviesh for me. when i put this in our netflix que i thought this might be just another one of those movies. of course, the great thing about netflix is that if i hate the movie it doesn’t really cost me anything. i have other movies on the que and instant movies too. all i have to do is send the bad movies back and forget about them.

i’m not sure that i would recommend this movie for everyone. it is rough. i mean real rough. through some of the counseling situations i’ve been in i would say that for some people this movie may hit far too close to home and they might not want to watch it. for others it might be a bit of an eye opener. yes, the events and circumstances that precious has to face are on the extreme side but for some people parenting and childhoods like this are their reality. how can we expect a “normal” human to come out of such treatment? most importantly how can we as a society act to help such children?

i’m not sure i will ever want to watch this film again because i’m not sure that i would want to put myself through that again. still … wow!

SIDE NOTE – i completely understand why mo’nique won the academy award for best supporting actress for her role in this film.

here are the book that i have gone through in the last couple of weeks

• i finished phyllis tickle’s “the great emergence: how CHRISTianity is changing and why” last week and i found it to be a very enjoyable and enlightening book. i went into the book expecting it to be focused primarily on what is presently happening within the church. instead the first 2/3’s of the book dealt with the history that has lead to to this point in history. it was an excellent reminder of some of the primary events within the history of the church. i particularly enjoyed tickel’s theory of the church going through a “garage sale” every 500 years.
• next came don delillo’s “end zone.” i really enjoy delillo’s writing. “white noise” is an excellent example of postmodern literature and a book that i enjoyed greatly. “end zone” is about a football player and i was looking forward to a pomo approach to the grid iron. sadly “end zone” is not as good as “white noise.” it was an ok read and one that i’m not disappointed that i finished.  it just wasn’t great and that is what i was hoping for. again it’s worth reading but if i had to chose i would read “white noise” instead.
• yesterday i finished the book that our small group has been working through, tim keller’s "counterfeit gods: the empty promises of money, sex, and power, and the only hope that matters." technically we don’t finish the study until next week but i went ahead and finished the book yesterday. i like keller’s writing and i think he made some excellent points in this book. keller’s discussion concerning success, power and politics being being false gods within the modern church is something that is very much needed. pretty good stuff for an easy read.
• i wouldn’t normally discuss a book that i decided to stop reading but i will make an exception for mark danielewski’s "only revolutions." i quite reading it because it i simply couldn’t get into the story. it is a very difficult book to read. i am still very impressed with the effort danielewski put into the book. “only revolutions” is two stories in one book – one going in one direction and then you flip the book over and read the other story. there are 90 words from each story on each page. this means that each page has 180 words on it and every two pages has 360 words on it – a revolution of 360 words. danielewski placed a lot of constraints on the writing of this book and the end product was interesting for awhile. though i didn’t finish it i am still impressed with what he tried. sometimes it is worth trying something difficult even if it fails. sometimes experimentation just for the sake of trying new things is a really good thing regardless of the results.

so those are the books i’ve read recently.

via xkcd

i’ve mentioned before the 4 things a man has on him at all legal times to solve problems? this is a list that i was taught from my dad and i have changed based on modern life. the list is:

• a pen
• a bandaide
• a knife
• a calling card/cell phone (this is where the change is – it used to be a quarter).

my dad used to say that you could use these four items to solve pretty much any problem you will ever face. it has worked for me and i continually push it with adam and noah.

a few weeks ago adam holte introduced me to the perfect pen for always being prepared. it is the derringer pen and it is designed to fit in your wallet. when adam showed it to me i knew i had to get one for me and the boys. i gave them theirs this morning and they were thrilled. as a youth minister i had teens always picking on me for having a pen in my pocket. with the derringer pen they would have never even have known how prepared i was.

NOW FOR THE “&”

i have a friend from seminary who recently posted this on his facebook/twitter feed:

the guy who wrote this is a friend i know from SWBTS (where i got my masters degree). he was a swell guy in seminary and i believe him to be a swell guy now. i am sure that he is a great pastor and i think his suggestion is generally a good thing. BUT i want to encourage you NOT to invite anyone to tapestry (or your church) for easter. instead i recommend that we all take advantage of the spiritual nature of this week and easter to talk with and listen to our friends, family, and neighbors about their lives, faith, and struggles. instead of just trying to get them to church let’s become intimately involved in our neighbors’ lives and thereby demonstrate the love of GOD for all to see. if you begin to believe that tapestry would connect with your friend and help them to explore faith in CHRIST and follow HIM then you should most definitely invite them. if you are a thread and think that another church would connect better with who your friend is and who he/she is becoming then skip tapestry for awhile and go with them to whatever church that you think would connect best with them. we’ll see you back once you have your friend connected with people who love your friend.

basically what i am trying to say is instead of inviting people get involved with people. JESUS will show up better through your involvement in someone’s life than by getting that person to come to one worship gathering.

my dad got a deal on these bikes three years ago and gave them to pam and i. we’ve riden them a little since we moved to wisconsin. unfortunately we never rode them that much because i was busy running and pam doesn’t enjoy riding by herself. since then pam’s back went out, she had surgery, and now according to her doctor needs to ride on a comfort bike that is designed to keep her back straight. since then these bikes have just sat around in our garage. i’m going to place them on craigslist for $50 each or $80 for the pair but if someone who reads the blog or knows me on facebook wants to make me an offer i’ll gladly cut you a deal. help me find these almost new bikes a good home.

for the second year in a row tapestry will be having a tenebrae worship gathering. here’s how i sum up the tenebrae in the bulletin this week.

The Tenebrae is an ancient CHRISTian worship service that helps worshipers reflect deeply on the sufferings and death of Christ for us and our salvation. "Tenebrae" means "darkness" or "shadow." Tenebrae uses candles, scripture, singing, and darkness to help us prepare for Easter.

basically it is a worship gathering that is composed of 7 candles, a lot of scripture, a few songs, and darkness. it was very moving last year. actually last year’s tenebrae was when people involved in tapestry started being called “threads.”here’s the facebook event page if you want to say you are coming.

the thing i am most excited about this year is that we will be doing it in the garage at emy j’s. those of you who know me understand that i love emy j’s. it’s an important place to me and to tapestry. most of the very important conversations that have been a part of tapestry coming about took place in emy j’s. the uwsp encore room was awesome last year. i think this year could be even better.

btw, i’m looking for people to read scripture during the tenebrae so if you are interested contact me.

SIDE NOTE – i’ve recently realized that i will most likely never again be a part of a church that has an easter pageant and i am thrilled about that. i have some friends that i love who think pageants are the great thing ever. i don’t necessarily think there is anything wrong with pageants. it’s just that they have never been something i enjoyed or felt passionate about. thankfully i can’t really ever see tapestry feeling comfortable with doing a pageant.

the above photo is the result of my ride home from the tapestry small group study meeting i’m a part of at emy j’s on monday nights. after the study i stopped by belt’s to bring home some ice cream flurries for the family and then hit the road for the 6 mile journey home. about 2 miles from my house the guy driving slightly ahead of me in the left lane (i was in the right) turned on his blinker to turn left, slowed down, missed his turn and suddenly swerved into the right lane with me. it really wasn’t much of an accident and i felt pretty good about the whole thing because he was saying it was his fault and his girlfriend who he was driving to pick up and had been standing there saw the whole thing, and also freely admitted that the whole thing was his fault. so we both made sure everyone was okay, called the cops, and waited for the plover police to show up. a state trooper was there in about 2 minutes (not sure why a trooper showed up for a plover accident) and he quickly got us both to filling out the needed paperwork. i finished mine and started to walk over to the officer and exchange insurance and such with the other driver. when i got over there the trooper was giving the guy a field sobriety test and asked me to head back over to my car.

i’ve never seen an owi accident handled before but apparently it is very different from a normal accident. once i handed my form to the officer he told me i wouldn’t have a citation from the accident (i.e. it was the other guy’s fault) and that he would not be able to stay and help me change my tire because he was having to take the other driver into custody. the trooper told me that all the information i needed, including their insurance, would be on the accident report in a day or two but that he needed to take the gentleman in now. i don’t have his name, insurance or anything. it all felt pretty weird to me but when i called our insurance company they said it was all good.

the thing is i ended up trying to make the girlfriend (a lady probably 10 years older than me) feel better about the situation. it was all pretty rough on her. i know the guy was above the legal limit only because he was arrested and i know and believe that he shouldn’t have been driving while above the limit. still i didn’t think he was driving that bad before he made that sudden swerve (which obviously would be classified as a poor decision and therefore is why you shouldn’t drive when you’ve been drinking). according to the girlfriend the guy had gone for a ride on his bike (because we’ve had gorgeous weather), had a few drinks, and then got an unexpected call from the girlfriend saying she had finished work earlier than planned and needed him to pick her up. he had not planned on driving. he should have said he couldn’t pick her up because of the drinks. yet i’m sure he thought he was close to being under the legal limit and therefore thought he could chance it. what harm would come from it?

it was a small choice and i feel real sorry for the guy who hit me tonight. more than anything else i’m real thankful that neither one of us was hurt.

apparently wisconsin has more owi’s than any other state in the nation. you know something is up when one happens on a monday night at 8:30 p.m.

anyway i’m apparently carless for a few days. even though the damage is slight (look at the above photo) when i went to change the flat tire i discovered that thanks to the accident my flat tire was now stuck on the braking mechanism. therefore, i’m not able to remove the tire from the wheelbase in order to put the spare on. i’ll have to wait for the insurance company to find out what else is wrong with it.

 

at tapestry each week we loop a series of scripture slides, quote slides, announcement slides, and photos while everyone is talking and drinking coffee before the gathering program starts. i know some design companies sell these and i’m all for designers being able to make a living BUT these slides seem like something that churches could probably just share with each other. maybe there is a really good place that shares such graphics. i know creativemyk has some slides like this. they are just a little hard to find. if anyone knows of a good resource for them i would gladly nice at your wedding and cry at your funeral.

anybody who wants to use these is welcome to.

 

i used to would have care about this article and audio story as a youth minister. i now care about it as the parent of two teens. it’s an interesting story from npr concerning the teen brain. specifically its slower functioning frontal lobe and what that means for teen behavior. if you are or have ever been around teens then you’ve seen the described behavior. this just explains how. see mom and dad it wasn’t my fault 🙂

for my youth minister friends this is stuff you have probably read elsewhere BUT the audio might be an excellent resource to share with the parents in the youth ministry. i tried to keep a few resources that i could give to parents to help them understand why their sweet, little, innocent child has now become a selfish slob. i would add this audio to my arsenal.