Category: random thoughts

we’re back in mobilbe now after spending the weekend in baton rouge. pam graduated (woohoo), we saw people we love, and we hung out at a few places we love (mainly eating establishments). it was a great weekend and pam and i are both so thankful for our friends that we got to spend time with and wish we had been able to spend time with many others that we love.

i was able to finish “under the banner of heaven” and it was pretty cool.

i’m watching an hbo documentary called “hard as nails.” it’s … ummmm … interesting. i guess.

btw, happy CHRISTmas adam.

have you ever wondered what an icicle falling through your window sounds like? well it apparently sounds exactly like a cat pushing a one liter glass jar half full of lose change off a 5′ tall chest of drawers at 5 a.m. while you are asleep.

actually, i have no idea what an icicle falling through your window sounds like but i know exactly what the cat pushing the jar of change off the 5′ tall chest at 5 a.m. sounds like and i know that when we were jarred (no pun intended) awake by that sound pam and i both thought that an icicle had just busted through one of our windows.

i hate cats.

my run for the day

distance – 3.0 miles
time – 28:04
pace – 9:22/mile
weather – 10°/snow

another long day but i thought i would report to those that care that we won our curling match tonight. that makes the team’s record 3-1. woohoo!

i’ll also report that the low today in the stevens point area was 12 degrees with a windchill down to 1-2 degrees. oh yeah it’s cold.

it’s been a long day and i just finished filling in the monthly report i have to send in for my support, so i’m too tired to really type anything worth squat.

i started reading “launch:starting a church from scratch” today and i thought a statement steve sjogren made in the preface of the book was amazing. he stated that the average sales for a book published within the united states was 2,500 and that the average sales for a book published by a CHRISTian publishing house was around 1,000 books. he stated that he thought the reason for this was because so few of these books ever changed anyone’s life. i think the same has to be true for many of our churches – the reason o many are not growing is because so many of them haven’t been a part of changing anyone’s life. i want to be a part of a church that sees people’s lives changed through the power of CHRIST.

SIDE NOTE – i have always liked xbox live but it’s even better when it allows me to chat with people who are 17 hours away. up until recently i did not have a mic for using the vocal communication (i’m too cheap to buy one). when i bought the xbox 360 it came with a mic and i have fallen in love with being able to chat with some of my former youth from baton rouge. if you’re on live look me up (my id is ratterrell).

i need to preface this by saying that i have never been a fan of pat robertson.

i would love to say that i didn’t understand why robertson was endorsing rudy giuliani but unfortunately i believe that i do. it’s all about power. i’m not in robertson’s head so i can’t say that i know everything thing about why he does what he does but the only reason i can think of that an individual would announce his support for an individual who is opposed to the two issues that the individual had previously said were the most important issues for those who follow him (remember that he said 9/11 took place because of america giving in to gay rights and abortion) is for power. i’m guessing that robertson thinks giuliani has more of a chance of beating hillary than any other republican and that’s what really matters to pat. if his “principals” are getting in the way of his ultimate goal of the republicans winning then those “principals” need to be adjusted a little bit. it’s all about power.

of course, robertson is not the only one to have ever swapped course in the middle of the stream in order to win a goal that was different from the one he had been espousing. it’s just not something i’m very cool with and i try to avoid it.

what do rome and jerusalem have to do with one another? what does seeking political power over principals have to do with JESUS? i can’t see anything. i hope most other CHRISTians well the same way and that robertson’s influence on some will wane now that he is clearly seen for what he is.

engage me in the loss of control call trust

this was the tattoo that wrapped around the arm of the young lady who served my coffee today. it thought it was an interesting and mostly accurate way of defining “trust.” the problem is that i’m not sure how often i am really ready to give up control in the name of trust. i enjoy having control. i feel better when things are within my control. of course, i probably grow better when i’m willing to give up that control but growth is risky. sometimes i would rather not risk anything.

of course, other times i just jump. i hope the jumping times out weight the controlling times.

so as everyone but grant knew the packers beat the broncos and what a win it was. like i said earlier, it has to be a bad week for grant. of course, since i sat on my couch watching the game while grant was at mile high stadium watching the game, i seriously doubt that he’s week is really that bad.

SIDE NOTE – thanks to brad’s generosity i received a couple of hand printed copies of “the gospel of screen printing.” i had written brad a couple of weeks ago asking if he might screen print me some business cards. he said sure and commented that hand printed cards “felt” different. i wasn’t sure what he meant until i touch the zines he sent. there is a definite difference in the printing and it feels great. i’m waiting on the logo that is being designed for me to send the business card design to brad. i can’t wait for the cards now.

i feel for my buddy grant. tonight his rockies were swept by len’s bosox’s, and tomorrow my packers and kicking his broncos’ butts. poor buddy grant. it has to be a rough week.

the terrell family has just found it’s first thing within wisconsin (or at least within the village of plover if it’s not the whole state) that we think is dumb. it’s halloween. the “official” celebration of halloween within the village of plover was today (october 28th) from 3-6p.m. what do halloween and daylight have in common? i know some of you are not big fans of halloween. i’m fine with your convictions. my family and i on the other hand are fine with halloween and therefore we had to laugh out loud at the thought of kids trick or treating during the afternoon. it just didn’t feel the same.

SIDE NOTE – for those of you would know the baltodona’s i thought i would pass along claudia’s request that you pray for momma neubia. momma neubia has been sick for a few days and finally went to the doctor. the doctor checked her out and said that he thought she might have a tumor in her colon. they have no idea what that means yet and so they will be doing testing tomorrow. please keep the baltodona’s in your prayers.