the week in tweets – 2009-11-21

  • FYI – when having a battle with your 12 yr old remember that cats do not make effective machine guns. violent grenades – YES. guns – no. #
  • @Joshross – not sure. i put my request in early and then have had a couple of people send me an invite. not sure what i actually received it in reply to Joshross #
  • @thegsides – what's happened to your broncos? #
  • duck hunting + cotton socks = VERY COLD FEET. this is such a rookie mistake. i should know better. #
  • @zmikko – no doubt on cotton, which i know but i was in a hurry this morning and just put on whatever i could find. hunting outside plover in reply to zmikko #
  • @zmikko – just west of tommy's turnpike on the wisconsin. in reply to zmikko #
  • @zmikko – no geese would land today but we did get a few ducks. in reply to zmikko #
  • @bCodySmith – we shot 2 yesterday and nothing today. it was still fun though. in reply to bCodySmith #
  • @bCodySmith – mallards and a white eye i forgot about. in reply to bCodySmith #
  • mhmmmm! i get chocolate chip pound cake tonight! i love chocolate chip pound cake and @pamelaaugust pam makes the best. #
  • i'm looking at a huge plate of FRIED DILL PICKLES!!!!!!!! oh yeah, i love my woman (thanks @pamelaaugust) #
  • I just had a bald eagle fly within 25 feet of me. Very cool. #
  • my basset hounds b'day gift to me is that they have decided to beg for their morning walk earlier than normal. thanks for the gift dogs. #
  • It's November 18th and I just saw cut CHRISTmas trees for sell. That's going to be 1 brown tree by 12/25. #
  • @exchangedliving – thanks drew in reply to exchangedliving #
  • @nicoleccausey – thanks nicole. you'll be thrilled to know that i am celebrating my birthday by wearing my new BAMA hoodie ๐Ÿ˜‰ in reply to nicoleccausey #
  • @overflowinglove – true but then you have a green overspray image of the tree on your wall and floor in reply to overflowinglove #
  • @meganckelly – thanks for the well wishes though i would say you have probably been a bigger influence on me than i on you. in reply to meganckelly #
  • @aeah2089 – thanks niece. in reply to aeah2089 #
  • http://twitpic.com/qd10n – Running on a foggy morn. Good stuff. #
  • I'm really amazed by some of my LSU friends calling for the firing of Miles. Are you guys really that fickle? No wonder Saban left. ๐Ÿ™‚ #

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pam kicks butt on birthdays

it’s my birthday tomorrow but as has been our family tradition for the last 15 years pam and i will be in two different places on my birthday. the ASHA convention is always on my birthday and when i was a youth minister our fall retreat was always on my birthday. it was just the way it was. this is a long way of saying that since pam will be gone tomorrow for the ASHA convention tomorrow the family celebrated my birthday tonight. i had mash potatoes, fried chicken, and FRIED DILL PCIKLES! mhmm! my stomach is now making room for a piece of homemade chocolate chip pound cake. double mhmmmm!

best of all pam bought me a BAMA hoodie which had to be special order because we don’t have many of them around wisconsin. oh yeah, i love this woman. she also bought me an electronic knife but that has more to do with her growing up than it does my birthday.

advent conspiracy '09


i’m pretty excited about how tapestry is celebrating CHRISTmas. last year we participated in advent conspiracy. we brought it into the worship gatherings and took up an offering for clean water through living water international. it was a great thing so this year everyone agreed to do it again and push it a little further. so for advent conspiracy this year we’ve decided to give the entire church offering through december 31st to provide for clean water (we’ll pay all our expenses through money we already have in the checking account.). the goal is to raise $5,000 to buy a well in central america. this is a big goal for our little church but we’re excited about it. we started last week and as of tonight we $925. woohoo!

SIDE NOTE – tonight one of my friends brought a guest to tapestry. the guest is originally from kenya. i immediately challenged him to a race because i’ve always wanted to say i ran with and beat a kenyan.

guns and evangelism?


as we discussed at tapestry last week there is some military terminology used within the new testament to describe the life of a follower of CHRIST(ephesians 6:11-20 for example). yet i think many CHRISTians do a really poor job of using these military descriptions in front of non-believers in such a manner that they are not perceived as threatening. i was most convinced of this when pam and i watched “JESUS camp” with some non-evangelical friends. i understood the lingo was being used in the movie so while i didn’t agree with it i wasn’t scared by it. that’s part of the problem of being in a culture, you get used to things that others might not understand. our friends were alarmed by the terminology. they were reminded of al quaeda. i didn’t really blame them.

the above video is another example of such terminology being used in a manner that could easily be perceived as scary. it’s from my alma mater, swbts. the point of the video should be a good thing … let’s share the gospel with our neighbors. instead it is a video of some students caring guns and talking about “taking the hill.” i think some of my friends would be truly scared of this video.

the week in tweets – 2009-11-14

  • @redheadlindsay don't complain b/c lsu's pockets aren't as deep. of course, even with the interception the outcome would have been the same. in reply to redheadlindsay #
  • I know a lot of my friends don't like the new DCB album because it doesn't translate to easy church music but I really like it. #
  • @theboy1der -not sure they should. i'm a little sick of DCB music being the go to music for some churches. i like it being more of an album in reply to theboy1der #
  • @Joshross – i'm always up for coffee, lunch, and catching up. in reply to Joshross #
  • thinking about tapestry buying a billboard for Xmas that says "JESUS wants you to spend less on HIS birthday!" any thoughts? #
  • @joecausey oh i like that! in reply to joecausey #
  • @joecausey oh i like that! in reply to joecausey #
  • thank you vets for all you have done. #
  • @Joshross – would have been great. sorry i didn't see it in time. in reply to Joshross #
  • @pamelaaugust made general tso's chicken for supper. mhmmm! it was amazing and SPICY! my lips are burning but my stomach is happy. #
  • woohoo! i finally have wave! #
  • off to chippewa falls to hang with @ppolnaszek , @johnthemember and others that will be determined when i get there. #

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curling season has begun

SWEEP!!!

curling season began last night! woohoo! we didnโ€™t win but i am on a team with one of the best skips in the league and we lost last night on the last end by one point to one of the other great skips of the league. it was a really good match. it should be an excellent year.

also, adam holte decided to join the league and learned how to curl last night. woohoo!

btw, if you need family photos you should talk to adam. he is an amazing photographer. hereโ€™s the link to his business.

adam learning to curl

the week in tweets – 2009-11-07

  • if anyone has lottery prayer mojo i would appreciate you using it over the next 5 months for me & jim & jill to get into the NYC marathon ๐Ÿ™‚ #
  • i just found out that there is a guy coming to tapestry who was once a champion dog sledder. how cool is that?!?!?!?!? #
  • hanging with @ppolnaszek & @johnthemember and being amazed/scared of how much coffee they drink. they've had 4 cups since i've been with. #
  • policeman loses nose in circumcision ceremony http://bit.ly/wT2AJ. made me think of @sptapestry and smile. #
  • Consumerism is about disacquiring as much as it is about possessing – Peter Sedgwick #
  • morning is jambalaya prep time. afternoon is jambalaya making time. evening is rest from jambalaya making time. now is walking the dogs time #
  • @Joshross – pam is having one of her classes over to the house in reply to Joshross #
  • @dannygilliam – that comes later tonight but wouldn't fit in 140 characters in reply to dannygilliam #
  • @pamelaaugust has a class over to the house for a movie that relates to their study & supper. fun introducing wisconsinites to jambalaya. #
  • finished the second to last paper for "doctrinal foundations of contemporary ministry." not reading "knowing GOD" again for a long time. #
  • @eLP88 make sure it is a good filling lunch because bama likes its tiger meat marbled #tigerssuck #rolltide in reply to eLP88 #
  • pam is pulling for the wrong team to win! http://twitpic.com/on8l0 #
  • @eLP88 exactly! how about them tigers? #tigerssuck #rolltide in reply to eLP88 #
  • @nicoleccausey no pam is wrong! ๐Ÿ™‚ rool tide! in reply to nicoleccausey #
  • RAMA JAMA! #
  • @nicoleccausey yes pam is awesome but in regards to lsu she is just wrong! roll tide! in reply to nicoleccausey #
  • @nicoleccausey – i agree it was probably an interception BUT do you really think it would have made a diff? in reply to nicoleccausey #

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conspiracy of grace

and now for yet another reason i love being a part of tapestry.

one of our guyโ€™s life has changed dramatically over the past 18 months (i will call our friend โ€œfredโ€ from now on). he was doing some things that are no longer who he is. a girl that he โ€œhooked upโ€ with over 18 months ago called him to tell him that he was the father of an 8 month old baby boy that he didnโ€™t know about. surprise.

fredโ€™s son lives with the girl back in fredโ€™s hometown in the upper peninsula of michigan. this is around 5 hours away. fred wants to be the best father he can be, supporting his child, spending time with him, and generally fathering. therefore he drives back to his hometown every weekend to take weekend custody of his son and then he drives back to point for school to go to uwsp on monday mornings.

so he sent a message to me asking if tapestry could pray for him. he wasnโ€™t sure how everyone would respond but he really wanted people praying that he would be a good father to his son. i passed it along he got more than he asked for โ€ฆ in a good way.

the next day i received a phone call from someone asking for fredโ€™s address so they could send him a gas card to help with all the travel. this quickly moved from a gas card to a gas card baby shower. fred came over to pam and my house thinking he was coming for supper and was surprised with a male oriented baby shower (brats, root beer, etc). some groups might have responded in judgment but tapestry responded with an awesome night of grace and love. it was a terrific night.

yesterday i received the following message from fred:

I cannot express how much the congregation of Tapestry means to me. As much as I appreciate the many gifts, I appreciate something else much more: friendship/family. People who are already counting pennies giving up money because I needed it, brings tears to my eyes. When I told my parents, my mother was crying and I was fighting the tears at the party. I am proud and thank God for each and everyone from Tapestry. I LOVE YOU ALL!!

our advent conspiracy


tonight after a few weeks of talking about it with tapestry we all decided to celebrate CHRISTmas by redirecting the entire church offering during the advent season. every dime that comes into tapestry while we are discussing advent conspiracy will be spent on providing clean water for people in a central american village. none of the offerings given during november 22nd through december 27th will go for tapestry’s own expenses. i just felt that the most CHRIST honoring thing we could do during the celebration of HIS birth was spend all our offerings on others in need. thankfully tonight the threads of tapestry agreed with me. in fact, this is going to have to be a bit of an extreme offering for us because the funds necessary for a complete well are more than we typically bring in during a month. to be successful we’ll have to give more than we’ve ever given before. it should be quite cool.

it is nice to be connected with a group of people who are more interested in taking up a special offering to provide clean water than they are in taking one for a building or to meet their own desires. it should be an excellent CHRISTmas.

fall back

oh how i love you my yearly extra hour. falling back is a wonderful thing. why do we ever have to spring forward? springing forward sucks.

of course, it also means that it will be dark at 5 p.m. tomorrow and soon 3:45 (yes it gets darks in wisconsin that early when the depths of winter hits us). i’m not a huge fan of the early darkness. it makes it difficult to find the time to run and pam swears that she suffers from seasonal affective disorder due to the lack of sunlight.

to recap – extra hour = good, lack of sunlight = bad.