Written by robert.terrell on June 27th, 2009
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Written by robert.terrell on June 25th, 2009
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Written by robert.terrell on June 22nd, 2009
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Written by robert.terrell on June 21st, 2009
once again i love our church.
at this point there aren’t many of us in tapestry that are dads but we wanted to celebrate the few of us who are fathers by doing something that is consistent with who we are. for mother’s day i stole an idea from some of my friends at the ring in baton rouge and tapestry gave our thread mother’s gift cards indicating that three mother/daughter kits had been bought from world vision and given in their names. we guys are different though. we need something to fight for. we need someone to fight for. i talked with a couple of “threads” and we decided that fighting for kids was a worthy way of honoring the dads in tapestry. so we donated to invisible children to help fight for kids who are having their childhood stolen from them by being forced by the LRA (LORD’s resistance army – a blasphemous use of GOD’s name because the LORD has nothing to do with this movement) to be child soldiers. it fits with who we are and most every guy wants to fight for someone who need his help.
the second thing we did for father’s day was “operation blessing” or what i like to call “operation mess with people’s minds.” at tapestry it is said all the time that “the church is the people not a building.” being a nomadic church it is typically easy for us to remember this. tonight a couple of us thought it would be a good idea to take this known fact a little further into our lives. typically people “tithe” to the church so that the “church” can do ministry. of course, when you believe that the people are the church it seems pretty obvious that it should sometimes dramatically affect how we view ministry and tithing too. we decided this was one of those times. so our gathering tonight ended with me placing in front of everyone a basket with $150 worth of $5 bills to “tithe” to the church (a.k.a. the people). i asked everyone to take whatever they thought they could use to minister to those around them during the week. the goal is to use these small resources to show the love of GOD in small acts to those around us. that’s what tithing is for, right? one person said that had a neighbor that needed a screen door but couldn’t afford it (many houses around here don’t have a/c because it doesn’t stay hot very long and always cools down at night – in such situations open windows and doors are the main way of cooling the house). automatically a couple of people joined in with their $5’s to make it happen. quickly several other things were mentioned. next sunday should be fun hearing all was done through simple acts of $5 love.
SIDE NOTE – tonight at the tapestry gathering i announced that we had the opportunity to supply, build, and send in home care kits to help children and adults in africa that are struggling and dying from AIDS. we will be collecting resources over the next few weeks and then on july 12th we will put these kits together after our sunday night assembly. we have to deliver them to rochester, minnesota by july 15th so that they can be shipped with other kits from other churches. each kits costs around $100 and i am sure our little church can do at least 5 but my secret dream is 10. if you’re a thread here’s the list for making a in home care kit.
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Written by robert.terrell on June 20th, 2009
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Written by robert.terrell on June 19th, 2009
first let me state something obvious – cousin’s sandwiches suck. some people around here like them but not a ton of people. of course, as the sign shows it is a lot easier to blame the economy for a shop going out of business than it is to blame one’s business model, product, or self. it’s always nicer to place the blame on someone or something else. it makes us feel good.
the same is true with CHRISTianity. it’s easier for us to say that the world is changing or people want a “cafeteria style” religion, etc., etc. than it is to maybe admit that sometimes we simple are doing a lousy job of presenting the gospel. we do like our excuses.
i don’t believe that the “product” we offer the world is a failure (i feel terrible to refer to JESUS as a product but it is merely an analogy). HE never fails but i do think that we fail in conveying HIS message to the world. sometimes we just need to admit when it is our fault and change our methods so as to convey the message of HIS love. rather than making excuses that demand that the world change so it can hear our message, we need to change to convey the always consistent CHRIST in ways that everyone will understand.
excuses may be easier but they don’t accomplish anything good.
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Written by robert.terrell on June 18th, 2009
with basset hounds it is always easy to determine when something disgusting has died and begun to rot in your yard. if the bassets are joyously rolling in it then it is probably a smell that you do not want to be near or have on them when they come back into the house.
sorry for not posting much recently. life has been a little busy around the terrell household with pam’s back surgery. it’s all good because i get to see the boys respond to helping out and we’ve had some wonderful friends/threads helping out (thanks guys). the report on pam at the moment is that she continues to be on the mend. she has a long road ahead of her in recovery. the nerve pain is gone but she can’t do much because of the surgery’s wound. she can lift the weight of a quart of milk and that is it. no bending, no reaching, etc. this means there is not much she can do other than lay on her side, use the bathroom, walk down stairs to sit up for 20 minutes or so, and then head back to bed. she has come up with some creative methods for teaching the first couple of weeks of her summer course at uwsp. anyhow if you have a second and think of sending her an email or starting an e-conversation with her i’m sure she would appreciate it.
SIDE NOTE – you know how ever family has some crazy uncle, aunt, dad, etc. that everyone says “don’t worry about him. that’s just crazy uncle eddy. he’s just that way”? you love that person, would do anything for her, but you don’t take much of what she says very seriously because the family understands that she doesn’t usually turn her brain on before she speaks. you get a good chuckle out of the absurdity of your uncle’s statements but you also explain to those around that he doesn’t speak for the family and he isn’t really a threat. know what i mean?
i sometimes wish there was a way of saying this to those not following CHRIST concerning some of our CHRISTian brothers and sisters. something like “don’t worry about him, that’s just cousin bob – we think he was dropped on his head when he was a kid.” something to acknowledge that we love a brother or sister as family while agreeing that what she is saying is nuts.
let me specify here that i’m not talking about the actually dangerous people. i’m not talking about the uncle that you wouldn’t leave your kids with. for example – fred phelps (i find it hard to believe that he is a family member – but that is up to GOD to decide) or pat robertson. a family is supposed to protect people from that type of evil. no i’m talking about family members that would be classified as “mostly harmless.”
btw, i’m “looking in the mirror” while i type this because most of the time i am probably the one this would need to be said about. “don’t worry about cousin robert. he just talks that way. we just nod, pass him some more bbq, and leave him in a corner while we do the real work of love”
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Written by robert.terrell on June 13th, 2009
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Written by robert.terrell on June 11th, 2009
apparently my mom is let down because i haven’t posted that pam’s surgery was a success and she is back home (which i don’t understand because i called them).
so here is the report. pam’s surgery went well. she now has a long recovery period. she should be able to go to work in two-three weeks. she’ll be able to do other things over various amount of times (i.e. 8 weeks for walking a dog of less than 10 lbs, 6 months to canoeing, 9 months for painting, etc.)
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Written by robert.terrell on June 9th, 2009
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