Whoa Icy!!!

Ok. So last night I got home and my driveway had been turned into a curling rink. I should have been expecting it as I pulled a 180 on the corner coming into my street even though I was only going like twenty. Anyway I stepped out of the truck and fell flat on my back I had to grasp onto my truck just to get up and walk and still slipped twice more finally I took of my shoes and my socks were not so slippery but what a ridicules circumstance to be in.
This morning I thoroughly coated the driveway in ice melt before venturing out and made it safely, with all my clothing still on, to my truck. But on my way to work I did witness a big ol’ welding truck slide sideways through a major intersection. The dummy was definitely going to fast because it was not quite that icy, but still. It’s a death trap out there. Its supposed to get up to plus five again today so I’m sure tonight will be no less perilous. I’m glad I left the hitch on the back of my truck. That should slow them down some. Take it easy kids.
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Packing on the pounds...

My fitness level has hit an all time low. I have absolutely no energy and just about every aspect of my life is suffering for it. I have heartburn like nobody’s business, my “big” cloths are not so big anymore, my regular cloths show off my belly like I work the late shift at seven eleven. I steps on the scale this morning and realized if I don’t do something soon I’m going to be one of those mille aged men who can’t do anything but sit around and be fat, maybe come up with a clever story or two. My motivation to quit smoking was friends who lost their fathers, and I wanted to be there for my children. Maybe that will work for this too.
My friend Pete was up on Saturday doing a practicum for EMT he reminded me of the times I would mock him for becoming domesticated. Mainly because I always thought Pete would be the last guy to get responsible stuff like a Volkswagen and a Mac. It wasn’t that long ago I would detest anything that restricted me from taking off to Calgary in the middle of the night if I so pleased. Now I really just can’t wait to wake up in my home on Saturday morning have a cappuccino with my wife, watch my kids watch cartoons then go to the lake and have a picnic or play ball or something else terribly cliché. Guess that means I had better get a ball glove, or maybe I should start with being able to go up and down the stairs without being completely drained. I hear kids require energy.

The professional me.

So I think it may be time for a haircut. I have been trying to update my wardrobe for a more professional image plus most of my cloths are at least two years old. But today I had to wear a toque because there is a blizzard wreaking havoc in Grande Prairie and I was helping dad shovel out the driveway. When I got home last night the snow was already past the bottom of my truck door. I also had to drive Erika to work this morning (see her blog about being a wuss) and did not fancy being stuck on the highway without proper head covering. Anyway so yeah all this adds up to Tim with hair-ala-togue. So much for my professional image.

Ahhh...

I went swimming and it was fantastic. I feel well exercised but not over strained. I did feel like a bit of a fool at first because I haven done lane swimming in like ten years so my first lap which was an attempt at the front crawl just about exploded my lungs, I never could get the whole exhale underwater thing. Anyway after that I opted for the back-stroke and flutter kick much more relaxing and less demeaning.
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Hmmm....

Ok yet again far too long without a blog! But here we go…
Ok never mind I just realized my parking meter is up. My usual free parking space was taken and I did not want to have to walk a block and a half in the blizzard, not because I’m a sissy but mainly just because I am lazy. Now I need to go move my truck and I am caught in a dilemma should I go to the leisure Center for a swim and exercise as I have been saying I will for the past two months or should I go and have fast food and a cigar. I know this sounds like a ridicules and gluttonous dilemma, but what can I say that’s who I am. I am feeling a slight pull towards the healthy one so I had better go before it subsides.
Love ya guys
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Lessons learned.

This weekend we went to Ponoka for the wedding of Caitlin and Mark two very cool people. All the way down there Erika and I were complaining because the service was on Friday night and the party was on Saturday night. Way too spread out in our manner of thinking plus that means you have to take off all of Friday just to make it in time for the service if you live out of town. Very inconvenient. Then of course if you live in Ponoka or around there (especially the bride and groom) there is the entire day of prolonged anticipation, how crazy is that!! Anyway so we finally got there and the wedding was awesome I love evening services they just seem so much cooler in the dark and with all the candles and such. We did learn a very valuable lesson, NO receiving line!!! There is one exit in that place and to get out it you had to go through the receiving line that means the people at the back of the church have to wait over and hour just to leave and say like half a sentence of gibberish to the bride and groom they will never remember anyway. However in the middle of that line up I had the chance to catch up with a few people I hadn’t seen forever so that was awesome, and though we were not able to stay the next day for the big party we did have coffee and juice downstairs and have even more cach up time by the time we left it was one of the swellest evenings ever and I learned another valuable lesson. Don’t complain about weddings. If you want to support the bride and groom do your best to be there (send fond regrets if you just can’t) relax and have fun, no matter how inconveniently you feel put out. They are just trying to celebrate the best way they know how and really want everyone to have a good time. They are not trying to make it difficult. They don’t always make the best decisions but hey they did their best. For all our complaining the wedding was awesome and if we had been able to stay it would have just been incredible. They are just such fun and relaxing people. Anyway here’s to Caitlin and Mark!! All the best!!
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Some day ... maybe.

“The problem with peace…” So that’s about the extent of my sermon for this week so far. So obviously with about half an hour of “appropriate” time to work on it I decide to blog. “Appropriate” is the time I have assigned to my official work days (Tuesday-Friday 9-5) I often work earlier and latter but that is unofficial, as well as Saturdays when I touch up my message/write it (this week though I will be in Ponoka or Edmonton). Sundays of course I work as well but that is kinda gong showish as I never know what to count as work and what to count as fun and what to count as just good ol’ worship.
Quote for the day, I ran into an old high school friend that thought it was hilarious that I was a pastor. Apparently I did not put out that vibe in high school. Anyway after laughing in my face he asked in all seriousness; “So when pastors get all wise and discerning and stuff?” . Good question, It’s going to be a long night better get to work. Love ya kids
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So What's My Damage!!???

Seriously what is my damage!!!??? The other night Erika and I were looking at where we want to go for our Honeymoon. Her parents are letting us use their time-share for a week so we were perusing the book of places we could go. We were debating going to some place exotic or at least warm or just going somewhere in Canada we could drive to like Vancouver or the mountains. We decided the most practical thing would be to shoot for Fairmont and save our money to pay off debt and save for a bigger trip to Mongolia or something possibly the next year. I was a little disappointed though and asked “But what are we going to do???” I could not wrap my mind around just sitting around for a week and doing nothing. This kinda perplexed Erika. Then suddenly on my way home it dawned on me how incredibly awesome it would be to have an entire week to do absolutely nothing!! Sit around hang out with Erika, read watch TV go for walks eat,a nd just be together I seriously can not remember the last time I had just nothing to do. No one to visit no bible study’s to prepare no sermons to write no kids to call no events to plan for. Even when I take vacation it’s always going here to visit this person then there to visit this persona and I try to cram as many things into one week as possible. Don’t get me wrong I am not a work-a-holic I do take days off and such, my life is not a crazy hectic mess. But an entire week to just chill out!!!?? How awesome is that!!! I’m pretty stoked. I cant believe I was actually resistant to this idea. Anyway kids Love you lots.
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Does this seem right?

Does this make sense to anyone!!!?? The following quote is from the woman I have chosen to spend the rest of my life with;
"Always try to do things in chronological, alphabetical or numerical order; it's less confusing that way" the Great Gouda. That quote pretty much is me in a nutshell. – Erika –
My “filing system” the bed of my truck.
Love ya kids
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Christmas Cheeseball... not the good kind either...

So apparently I am a big cheese ball. Thanks to jonny I can no longer survive a Christmas season without watching “It’s a wonderful life” at least three times, along with many other Christmas classics including “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” (the original of course, that new crap is just that) “A Christmas Carol”, the original and the Muppets version, and also “Scroodged” (which should fall into the travesty column with the new Grinch movie, but Bill Murray just never ceased to amuse me for some odd reason) .
So A couple nights ago we popped it in (It’s a Wonderful Life) and it was everything I knew it would be! Unfortunately those old classics also strip me of every semblance of self-control, and personal pride, so I wear my emotional rollercoaster on my face like some teenage girl watching the latest super lame chick-flick. This of course made Erika very amused and me very embarrassed but what can I do? I am who I am. This also makes me supper excited for my other favorite cheese-ball Christmas delights, Christmas lights, Christmas trees, especially the going and getting it part I have a weird addiction to the smell of a fresh cut pine tree, in the wild it is best but when they lop off the trunk in some parking lot it is almost as good, Christmas carols everywhere you go even the super cheesy retail store versions, though nothing beats good ol’ Louis Armstrong. But My favorite part is the Dolsky Christmas, cards, laughing (not just laughing but becoming giddy with laughter with Sarah and Dave while our parents and in-laws look at us like we are retarded and wonder what they got themselves into) Cards, food, more laughing more food more cards some more food, reading, Christmas stockings that are stuffed beyond any sort of recognizable stocking shape, more food, more cards, and more laughing. The Crappy part is the Erika will be away in Mexico so we will not be able to share it with her, but next year she is in for a definite treat. I’m also pretty stoked about hanging with her family for Christmas. It’s a nightmare trying to juggle both families so that we get quality time with both but I think we will manage and will just double up on all the fun.
The weird part this year is that since we have such a small church just about everyone is going to be away. So not only do we not have a church to decorate and have a candle-light service in, but no parishioners to do it with. The few of us who are left will probably join with the Lutheran church in Sexsmith, so here is to new traditions as well. Its going to be just as great I’m sure, even if its in a different way.
Anyway kids love ya lots.
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Ministerial

So ministerial. Good times! It’s always interesting when you get a bunch of pastors in one room, especially when they are all form different denominations and backgrounds. Everybody is just so busy and you need to mention just how busy you are at least four times in any given conversation. Plus when you are used to your words having a particular weight in any given meeting or function you tend to have a certain mater of fact way of speaking. But mainly its fun because in a good group everyone starts putting their guard down and suddenly there is this sudden burst of sociability. Its like everyone can relate to what the other person is talking about and the comradery is really fun. Just don’t expect them to agree on the best way to have a community communion service at Easter time.

Worst ever!!!

So two things first I am the worst Pastor ever! This guy that I apparently went to school with just came into my office aka. Esquires and we had a good long chat but for the life of me I could not remember who he was his name how I know him or anything (that’s not the bad part that happens tome all the time and I just got used to it I guess). Anyway he swore a lot which is not all that odd for Grande Prairie then he found out I was a pastor. The swearing didn’t slow down any he just apologized every time he did it which was kinda annoying obviously you’re not actually sorry if you keep doing it and either way I’m not really offended so just give it up. Then he started making excuses for why he did not go to church again not really that necessary for my peace of mind anyway we talked about his life and such turns out he is a very hurting young man and very angry at God. But then I just kinda tuned out I was suddenly very concerned with what I was going to be preaching on this Sunday and for a good five minutes was just totally missing form the conversation when I “came too” he was visibly upset and just kinda asked “does that make me a bad person?”. Great! I have no idea! I don’t even know what he just said! So I did the best I could “No dude! Obviously your upset about this so it shows you’re at least conscious of what’s going on. You want my advise? Talk to God about it. He already knows what’s going on anyway so you don’t have to worry about pretending, just be honest and lay it out there. At the very least you will know someone is listening.”
Then I told him to read psalm 22. I really hope that was the Holy Spirit talking through me and not just me talking out my butt. But we’ll see.

The other thing I am the worst blogger ever I don’t know how to make links and such so you should just go to my friend Avey’s blog ( http://agirlcalledgravey.blogspot.com/ ) and check out the video she has posted there it really is freakin’ hilarious. I burst out laughing in the middle of esquires. Scared people half to death around me.
Anyway. Love ya guys
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It should not be such a small world after all...

Its funny how our view of the word changes. Today I saw a kid walking up the hill towards my old elementary school with a bag of what I assume is candy from the local corner store. I was momentarily teleported back to the feeling I had in making the same journey countless times in my oh so innocent youth. I was on my way to get a doughnut and coffee loaded with sugar from TH’s so I can’t say my choice of breakfast is all that much more healthy after all these years, but I realized my view of my childhood home is now framed by a black and brown strip of road squeezed between mounting snow piles. I can not remember with absolute clarity how my world appeared to me in my former years, but it seems to me it used to have much wider horizons even if it occupied a much smaller square footage.
It frightens me to think that other areas of my world seem to be shrinking too, not just my immediate surroundings. I love being the Pastor of a church plant because I really do believe the future is so incredibly wide open. But even as I say that I realize I so often limit myself and my church by my own experience. Sometimes I feel somehow unable to peer over the snow banks of the paths I am so familiar with traveling.
I am going to go check out a site called creative worship. Another Pastor recommended it to me as a means to finding a new worship styles that will still feel safe to staunch old Lutherans yet still stretch them in new directions and put us on the road to renewing our sense of worship.
We’ll see how it goes. Love ya kids!
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Funny

Ok shortest blog ever you like completely random nonsesensical humor? (do you like it more or less than redundant questions?) go to www.askaninja.com . Funny stuff! (warning guys will probably find this much funnier than the ladies will).
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Adventure for today...

Adventure for the day; Pulled up to my “other” office (esquires). Saw some lumpy old dog wandering across the street and almost get run over. So i pet him a bit read his tag and call the owner who automatically knew he would be outside Subway (Subway is beside Esquires). He seemed pretty happy to just sit there smelling subway, and really who can blame him so i went in to get my caramel and coffee fix. I am sitting there working on my message and one of the girls comes up and says “sorry sir but there are no dogs allowed in here”. I guess i must have given her one of those completely blank and yet very confused stares, and what could i say? “Ok?” then she pointed at the ground just behind me and to the right, “isn’t that your dog?” well sure enough that lumpy old dog had followed me in and plunked down beside me. Which explained the funky smell that i thought was coming from the bathroom since i was sitting right beside it as there were no other spots available. Anyway she thought that was pretty funny and led him outside and gave him a couple of yesterday’s biscuits. The owners should find that pretty funny latter on tonight. But oh well not my problem i called them again there is my civic duty. They should put a better fence up.
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Life as a pastor...

Oh my goodness dave is actually passing me in blogs either that means I am a huge slacker or much less a nerd, i would like to think the latter.
My life as a pastor is both much more and much less busy than I had anticipated. being that this new church is so much tinnier the number of “official” coffee’s is much less plus i am not working with any other youth leaders or pastors so i don’t get together with those folks. But I do have a lot of bumping into people i sorta know or used to know and end up catching up then talking about where I am now and often end up talking about spiritual matters. Of course they are not talking to “Pastor Tim” they are just talking to “that Tim guy they know”. This suits me just fine I dig talking about God with people, no matter what context. I do get antsy though to really get meaty with the church plant though. i mean I love preaching on sundays and confirmation is actually fun and seems the kids are into it too. We even have a bit of a youth group going. But it seems like I have been researching Church planting forever and have all these idea’s and musings of what we could do and where God could be leading us but the actual process of discerning the next step and taking it seems so painstakingly slow. w e are just now getting into some vision planning, and we are about to start a bible study i hope to move into the realm of leadership planning and training. t just seems like we are going so slow. i know these things take time bla..bla...bla... patience!? not so much one of my stronger virtues! But oh well thats life i’m settling in and looking forward to what God is doing and what the future holds even if it does seem so far away.
Life with Erika is stupendous. We are fiddling around with renovations to get her house ready to be our love nest. That too I just want to bite into but we have to wait for the electrician and time of course. We started with marriage counseling, thats pretty cool, we’ve talked about allot of this stuff already but to have to articulate it for someone else kinda puts new perspectives on things and helps us to realize there are some things we need to dig into a bit more. And of course the wedding there is not a ton going on but there is always some little detail to mull over and such. Mostly though tis just allot of fun to hang out and go through life together. Marriage looks like it is going to be a very interesting blast.
anyway kids hope that’ll hold ya for a little bit. love ya.
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My other brother Dave..

Oh don’t you just hate it when this happens. So I’m sitting here thinking about Sarah’s wedding while I am supposed to be finishing the message for tomorrow and it dawns on me I now have an other brother dave. Perhaps a few of you are too cool to have watched Bob Newheart, but in this show there was a guy who used to say “Hi my name is Larry this is my brother Daryl and my other brother Daryl.” Well I missed my perfect opportunity to say “Hi my name is Tim this my brother Dave and this is my other brother Dave” Ok lame i suppose, but the old folks would have got a kick out of it and really those are the laughs you need to aim for at such functions.
Anyway Sarah and Dave’s wedding was quite spectacular, all warm and fuzzy and generally allot of fun. Not that i was expecting a whole lot different. I was just thinking it may be a little more formal you know. Anyway so now i guess the pressure is on for us to have a fun wedding too. I’m sure we are up to the task. Yesterday we booked the hall, Five-Mile Hall to be exact. not quite as fancy as some of the hotels we looked at but with some decorations it think it will be allot more us, and hopefully a little more homey feeling. I already started looking up some sweet wedding tunes nothing like a little billy idol. anyway I should get back to work now but any suggestions let them fly. peace kids
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To school again...

Do you ever get nostalgic for those old days? Ok, so that’s a retarded question. Everyone gets nostalgic from time to time. This week with all the kiddies going back to school, I had a throwback to that feeling I used to get walking to school in the crisp pre autumn air. It was weird, with the smell of the dew and the leaves just starting to change I had that feeling down deep in the gut that used to remind me I was off for another year of the unknown, but soon to be taught. It is kinda a mix of disappointment in a summer gone, a little nervousness to see classmates and find out where you lie in the pecking order, I guess excitement would be in there too just because it is a start of something new.
I even remembered the smell of the high school the first day of classes. It was always odd, I had my locker somewhere between the cafeteria and the shop wing so it was a mix of engine oil, sawdust, pancakes, and hash-browns, not to mention the musk of a thousand or more high school students.
I never really liked school I mean I survived and I had some good times in there in between. But for the most part I just remember not really knowing where I belonged. I was known for being a Christian but was too Lutheran to hang out with the “Bible bashers” (Good folk just a little too hyper for my tastes). I played football for a year but was never really hard core. One of the big regrets of those years was quitting, but when your heart is not in it what can you do? I was too unsure of myself to be in the cool crowd (though I realize that may sound like an oxymoron to some), And I was not dorky enough to be an outcast. I had friends but they had their own groups where they belonged. I would just kinda float.
German and English class were places I could be myself, though they were my best and worst class by a margin of sixty percent or so. I just loved to debate, In German we would talk bout just about everything with just a smidgen of German in there as well. Which probably explains the lower of my marks. In English we expressed as many thoughts but actually got grades for doing it effectively in a language I could understand so that helped. My favorite time though was hanging out in the library during spare ten to fifteen of us seniors would take over the middle island of desks and “study” it was an odd mix if just about every social group there was in the high school from the artsy-fartsy, the pot head, the jock, she who belonged to those prone to being more scantily clad, the musician, and everything in-between plus me. No one really belonged so everyone was welcome, I felt right at home.
Anyway I was just thinking of those days again. Lest we forget you know… (and yes I do think it is just as important to remember what kids go through on a day to day basis, as it is to remember those who have fallen in war. If we are not concerned about the quality of life, spiritual, and emotional well being of the future generations, why did those great men and women have to die to preserve this way of life in the first place?)
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So yeah all this talk about the macs being so much easier to post pictures with and such not so much but here are a few more.
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So guess what? Tim is getting married!!! Astounding I know!! i asked Erika to marry me on Tuesday and she actually said yes. I was and am quite happy. I planned a nice little picnic down at O’ Brian park, fried up some shrimp, put together a salad got some drinks had it all setting on ice. I called Erika just as she was getting off work and asked if she had eaten yet. She said “yes”... Nuts! (apparently she was starving so she ate supper early). We went down to O’ Brian anyway. She kept on asking me if I was alright, like I was acting weird or something seeing as how I was about to ask the most important question in my life. Anyway I smoothly dodged the prodding by implying she was the one acting weird, what can I say I’m a charmer. Anyway so we walked down to to the river I ate our supper with Erika sitting beside me on driftwood on the beach. Anyway she was starting to get weirded out by my acting weird so we walked a little further down the river sat on a log dangling our feet in the water and i popped the question. Suddenly it all made sense the questions about rings, her dad taking off to town to have coffee with “someone”, the shrimp dinner (she loves shrimp I’m not so hot on it), me apparently acting weird. So March 3rd anyone? I would love to say we are just having a nice little wedding but each of her parents have like twenty siblings symptoms of being mennonite I guess. So looks like small is a little out of the question. Anyway it’s nice to have Sarah’s wedding to focus on right now so we can kinda put stuff on the back burner and let it simmer for a bit. Anyway that’s my news. Love you all. peace
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