Tom Klopfenstein

My favorite preacher

I'm OK

Tuesday night I "failed to negotiate" a right hand turn. I slid on the ice and crashed into an unforgiving telephone pole. It's a good thing I had my seat belt on. The airbags helped also. I had to climb out of the back door since both front doors wouldn't open. The people who ran out of their homes to see if I was all right said there are frequent crashes into that pole. The tow truck driver from "Toot-n-Tell'em" confirmed this by saying he has two cars in his lot now that recently lost the fight with that telephone pole.

My knee still hurts from hitting the dash, and I was very sore, but that's all the damage I suffered. Thanks Lord! But my car is totalled. I will miss it. Any one have a car for sale?

Nancy Quote

"There's nothing in the Bible that says you can't say shit."


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Christian Buzzwords

I found this article in the fall 2007 issue of Leadership.
Jump in our office pool. Which buzzword will be the first so overused that it's meaningless?
- Missional
- Formation
- Community
- Journey
- Resonate
- Emerging
- Authentic
- Narrative
- Metanarrative
- Story (your, mine, our)
- Visioning
- Revisioning
- Vision Casting
- Christ-follower
How do you know a buzzword is past it's prime?
- When your denomination creates a division promoting it.
- When Chuck Colson writes an article condemning it.
- When your mother gives you a magazine titled that word plus "Today."
- When your board adds it to your job description.
- When Baptist press uses it in a headline.
- When it gets its own website at ChristianityToday.com

My favorite youtube video

Road Trip

Michele and I drove to Grabill, In to see my cousin Barry, his wife Denise, and their three children Josiah, Bethany, and Jodty. We babysat them and we had so much fun. They are so sweet.

Family

We are having a blast! Yesterday I went out to lunch with my dad, Caitlin, Ben and Michele to Hacienda. Last night we saw the movies I am Legend and Sweeny Todd. Today Nancy and I got in more shopping. Next we want to see National Treasure 2. I was worried that Ben and Jimmy would not spend enough time playing video games, but it turns out I did'nt need to worry.

Puppies

Sometimes you just have to bury your face in warm puppies.

Samson

Michele is here! Ben will be here in a couple days. He had a music video to shoot. We love Michele's puppy. At first Boo was'nt too pleased, but now they are best friends.

Ben and Michele Are Coming To Town

In less than a week they will be here. We are so excited. I can't wait to see them. I hope we have snow. We always have the best time when they are here. It really makes for a special Christmas when all 6 of us are together. Michele is bringing her new puppy Samson on the plane. We are all curious to see how he and Boo get along.
In many ways 2007 has been a rough year. We are all ready for a new one.

NANCY QUOTES

"Honey, I love you for who you are, but Come On!"

"People act like they're so smart on things, but it's really just things ya don't need ta know."

I got up early today. I'm sitting in my chair with a shimmering Christmas tree to my left and a glowing fire to my right, each giving off it's own warmth. It's midnight-dark outside. So peaceful the sun decides to let everyone sleep in. A grateful earth sighs and pulls it's soft white blanket closer. A sleeping dog makes contented sounds as she soaks up the heat from the fire.
Life is so unfair!
It's not fair that I should have so much. I am overcome with thankfulness. I think about my sleeping family and fall in love with each one of them again. When we are thankful, the One we thank shows up to say, "You're welcome."
He directs my attention to the words of an ancient song. "Give thanks to the Lord, His love endures forever...In my anguish I cried to the Lord and he answered by setting me free." wow. That's just the answer I was looking for. To be set free.
"The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The Lord is with me...He is my strength and my song, He has become my salvation. The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. You are my God and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, his love endures forever." (From Psalm 118)
The sun can't sleep in any longer and awakens a bird, who wakes up my dog, who wakes up my family. And my heart awakes. I want to stay thankful today, so that the One I thank will stay close, directing my attention to all I have to be thankful for.

MURDER MYSTERY

We'll call the photo Exhibit A. It's a picture of me and my Grandma Clara Klopfenstein circa 1969. I’d like to draw your attention to the goldfish bowl on the right. If you could see inside of the murky water you would see two very frightened goldfish. We'll get to the fish in a minute. What's up with that water? Wasn't it ever changed? More importantly, which one of my siblings wasn't doing their chore and is it too late to tell on them and get them in trouble?
The fish certainly preferred the dirty water where they could hide from me. As a five year old I loved to play with the fish. I would catch them one at a time and carry them to the play room. I'd shut the door because I'd gotten in trouble for this before. I placed them on the floor and they would jump so high! They were the happiest fish.
I never understood why this was wrong because the fish obviously loved it. They were so excited. I laughed with every wiggle. A boy and his fish. I invented a game similar to Jacks. I'd see how many green army men I could scoop up and still catch the fish.
It wasn't that the goldfish were just happy to be free of the dirty water, they were excited to spend time with me. We would play until one of two things happened. Either my Mom would yell, "Tommy, you better not have the fish in the play room again!" or exhausted from all the fun, the fish would go to sleep. I would quietly carry them back to their bowl to tuck them in, where they would float peacefully upon the opaque water.
They would sleep all day.
Later I would learn of their deaths.
It was always a most unexpected blow and I would go through each of the Elizabeth Kubler Ross stages of grief. They can't be dead, I just saw them! Whenever I was informed of the death of a goldfish, even as a five year old, I sensed something in the tone of Moms voice. Was that accusation I detected?
As if I were somehow responsible for the murders? How unthinkable. I was the usual suspect. Blame the child. How very convenient. I'm the victim here. No one grieved more than me. I never once saw anyone else in the family shed so much as a tear for these most tragic losses.
My alibis were easily dismissed seeing as how I possessed no concept of time. I tried to help in the investigation by offering my theories. We could rule out Kathy, an avowed animal lover. Jim, being thirteen years old, would certainly have had motive. But I secretly suspected that the murderer was none other than... Mom!
Wasn't it Mom who had killed the garage rabbits with carbon monoxide poisoning? Wasn't it Mom who drowned the baby mouse with an eye dropper of milk?
For all we knew, Mom, if that was her real name, was responsible for that rash of dead hamsters in the neighborhood. Suddenly every pet death had to be reexamined. Every closed case had to be reopened. What really happened to Tiger? And what about Fred the alligator? Did he really die of starvation?
At this point I would like to digress and set the record straight on the naming of Fred. On my fifth birthday my dad brought home a little box from the pet store. There were pictures of birds on the sides so I was pretty sure I knew what my present was. I had my face close to the box and I screamed when I saw an alligator where a bird was supposed to be.
I named him after my favorite Uncle, Uncle Fred. There was actually a discussion about this choice. The consensus was that Uncle Fred might be offended. So based on this flimsy excuse Fred was rejected for a less controversial name.
It was my brother Jim who inexplicably came up with the unfortunate name King Sultan. Which happens to be the most stupid alligator name I've ever heard. And Jim, if you're reading this, I'm not afraid to say it to your face. As a namer of alligators, you stink.
I know for a fact that Uncle Fred would not have been offended at having an alligator named after him. He would have recognized it for the honor it was. It was my brothers name for him that stuck. Publicly anyway. Whenever I was alone with him, I defiantly called him Fred.
Fred was a member of our family for a little over one week. He wouldn't eat. We later learned that if you have an anorexic alligator you are supposed to push raw hamburger down his throat. Sticking my finger down the mouth of this creature would never have occurred to me.
We now return to our murder mystery.
We only got one more set of goldfish after the alligator died. Most of them were buried in the backyard with a little funeral ceremony. As the body count increased, the trauma decreased. I became desensitized and even came to expect that some pets just didn't live very long.
We stopped having sermons at the funerals. Then we stopped having funerals. The last two were just flushed down the toilet. Buried at sea. I lost interest in solving the mystery and besides, exhuming buried pets in the backyard pet cemetery would prove to be a never ending task based on the sheer number of bodies.
When I was about eight years old I came to accept my complicity in the demise of so many goldfish. It wasn't until a few years after we abruptly stopped buying them that I learned about the true life-span of the domesticated goldfish.
I was talking to a friend who showed me the two his parents had just bought him. I mentioned how annoying it will be to have to buy new ones every few days. He looked puzzled. I explained to the novice that goldfish only live a few days, maybe a week if you're lucky. He said that he had them before and they would always live for many months.
Clearly he didn't know what he was talking about. As we continued to compare notes, two differences in our goldfish experiences became obvious. One, he never took them out to play with. Not even once. He'd never even heard of games like Goldfish Jacks. And Two, the water in his fish bowl was disturbingly clear. You could actually see them swimming around. They were so much fun to watch, to enjoy them you wouldn't need to take them...out...of...the...
My brain slowly began to wrap itself around the realization that I...I was the fish murderer. I'm sure the room didn't really spin, but that's my memory of the next few moments. I saw hundreds of dead goldfish gasping for air and pointing their fins at me accusingly.
I ran home and confessed everything to Mom. She said it was OK and that she understood how badly I felt because she too had accidentally killed some of our pets. In fact, she had caused the untimely deaths of dozens of our animal friends through the years. I was right about the mouse and the garage rabbits! She was cleared of the alligator charge.
She talked to me about why we felt so badly. It's because life is precious. Very precious. Having childhood pets taught us about life, death, compassion, and responsibility. We learned to respect, nurture, and protect life. Especially life that is smaller and weaker than we are. For many of us, pets introduced us to the concept of where babies come from. We found out that holding a kitten made everything OK and that nothing made us giggle harder than the kisses of a puppy. We learned that dogs could be trusted with secrets.
As I got older I was trusted with less disposable pets such as cats and dogs. Well, dogs anyway. I learned that dogs have to be fed everyday and cats hate to be picked up by their ears. Taking care of pets is good training for being a parent. Just watch a little girl sing to her kitten as she rocks her to sleep. She's loving on a baby from a future mothers heart.
And in case you're wondering, I almost never picked up my children by their ears.

Nancy's Dad

Nancy's dad had a heart attack on Saturday. Nancy took him to the ER. He is stable, but still in the hospital. He is 79. One half of his heart was 100% blocked and the other half was 60% blocked. Please pray for him. We all love him very much.

Aching for Heaven

Some of the most loving people I have ever known are pictured here. My Great Aunt Amanda Meyer, Aunt Alice Hohulin, my mom, Great Aunt Sarah Meyer, Great Uncle Roy Meyer, and Uncle Fred Hohulin. Aunt Alice is the only one still with us. I want to be sitting in that empty chair next to Uncle Fred, just soaking in the love from these wonderful people. Sometimes I just ache for Heaven.

I'm a free man

I went to court this morning. I was the first one there, but apparently that doesn't mean anything, because they take the people with lawyers first. A prosecutor asked me what happened, I explained and she dismissed it just like that! Thank You Lord!! I'm a free man.

Here Come the Judge

Tomorrow morning I go to court to try to beat my latest ticket. The charge is "Unsafe lane movement." When I changed lanes I crossed the 2 white lines that indicate the bike lane. Every one who parks on that street must cross those lines. That is my defense. It's a pretty big deal because I don't need any more points. I am trying to not worry about it. I am not going back to prison.

Cool T.V. Shows

Michele and I just finished watching The Office Season 3. Favorite show. We laughed so hard. Laughter is very important, and I try to do as much of it as I can everyday. Also loved Heroes Season 1. Very cool show. I liked all of the "easter eggs" - the little things that only a true geek/fanboy gets. Such as Kirby Plaza, named after the great Jack "King" Kirby co-creator of Captain America, Fantastic Four, Hulk, X-Men, etc. Loved the cameo by Stan Lee as the bus driver. Next I want to see Prison Break Season 2.

To My Blog Reader

My cousin Dan Wallin told me that his sister Catherine reads my blog. That made me happy. I didn't think anyone read it. That gave me the resolve to blog more often. So, Catherine, thank you so much for your support.