I wonder what he's up to...

Dear Family and Friends...

It has been a long while for some of you since you have heard a mere peep from me. For others, you have maybe had a short glimpse of me with a possible short quip of humor. However, I bet the vast majority of you still have no idea of what I have been doing with my life and whether I have become a contributing member of society, or I am just holed-up in a cold basement, counting the days until my Twitter followers exceeds twenty.

(I should point out the irony in the fact that Switchfoot’s “This is Your Life” is playing on my computer right now)

If you are wondering, “I hope Tim has at least found a job by now,” then you can stop worrying. For all of you who haven’t heard yet, I was hired in early September as an “event technology specialist” by a production company (or an “A/V” company, if you want to lose the technical corporate jargon) who has various hotel/conference center-based clients in downtown Minneapolis. Basically, I set up audio and visual systems for conferences and conventions and what-not for large (and some small) groups and corporations. It’s pretty much what I did all last year with CTI. That is, minus the traveling, playing music, decent co-workers, and properly functioning hardware.

But it pays the bills and supports me and good ‘ol Unkie Sam at the same time. I have been blessed in that area. And, at the very least, I’m gaining a lot of good experience, learning more in an area that I’m actually interested in, and building up one HECK of a client list that ranges from local underachieving professional football team, “The Largest Algal Biomass Summit in the World,” Norwegian royalty, and a former U.S. President (hint: he was impeached while in office and is NOT named Andrew Johnson).

“But Tim,” you may ponder, “If you said you’re paying bills, then does that mean you are paying rent, and does THAT mean you have a new address?”

Why yes. It does.

I felt that all you important people in my life (I think the scientific term is the “give-a-crap-ers”) should be clued-in on my contact information to wisely use at their discretion. So knock yourself out.

3544 Aquila Circle #7
St. Louis Park, MN 55426

If you can’t find this address on Google Maps or a GPS, try swapping in “Minneapolis” for “St. Louis Park,” because, according to the robots, they are obviously the same city.

I didn’t list my phone number, because I’m planning on also posting this to my blog, and I don’t publicize that information as widely. But I believe that most of you already know how to contact me via telephone anyways. Feel free to (wisely) use that at your discretion as well.

And since we’re on the topic of bills, I’d like to take this moment (after I caught your attention, but before I lose it again), to mention that I still have a somewhat large chunk of money left to pay CTI for my ministry year. As many of you know, only about 60% of what I (was supposed to) raise actually covered the ministry expenses I incurred throughout the year. The organization was a huge blessing to me, and will be a blessing to other people like me in the future as long as they can still work on good financial terms.

“Developing Christian leadership and character in young musicians” is one of the passions behind CTI’s purpose, and I’m sure they would probably prefer not to add negative things to their goals (e.g. homelessness, debt-ridden lifestyles, a passion for cutoffs, etc.). Because of this CTI agreed to cut me some slack by not demanding every cent of what I didn’t raise right after my ministry year ended. However, by now being currently employed with some form of cash flow, I made a promise to have everything paid in full by the end of the year.

As responsibility requests, I am fully prepared to pay off the difference in what I didn’t raise by myself, but it would put a considerable amount of financial strain on me for a while. So if you want to continue to (tax-deductibly) support me, feel free to use my (new) contact info for info in this area as well.

Some of you have already helped me out financially (ctimusic.org/donate) over the past year considerably. Some of you have helped me out in non-financial ways that have meant the WORLD to me. Heck, just the fact that you’re reading this entire thing means that you at least think I’m a decent person. That means a lot as well.

People come and go through the revolving door that makes up my social life. But in just compiling the list of email addresses that I was going to send this message to, I realized how many people have been constant resources to me. And I thank you ALL. Please don’t ever change. I’d also ask please don’t ever go away, but I think that at least half the people I’ve sent this to now live 100 or more miles from where I currently live.

But that is life.

Please stay in touch. This is especially for those who don’t live near me in the Land of 10 Billion Puddles, but even if you see me EVERY day (which would be creepy, considering my work schedule), there is probably more going on than meets the eye, so stop and chat. I’m a messed-up person. But I’m guessing so are you. We have something in common!

We all go through struggles. I can say without a doubt that, since I permanently moved back to the Minneapolis area, these last three months have been some of the longest in my life. Each day is a struggle for meaning and purpose in life. Some days are easy. Some days are more difficult. MUCH more difficult.

You would think that after spending a year on the road in the U.S. and Canada (not to mention the two episodes of “A Bearded White Guy’s Adventures in Hong Kong”) I would have a better idea of what I want to do in life. I remember going throughout the course of that year, BS-ing my way through questions when people (on many occasions) would ask the usual “So what are you doing after this?” The truth is that I STILL don’t know. Even with my new job, I had that gut feeling that this wasn’t a job-to-end-all-jobs sort-of opportunity. I feel that God is going to teach me a lot through this particular job (in job skills and life skills). But the door is still always open to whatever God throws my way.

Trust me, it is sometimes frustrating. It almost makes me angry some days. Believe it or not, I am only human. Trying to fully understand something that created me and the universe around me is like expecting Rebecca Black to put out a decent single. It’s just not going to happen.

I’m beginning to see that life was never meant to be entirely figured-out. But that doesn’t mean we still can’t enjoy it.

I keep slapping myself whenever I say that. It’s what I used to tell kids all the time when life doesn’t go as planned. I’m the biggest hypocrite sometimes with the stuff I preach. It’s tough to say it when there are some days when it’s tough to live it.

So there you go! Donate your money to a hypocrite!

I’m pretty sure that, when I was formulating what I wanted to say in this message, it wouldn’t end like that.

What I’m trying to say is that there it is much easier to have a bad day and throw away everything you strive to live for, rather than actually making an effort to find those seemingly hard to find moment of joy in life.

A wise (and slightly fictional) person once said, “Get busy living, or get busy dying.”

What are you doing?

I can say that, when the luster of my *NEW* job wore off and monotony and complacency kicked-in, I realized that I was going to make some sort of an effort give each day alive a purpose. Otherwise, if I have nothing to live for, then I might as well just be working towards retirement. Speaking of which, as part of my company’s benefits plan, they are setting me up with a 401(k). Dang. Is retirement really the next step in life? Isn’t there something in between?

Thoughts to think about, I guess…

As disjointed as I may have been throughout the course of this message, I hope you got something out of it. At the very least, I hope I gave you a brief idea of what The New Adventures of Tim looks like (“tackling A/V aesthetics one spandex skirt at a time”).

Have a great life.

-Tim LaBerge


“¹I waited patiently for the LORD; He turned to me and heard my cry. ²He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. ³He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him. ⁴Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. ⁵Many, LORD my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.”
-Psalm 40:1-5

Small Post-Winter Tour Blog

Dear Friends,

I’d like to take this time to inform you that I have arrived back in Willmar, Minnesota and will soon be beginning my Easter break after touring around the United States and Canada for the past 13 weeks. Through it all, we drove through 22 states and provinces (the total mileage has yet to be calculated), averaged about six to seven concerts a week, and went through one of the most intense (and longest) time of ministry without reprieve I have ever been through.

I’ll mention that we made it (starting in Minnesota) all the way down to Texas, up the East Coast into Canada, and then back to Minnesota. However, I fully intend to send a more detailed look into where we went. But, as you can imagine, no email will ever begin to explain to the fullest extent of what I went through and experienced.

In the meantime, feel free to hit with any questions about my travels. And if you live in the Minneapolis metro, I will be in the area until the day after Easter. So feel free to give me a call or drop me a message if you want to get together face-to-face. I’ll try my very best to fit my schedule around yours.

You can also check out my blog (also in the meantime before I publish my latest tour recap) at TimLaBerge.Blogspot.com, where I was posting short videos of places we visited. One includes a high school choir in Mississippi singing with us. Another is of “exploring” beautiful South Carolina. And another consists of us trying to drive our van and trailer through Manhattan.

Finally, I would like you all to be the first that inform that, after my band’s last domestic tour in May, I will be going back to Hong Kong this summer. This time around, I will be co-leading a (bigger) team of musicians, as we endure an even longer (four weeks) period of time in an even hotter (temperature-wise) season.

I am extremely honored to be offered this position by CTI, and felt VERY blessed to be going back to the country that my current band went to in October, where a LOT of good things happened while we were there.

So, as you receive your tax refunds in the mail, or if you have any spare cash flow this time of year, or if you KNOW of anyone who you think would enjoy partnering with me by supporting my personal cause financially, consider making another contribution to my ministry in my name. If you have any questions about how to contribute, I am always available.

I mean, just think of how much I’ve done ALREADY on top of what has STILL YET TO COME. CTI has made a huge leap of faith already with me by letting me do all of this traveling so far while still having funds to raise, and I believe that even BETTER things still have yet to be accomplished before I’m done with my ministry year in August.

So give it some thought and prayer. You are already a HUGE blessing to me by staying in my life while I have been gone.

Again, feel free to send me a message at any time if you have any questions, comments, or just want to send me email. My daily spam gets lonely at some times.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Adventures in the Megalopolis

Driving through a big city can be tough. Driving through New York City is even tougher. Driving through the middle of Manhattan in a 15-passenger van while towing a trailer is ridiculous.

In early March, we were able to play at multiple venues in large cities on the eastern seaboard (venues which included stops in Philadelphia and New York City). Driving was sometimes precarious, but we got through it and had a blast at the same time.

Check out the video below as we attempt to drive through Manhattan one last time as we leave the big city at the end of the week.

Fun in Sumter (SC)

Last week, the band was able to gain an all-access look into the Sumter (South Carolina) fire and police departments (the city administrator was at our concert the night before).

Here is a (brief) overview of the trouble that we caused in our afternoon at the station.

A Mississippi Collaboration

Hey ya'll (as they supposedly say a lot down here).

Just thought I'd drop a quick note and post a really cool video.

This past week has been full of traveling (five states in the past 7 days, can you guess which ones?) and many awesome experiences ranging from churches, youth groups, homeless shelters, schools, and, on multiple occasions getting the van stuck in mud.

One of the glaring bright spots included our time at South Delta High School in Rolling Fork, Mississippi (I knew learning how to spell "Mississippi" in elementary school would some day come in handy).

We were able to work with the school choir and teach them the vocal parts to some of our songs so we could perform them together during our concert on Friday. Below is one of the songs that they collaborated with us on, "Jesus Messiah."

Special thanks goes out to the school, especially the choir. They were very quick and eager learners.

Enjoy!

#36 Observations of a northern Minnesoter

I was fortunate enough to get some time off as part of a break CTI gave me over the Christmas/New Year’s holidays. Unfortunately, that largely meant that I would be spending a lot of my time up north with nothing to do or friends to be around. I also tend to not fit in well in my hometown as well, and I really had lots of trouble finding constructive things to do to fill my time.

Here are 36 observations and random thoughts from my time that I was constantly posting to my Facebook profile. There really isn’t anything significant about the number 36. That’s just the number that I ended with…

#1 There isn't any fun cereal to eat anymore.

#2 The dog seems impartial to me being here.

#3 The upstairs shower still makes that awful squealing noise.

#4 Hey! The obnoxious Bird of Death that wakes up at 6 AM isn't here anymore!

#5 My parents still don't understand the values of shopping online.

#6 The downstairs workroom floor is still out to break my neck.

#7 When did the dog start hating my bass?

#8 The snow tires on my mom's minivan work like a dream.

#9 Every year I come home for Christmas, the game "Where In The Basement Did My Parents Hide My Snow Boots?" is becoming increasingly difficult.

‎#10 I am going to assume, based on the 40-odd SUVs, pickups, suburbans, and other 4-wheeled monstrosities parked on the side of the road tonight, that the neighbors' friends don't care too much about the environment. Or allowing proper traffic flow.

#11 Nothing says "Have a happy migraine-filled holiday" like a festive caffeine-free Coca-Cola can.

#12 Basic cable is SO underrated. Try having only 5 channels.

#13 Skiing definitely beats out shoveling when it comes to great winter activities.

#14 My brother came back from his first semester of college. The first thing he cooks for himself at his parents' house: Ramen Noodles.

#15 Icelandic gangsta rap + waxing skis = Yup, must be bored.

#16 A week has already gone since the beginning of my break from touring. Can I have my soundboard back now?

#17 Does a Wal-Mart bag count as wrapping paper?

#18 It seems that it has become a mandatory holiday tradition that I waste the most wrapping paper and tape.

#19 It has been confirmed: Tonight is Scrabble Night. Oh goodie...

#20 Classic skiing for the first time in nearly 5 years left me wondering when the HECK did I ever consider this to be a "fun" activity?

#21 It never ceases to amaze my how MUCH this ISP blows.

#22 Wow. What a disappointment. My phone rang, which it hasn't done in nearly a month. And, thinking someone was actually calling me, I answered. Wrong number.

#23 I went classic skiing for the first time in almost 5 years, and went the full day without caffeine for the first time in months. Two things I'll probably never ever do again.

#24 Hmm. This particular ISP appears to only like Facebook, YouTube, torrenting, and other forms of heavy downloading, but not Google, Yahoo, and not much of anything else.

#25 Whoever invented 3-gig computer game updates should be shot.

#26 Does anyone else find obnoxious that stupid iPad commercial music with what sounds like a 3-year-old playing the piano?

#27 Just watched two and a half seasons of The Big Bang Theory in the past week. Good or bad thing? Discuss.

#28 Holy crap, Lakeside. Fix your roads.

#29 I know I'm no longer in college anymore, but I'm going to conduct an experiment. I'm going to see how long I can sit playing Battlefield Heroes until I have a seizure.

#30 The neighbors have the most gargantuan and creepiest decorative nutcracker on their front porch.

#31 I don't think it's the computer games that are killing brain cells. It's probably the small-town television commercials.

#32 Dear ESPN, thank you for making my cable-free life a living hell today by hording all of the bowl games. Signed, Tim.

#33 Went to that new hibachi place in Duluth with my parents tonight. I learned that hibachi doesn't focus necessarily on product quality but more rather on your ability to dazzle and how much noise you produce. Kind of like the band Skillet.

#34 Sigh... I wish this time up north with nothing to do, nowhere to go, and no one to hang out with would never end... BAZINGA.

#35 Packing is no longer a laborious ordeal for me. It's more of a quick 5-minute make-sure-everything-is-back-where-you-had-it-in-your-bag-when-you-first-arrived check. Now I have plenty of time to watch a rerun of Top Gear before I go to bed.

#36 Peace out, Duluth.

Snow, Jails, Prisons, Wall Drug, and Other Cases of Near-Pants-Wetting

Hello again!

I’d like to take this time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I’d also like to apologize to you all for my tardiness in sending out my semi-regular updates. Times have been busy and, at times, stressful. But I want to re-assure you that it has been time well-spent. Through all of the headaches, backaches, sleep deprivation, and tiredness in general, my time on the road playing concerts and ministering has been a MAJOR blessing to me, and I am glad to be a part of it all.

So I am taking time early on in my break in a coffee house in Minneapolis to, not only sit and make fun of college students studying for finals, but to type up a sensible update that will hopefully give you a good idea of what my last month’s travels looked like.

November’s tour consisted of traveling out to the Pacific Northwest, to cities like Seattle, Portland, Spokane, and everything along the way. We started out by going up to Boissevain, Manitoba. As you may recall, I actually composed my last update from a coffee shop in that small town just across the border. After that, we spent a few days just driving, as we needed to be out to the Spokane/eastern Washington area two days later. You don’t realize how large the state of Montana is until you have to drive across it on a time crunch.

We only stayed a day in the Spokane area, since we only had one venue (a Christian school) to play during that part of our schedule (don’t worry, we would later return to experience some wintery Washington fun). From there, we drove down to a small town called Palouse, which was also in the eastern quadrant of the state where we would spend a weekend plus a few more days. Palouse is a sleepy little town near Pullman, the larger city in the area that is also the home of Washington State University.

I was actually fortunate enough to go to the Washington State football game (go Cougs!) during the Saturday afternoon that we were in the area. WSU’s team actually reminded me a lot of back home: A mediocre college football team whose primary color a shape of red that only had one win to their record and was becoming the laughingstock of their respective conference. But I digress.

We were actually privileged enough to play at the Palouse Federated Church for their church service and an evening concert, not to mention an appearance a local coffee shop’s open mic night (which went VERY well, despite the “non-Christian”). But the real blessing was that we were able to be in town during a time of real emotional need in the community. The small town of about 1,000 residents had been recently riddled with deaths and other issues and really needed healing at the time.

So we were very glad to be a part of their community for the time we were there. We were also glad we could witness the burning of a “Palouse-asaurus,” which was a life-sized wooden statue of a tyrannosaurus rex that local artists built and decided to burn on the Saturday night we were in town. Why did they want to burn it? I’m not quite sure, but the best answer I could get was “Because we could.”

After our stay in Palouse, we made the journey down to Portland, Oregon, the former Top Biking City in America. I point this out, because Minneapolis has since taken over that title. But I digress (again, sorry).

We were to play a single concert at Concordia College, which was coincidentally a few miles from where my older brother, Andrew (also a mean bassist), and his wife, Emily, live. So, not only did we play an awesome late-night concert, I was able to visit with family. At least I think that the concert went well. Not only was I running on low sleep and no caffeine, I also made the smart decision to be the band member to volunteer to speak that night. I don’t really remember what exactly I said during the fifteen-plus-minute-long talk that I gave. And I personally thought it was a train wreck, because my brain was in ten different places that night (and lacking sleep and focus).

However, as God would have it, I got a LOT of great feedback about the concert from people who were in attendance. Comments like about how “they were actually really FED this week” were a great encouragement to me (and my speaker persona). Kind of amazing, I guess, considering I still periodically get stage fright.

The tour got especially interesting as we headed up north to Seattle. Not only did I break my lifetime streak of never spending a cent on coffee, but God really opened some huge doors for us to minister.

We were privileged enough to work with the Union Gospel Mission’s director of prison ministries (THANK YOU, Darrin Krauss). So, for the six days that we spent in the city, we were able to, not only play at schools and churches, but we were able to play at homeless shelters, group homes for recovering addicts, a women’s shelter, and a jail.

Each place we were able to play at gave us a great and heart-felt response, and each place was very thankful that we were able play and share with them.

The highlight for me was playing at the Regional Justice Center, a jail in Seattle. Believe it or not, there is a different between a jail and a prison. I’d explain it to you, but that would take up more time, and I’m sure you could look it up on Wikipedia. The key is that it pretty much has the same vibe as a prison or wherever semi-dangerous people who do bad things go for “treatment.”

What was so unique about the RJC was that we were only able to carry in on our persons in one trip. This meant a semi-acoustic setup with one speaker as our sound system. For me, this meant that bass guitar was out of the question. So, since I (still) don’t know the vocals to any of our songs, it meant that I could actually sit back and just work the little soundboard we were given for our minimized system. It also enabled me to not worry about playing music and devote some of my brain power to preparing what I was going to speak about that night.

I should mention that this “venue” was also unique in that we were locked in a small(ish) sized room with about 45 semi-dangerous persons sitting about two feet from us, with the guards in a separate room, watching what was going on via security cameras.

Almost every time I speak at event, just as I grab the microphone, the thought “WHAT AM I DOING?” crosses my mind. In the case of this particular venue, and even though I was given time to reflect on what I was going, and even though I was actually recycling a talk I had given before, the thought “HOLY MONKIES, WHAT AM I DOING?” was still the predominant thought that was screaming through my brain.

But again, as God would have it, as I proceeded to grab the microphone and talk, I ended up “nailing it” and having one of the best speaking moments of my life. By the end, 45 inmates were laughing their heads off (I caused a “riot” in jail), and I was confident that I drove home many good (and Biblical) points. So, in short, it was a fairly big success (although I should point out that every concert on our tour that I didn’t speak at were also great successes).

After Seattle, we headed back to the Spokane region of Washington. While there, we were able to play at a church and a juvenile treatment center in Medical Lake (a “suburb” of Spokane). Both places were great places to play at (although Crossroads Christian Fellowship had just a little warmer vibe than Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Center).

By this time, Thanksgiving was rolling around, and we eventually made it into Spokane, where we were able to spend the holiday with our drummer Aaron’s family. Not only were we able to play that Wednesday night at his church’s HUGE Thanksgiving gathering, but Thanksgiving Day was even more special. We were able to spend the good chunk of the morning and early afternoon eating and celebrating. And, at night, we ventured into the snowstorm and into Spokane to the city’s Union Gospel Mission to spend the evening with the folks who were staying there. Because, with the huge snowstorm that was hitting the area at the time, where else were they going to go? So, needless to say, we had a fairly large and inviting crowd with us that night to celebrate Thanksgiving that night. It was a great ministry moment for us.

Sad to say, the snowstorm that was going on was creating travel issues for us. The mountain pass we were supposed to drive over the next morning ended up becoming very dangerous to drive on, especially with a 15-passenger van towing a trailer containing 3,500 pounds of equipment. So, using our judgment, we figured it would be best if we spent another day with Aaron’s family, eating Thanksgiving leftovers, playing video games, and staying out of the elements in general (oh darn).

The next day, we did end up leaving Spokane (but not without bringing some turkey sandwiches with us) and headed back to Montana for the last leg of our tour back to Minnesota. We stopped at a church in Boulder (near Helena, the state’s capitol) for the weekend. After which, we spent a few days at a ranch for troubled youth in Billings, and then played at a few schools and a prison across the expanse of the state of South Dakota.

On a side note that really doesn’t have anything to do with the rest of this update, if you ever drive eastbound across South Dakota on I-90 between Rapid City and Wall (and beyond), don’t ever play the game Count The Number Of Billboards For Wall Drug. You WILL lose, as you will probably lose count somewhere around 1,542. I have never been there, but I have a feeling that Wall Drug is probably just as over-advertised as a bad James Cameron movie.

But I digress.

I’m aware that I probably let out a few details. But again, I’m trying to remain friends with your eyeballs. And I have noted that this update is becoming as long as the last. But I am hoping that I gave you a glimpse of the amazing things God has been doing while I’ve been on the road. It is truly an amazing ministry to be a part of.

Again, I want to emphasize that you can feel free to drop me an email (or message over Facebook) for any reason. I usually try to shoot a response back to you. Also, if you feel that someone else would like to read this (as I am still finding that I have accidentally left a couple of people off my email list), feel free to forward it to them, print it out and send it to them, or direct them to the online blog at TimLaBerge.blogspot.com. I am COMPLETELY aware that it is tough, while living on the road, to remain in contact with all of my friends and family. And, again, I am VERY sorry if you feel that I don’t update you enough (yes, I am also aware that I haven’t posted much video from my tour in Hong Kong, so that’s another thing I’m still working on).

If you also feel led to partner with me by making a financial contribution to my cause, feel free to ask. I’m STILL looking to raise funds. I should also point out that the $12,000 that I (am supposed to) raise is only about 65% of what it takes to do what it takes to keep the ministry of CTI afloat. So ANY contribution is GREATLY appreciated.

I should end with that for now. Please know that you are a MAJOR blessing to me.