So I have been thinking a lot lately about how I have become a person with no real passion about anything. I have been living life trying to catch up with what I have fooled myself to think is the ultimate life having a simple life with my wife, a house with a yard, a dog, a jeep to explore the mountains on the weekends, a cool church to go to and feel good about myself. Something has changed...I find myself, at 26 years old, asking myself what has happened in the last 3 years of my life that has brought me to this very moment that I find myself in? It is a bag full of mixed emotions. I am pissed, sad, anxious, sick to my stomach, and excited. I feel like something has been awakened inside of me that has been asleep or better yet in coma for the past 3 years. I am ready to take on this challenge of not being complacent and to reject apathy. I want to make a difference everyday of my life. I want to help bring a voice to the voiceless and justice to the people being treated unjustly. I want people to experience the real Jesus not the one being sold to them on t-shirts and bumper stickers. I want to rediscover this God I worship. I want to be passionate about things that help others and not about things that have no meaning or worth. I want to see positive change in the community around me and not let it continue to destroy the good things.

This is where it starts...with words...but words are meaningless...until acted upon.

-Tanner

Alrighty than...


Well I just got wind of this boycott that is taking place back in the good ole US of A. The movie "The Golden Compass" is being boycotted by a lot of "christians" and why the hell are they doing this? Well the movie is about how two characters kill God. So the christian sub-culture is up in arms. WHO GIVES A CRAP!!! Why is it that most Christians get offended by a stupid movie that will be forgotten in a couple of months? Why are you wasting you time putting energy into boycotting a movie and not into helping the poor man that sits on the church's front steps or take care of the people who you drive by everyday the person begging for food on the corner? What about the men, women and children that are being murder and driven out of there homes in Africa? What about your friend who is asking questions about your faith and all you can talk about is this stupid movie? Have you stopped and wondered why this guy is writing a book about killing God? It is because of the very thing that you are doing! You are being hypocrites! You claim to be a holy person but you are the first to pull the trigger. STOP! STOP! STOP! You look like idiots and you are making my God look like a non-loving, non-forgiving, hate filled God. He is not that! He loves you just as much as the next person! He loves Phillip Pullman.

I have recently noticed how people make themselves out to be a person they are not. I guess I have know this for a while but here lately it has been made real to me. These certain people get so wrapped up in themselves, they forget about the people around them. They do not care about others feelings or needs. They stop listening and become so self focused. I hate being around a person like that. I really think that this is a great example of what the church looks like to people on the outside. The church has become so worried with its self image, worrying about what other "christians" think, worrying about not fitting into this subculture called christianity, worrying about what kind of music we should sing and how we should sing it. We have stopped listening to the least of these(Matthew 25), the widows and orphans, the homeless, and the poor. In some since we have stopped serving and have taken only for ourselves. We have convinced ourselves that this is what being a follower of Christ looks like. Wow, how wrong are we? How big of an ass have we become?

I struggle day in and day out. I have often wondered if others struggle as much as I do? Why do we choose to hold these things from people. By things I mean the little secrets that we have in our lives that if some one found out about them it would be the end of your life. Why do we struggle to tell people our close friends about them? If we don't do that, does it show that we really trust and care for them? Do we not want to be real and let our friends even our soul mates to know the real you and not a fake perception of who you are? Is that true friendship or our we selling our relationships short? I guess with honesty comes pain, humility, and openness. It seems that those are some things that I have ran from and running from those have left me hurt, bitter, and confused. It was not until I confessed those secrets, those unspoken sins, to God and my closest friend that I found peace, healing, and most of all complete forgiveness. It has been quiet a long time since I have felt that kind of forgiveness. I think we fail ourselves when we do not confess to a friend what we have been doing. Its hard to do but you feel completely free. God gives your friends to you for a reason. They are not there for a good time only but for an accountability.





...more later

Sunday bloody Sunday

This is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. I feel like we as Christians do a lame job of really caring for other nations besides our own. It's like this. How many of us (i am including myself) have open up a newspaper or have seen online news headlines about Iraq, or Sudan? If you have, did you take the time to pray or care for what might be happening? I believe we have become so consumed with our selves and how we have to have all our needs met and how we have to have the right clothes or car to drive to church on Sunday. There has been close to 500,000 or more people killed in Sudan and millions that have been driven from there homes. There has been many killed just from lack of proper nutrition. What do we do or say? " Man that is sad"..."It must suck to have to go through that"..."Isn't that a tragedy"....What is wrong with us? Why have we not done anything to stop or help those in need? Why are we so lazy? Why are we so selfish?Jesus tells the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 this scripture is very straight forward with what happens to us who do not take action.
I really like the song Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2 here are the lyrics:

Yes...I can’t believe the news todayOh, I can’t close my eyes and make it go awayHow long...How long must we sing this song? How long? how long...’cause tonight...we can be as oneTonight...Broken bottles under children’s feetBodies strewn across the dead end streetBut I won’t heed the battle callIt puts my back upPuts my back up against the wallSunday, bloody sundaySunday, bloody sundaySunday, bloody sunday (sunday bloody sunday...)(allright lets go!)And the battle’s just begunThere’s many lost, but tell me who has wonThe trench is dug within our heartsAnd mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apartSunday, bloody sundaySunday, bloody sundayHow long...How long must we sing this song? How long? how long...’cause tonight...we can be as oneTonight...Tonight...Sunday, bloody sunday (tonight)TonightSunday, bloody sunday (tonight)(come get some!)Wipe the tears from your eyesWipe your tears awayWipe your tears awayI wipe your tears away(sunday, bloody sunday)I wipe your blood shot eyes(sunday, bloody sunday)Sunday, bloody sunday (sunday, bloody sunday)Sunday, bloody sunday (sunday, bloody sunday)(here I come!)And it’s true we are immuneWhen fact is fiction and tv realityAnd today the millions cryWe eat and drink while tomorrow they dieThe real battle yet begun (sunday, bloody sunday)To claim the victory jesus won (sunday, bloody sunday)On...Sunday bloody sundaySunday bloody sunday...

I feel like we talk about this tomuch and there is not enough action. So you might be wondering where you can find info on how to reachout or pray for these people that are hurting and dying everyday. Well I got some for you.

http://www.persecution.com/ this is a great website to go and pray for the persecuted church in many different countries.
http://www.alarm-inc.org/ This is a great website to get info on what is taking place in Africa and how where you can get plugged in to serve.
http://www.savedarfur.org/ A great website to get info and help with the Sudan genocide
http://www.mnnonline.org/ Mission network news tells us about what is taking place around the world.
www.bbc.co.uk/?ok BBC News a great place to see articles and pray about situations around the globe

So here is a problem and there is a resolution. Are you willing to take action?

Peace
Tanner

Community

The community of believers is what makes the church. Not a building or location. I was recently reading on the vintage faith church website and they really drive home what community is “As followers of Jesus, we define our community by our relationship to Jesus and our attempts to live out his teachings. Therefore, we are not just a community, but specifically a Christian community on a mission” (Vintage Faith Church, www.vintagechurch.com ).
I really think that community is a body of believers that come together to experience, learn, grow, and share life together with Christ as your foundation and Focus. In Acts 2 really gives a great example of what community is.

Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

I couldn’t help realize in verse 47 that the Lord added to there number daily those who were being saved. The Lord blessed there community because they devoted themselves to there community. They helped people around them who were in need which included the non-believers. It also says that they met everyday in the temple courts. So other people saw them and heard them talking about Jesus. If they see these believers coming together with glad and sincere hearts who helped one another out and fellowshipped with one another, I could see how the Lord blessed their numbers. They showed what being a Christian was like. Why is it that we have strayed from the idea of community? Maybe we haven’t, or we have limited community to only certain places we can meet together. I am really excited about what the emerging church has done with community. They are bringing it back to what it originally was.

Worship

Worship for the longest time has been thought of as a time to sing songs and listen to a preacher’s sermon. Worship has been limited, put in a box. Worship has also been a victim of Christian consumerism. Another words we have been looking for the new thing in Christian worship, like new songs, power points, fog machines, flashy lights. Things that will trick people into coming to church just for the fancy sound equipment and concert that is put on. This has caused worship to become a spectator’s event instead of an event of participation. I believe we have failed in the area of worship. We have forgotten what worship can consist of. I think that the after affect of consumer Christianity in worship is complacency. Is that bad? Yes, it is very bad. We have become bored with worshiping the almighty God creator of everything, the God that sent his son to die for us so we could spend eternity worshiping him in heaven. Worship is more than just singing praise songs and hymns. We can worship God in many ways.
The new movement of the emergent church, I believe, is on the right track of what worship is and how worship should be. You can worship God in many different ways through painting, sculpture, music, poetry, dance, just to name a few. The emergent church is bringing participation back to the worship service. They allow their members to experience God and the Bible in a different light. They do this through smells, touches, images, taste, just to name a few things. It’s like hands on learning. The worship service is real and true, straight from God’s word.What I really like about all of this, it is taking us back to the basics of why we worship and why it is important. I like the fact that the churches are not doing this to trick people into coming to church. It is done so we can experience God to the point that we can not help respond like Isaiah did in Isaiah 6. It is helping us get out of our comfortable life styles and is forcing us to be real with each other as a body. Another thing I really like is that we experience all of this together as a community of believers. This brings us closer together and builds a stronger church body. We actually care about each other because we know what is going on in each others lives and are willing to give our time to help or pray for one another because the body is a part of our lives. I think I am rambling now so I will end my ditty for this week.