a bunch of things, really.

Greetings friends and random people i have yet to meet... welcome to this blog. Blog is a silly word ...and this is the last time i will be saying/typing it, ever. So yeah i rarely, okay i just lied...actually NEVER do this but i figured why not. I have been writing more personal stuff on a regular basis in my awesome brown leather journal...yeah fortnightly is regular for me, but I probably won't share that stuff on here....because that would mean you seeing into the inner depths of my soul, and well...i like to remain a mystery. I will start out this B*%g ...okay i will just call that word Kermit...each of my Kermit's will feature an awesome photographer and a rad song/band for you to check out. Hopefully one of them will leave you smiling, if not then go ride a merri-go-round while listening to maria bamford.

I was just telling my friend "Ashton" (yes, names have been changed to protect the not so innocent) that I felt so strange writing a serious kermit...steph's kermits should be light, weird and a bit off but i figured i start it out with some morsels of goodness. so on to the meat and potatoes of this thing....

So I was re-reading one of my favourite books the other day, "Blue Like Jazz" by Don Miller. If you haven't read this, pick it up. When reading it a year ago I bookmarked a few pages and was flipping through it yesterday and came across some chicken soup for the soul, if you will. More like thoughts and opinions from Don about why people dislike the church in general. It makes complete sense. I was actually talking to one my good friends, we'll call her CJ, about church...and why I go and why she doesn't. She is agnostic. She made very valid points...

Here is a section of what Donald Miller had to say about why people avoid the church, the Christians and eventually...their God. It's long but delcious, so eat up.

"Here are the things I didn't like about the churches I went to. First: I felt like people were trying to sell me Jesus. I was a sales-man for a while, and we were taught that you are suspposed to point out all the benefits of a product when you are selling it. That is how I felt about some of the preachers I heard speak. They were always pointing out the benefits of Christian faith. That rubbed me wrong. It's not that there aren't benefits, there are, but did they have to talk about spirituality like it's a vacuum cleaner? And yet another thing about the churches I went to: They seemed to be parrots for the Republican Party. Do we have to tow the party line on every single issue? Are the Republicans that perfect? I just felt like, in order to be a part of the family, I had to think George W. Bush was Jesus. And I didn't. I didn't think that Jesus really agreed with a lot of the policies of the Republican Party or for that matter the Democratic Party. Last: War Metaphor. The churches I attended would embrace war metaphor. They would talk about how we are in a battle, and I agreed with them, only they wouldn't clarify that we were battling poverty and hate and injustice and pride and the powers of darkness. They left us thinking that our war was against liberals and homosexuals. Their teaching would have me believe I was the good person in the world and the liberals were the bad people in the world. Jesus taught that we are all bad and He is good, and He wants to rescue us because there is a war going on and we are hostages in that war. the truth is we are supposed to love the hippies, the liberals, and even the Democrats and that God wants us to think of them as more important than ourselves. Anything short of this is not true to the teachings of Jesus."

This is only one small part, I wish I could type the entire book. If you read this and you are a Christian or you aren't I suggest getting your hands this book....Blue Like Jazz, "NONRELIGIOUS THOUGHTS ON CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY.

So with all of that said....Jesus is cool, check out my church Rock Harbor...it's THE BEST. no i'm kidding. i joke i kid. have a splendid evening.

And now...i leave you with lryics from a song:

"Roll your windows down the summers nearly gone...and only hours stand between you and the cold that's coming on." -the Alternate Routes

http://www.myspace.com/alternateroutes




Photo at the top: the Darling Life Photography.
http://www.myspace.com/death_cab_darling

PS: the lesbian's that live in the house behind me just shouted, "i am sooooo pissed" while pointing at their garden and shrubbery. Oh the simple things in life make my day.

♥
Steph