Lakes – The Agreement from Lakes on Vimeo.

So excited for this album! Buy it today! Right here —> The Agreement – Lakes or here —> The Agreement

In my 10 years of car ownership I’ve owned 5 cars. The 3 that I have owned for more than 6 months, all have been in accidents, none of which have been my fault.

My 1998 Chevy Silverado – Hit in the Bart parking lot while at a baseball game. No note left. Bed replaced for several thousand dollars.

My 1994 Honda Accord – Totaled in Washington by a tailgating 16 year old kid who said “oh you are from Cali” to me while getting my insurance info. I was done talking to him after he said that. All I got was two years of chiropractic work and a check for the totaled car.

My 2002 Honda Accord – Pictured above when I came out from Starbucks yesterday. It was all together and not dented when I went into Starbucks. At least they left a note…even if they are a little crazy.

Maybe I am going to start taking the bus and riding my bike…but I’d probably get hit by a car on my bike.

I want to read the Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 when it comes out, but I can’t say I ever thought homeboy looked as creepy as he does.

I don’t think I can say I’ve been to a church like this before…is that bad?

Is homeboy for real cause this is crazy silly!?!

Pulling into the parking of the church (which isn’t a normal church building but a concert event center place) there is a sign with the churches name that says “Church Name Here – For People Who Don’t Like Church!”

When I saw the sign directing me where to park I wondered for a minute if I should turn around. “Shoot this is the church for people who don’t like church…and sometimes I kinda like church…but not all the time…should I turn around?” I thought to myself.

But I continued, parked, and made my way inside the dark event center a few minutes late to find everyone sitting while the worship band was playing a song. I sat down too and looked around the dark room to see no one else singing. It took a few seconds but I figured out the band was playing a Muse song. For all of you Christians stuck in your Christian music bubble, Muse is a good band and NO they aren’t a “Christian” band. The song they were playing is below. And I must say they played it really well…kudos!

The song finished and Mr Hipster Christianity: When Church and Cool Collide I mean the lead pastor came out and welcomed everyone for a minute before the worship team started their set. Now I don’t have a problem with a cool opening song while people are coming in (we used to do it at my youth group a very long time ago) and I happen to think it’s pretty cool. But I am sure there are a few religious Christians who would have their panties in a bunch over it. But I remembered, I am at the “Church For People Who Don’t Like Church” so I am sure people love it here! The Christianise term for this kind of church would be “a seeker church.” Not an offensive or bad word so stop taking it that way!

Looking around the room I saw a lot more blue hairs than I would expect at this kind of church. I mean, this is a hip and youthful church so what are all the blue hairs doing here? This “problem” happens to be a good thing. Blue hairs can equal wisdom which us young and unnatural blue hairs should learn from. Having a good mix of young and old probably means good health in the church.

Anyways, after worship the pastor spoke. The thing I did not like about his message was, he didn’t have any notes to write or an outline to fill in. So maybe 90% of people wouldn’t take notes or fill in an outline sheet anyways so it’s probably a waste of trees and you don’t want to do that in Sonoma County, but maybe I am just a nerd! OK I will admit to being a nerd. But I will also admit that I didn’t start taking notes in church until a few years ago. I generally take them down on the bulletin or in Evernote on my iPhone and then copy them into my nerdy Moleskine Ruled Notebook to have them all in one place. End nerd rant.

The pastor did keep me awake and I enjoyed his speaking. He happened to rip karma and reincarnation a new one which I really enjoyed. I will have to download the podcast and take a few notes on it later this week.

As service ended the song below played through the speakers. Again, another non-Christian band…such sinners here! Please shut up people with too much time!

I’d have to say that my visit was pretty much a positive one. I would feel very comfortable bringing a non-Christian to this church, which is a HUGE something I look for in a church. It’s kinda sad that a lot of times I wouldn’t feel comfortable bringing someone to my home church. I love them and they are getting better.

So is this my new church home? We will see. I have a man date on Wednesday with a leader from the church. Should I be easy or hard on him? Hummm…

Anne Jackson – Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession, and Grace Great book! Read my review here.

Last night I got to see The Juliana Theory in San Francisco at their last date of a 6 show reunion tour celebrating the 10th anniversary of their album “Emotion Is Dead.” They played a full set followed by “Emotion Is Dead” front to back followed by a few more songs. It was 2 hours of pure sweetness. At 16, “Emotion Is Dead” was one of my favorites. Hearing it played start to finish live was pretty awesome and made me feel like I was 16 again. Thanks TJT!

PS I will be posting an interview with lead singer Brett Detar in the coming weeks.

When I was sent Anne Jackson’s new book titled Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession, and Grace, I was expecting something completely different than I got. I guess I hadn’t really read the books description.

I was expecting a book on how the church doesn’t talk about a lot of things that really should be talked about in the church. The book does address some of those issues. What I wasn’t expecting was the extremely open and honest life story of Anne Jackson.

When I picked it up, I planned on reading the first chapter before bed. I ended up reading over half of the book before bed. I finally had to force myself to put the book down and go to sleep since I had to be at work early the next morning. Luckily, I was able to finish reading the rest of it that day at work.

Anne shares stories of her battles and struggles, as well as the abuse she went through growing up. Most people would turn away from the church and God after the amount of abuse and heartache Anne received from the church, but not Anne. Instead, Anne has used her story to speak to and help others who have dealt with the same issues that she has.

I’d recommend that everyone should pickup a copy of this book when it comes out next week. You can purchase on Amazon here –> Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession, and Grace.

Also make sure to follow Anne on her blog, Flower Dust.

Product Description Below

In May 2008, Anne Jackson asked a question on her blog, “What is one thing you feel you can’t say in church?”

The question came from Jackson’s experience of being afraid to reveal herself to other Christians. Broken and alone is exactly how she felt for years, a Southern Baptist pastor’s daughter struggling with an addiction to porn, sexual promiscuity, substance abuse, being the victim of sexual abuse by a youth pastor, and coping with depression.

Permission to Speak Freely is the unique project from author Anne Jackson, who is finished with keeping brokenness in the dark. Bringing to light the original intent of God’s sanctuary as a place of help and healing, Anne reveals that through confession, both to God and to others, we can live lives that are whole and healed.

Told with disarming transparency, Anne shares what led to her own addictions and the ensuing lifestyle that left her wounded and withdrawn, but ultimately rescued and redeemed. She includes dramatic stories of others who also learned to abandon their fear, pride, and masks; to identify their hurts; and to find the courage to speak freely.

Their confessions, submitted as mixed media pieces, photography, and sketches, were collected from people across the world, and are included throughout the book.

“Somebody is waiting on you to tell your story. To share how you’re being rescued. To share how scary it is, but how beautiful it is,” she says.

If you’ve been to Disneyland with me, you’ve probably taken part “Rapture Practice” on Tower of Terror. (Side note: I obviously have the best form in this photo and the worker that rode with us probably isn’t going to heaven. Just kidding, please don’t send me angry e-mails. End side note)

Some of you my ask, what is rapture practice? You see, some church that is probably in the south decided it would be good to train it’s members for the rapture. It’s happening in 2012 right? Anyways, they would teach their members the proper way to pose when they heard the rapture was happening. So like you turn on the news and homeboy is telling everyone the rapture has started so you better get in your rapture position cause I think that’s how it’s going to happen.

Now I am not totally sure what the point of the rapture position is, but I am pretty sure it’s to be sent straight up as fast as possible. And if you are in the most straight up and aerodynamic position possible, you will probably be one of the first ones to get sucked into heaven.

I decided it would be a good idea to teach this position to a bus full of high school students while at Disneyland. Throughout our visit to the park I would call out “Rapture Practice” at any given time to make sure everyone around us knew we were part of a really weird Christian youth group. Ok that’s not the real reason, it’s just really fun seeing a bunch of students drop their food and do the same thing at once so everyone else at Pizza Port wonders what the heck is going on.

A few days ago I came across the picture below. It might be the funniest Christian product I’ve ever seen. I can’t figure out if it’s real or not because the website isn’t working, but I would not at all be surprised if it was real. Nor would I be surprised if my dad was getting one of these hatches installed as I type. I kid…kinda.

So, what do you think? Should I get into the rapture hatch installation business before Pat Roberston falsely predicts the rapture, again? 1, 2, 3, rapture practice!

PS Do you walk in place when you get sucked up?