Break

Dear friends,

Thrown has decided to take a break for a while and focus on some internal ministry. Generation Genesis for the month of April has been canceled. We do not know how long this hiatus will last but your prayers are always welcome.

Thank you for your years of support. Jesus Christ is alive and available for you today. He is life change. He is hope. With Him you can do all things.

Grace and peace,

THROWN

Update

Hello friends,

I have been very business the past week. I have been working on summer job plans, doing the Parent-Teacher Conference thing, having fun with my kids and writing new music with Topher.

I have been jotting down some interesting blog ideas but just haven't had access to a computer long enough to finalize those thoughts.

Do remember that Generation Genesis at the Bethany Barn is April 1st at 7:00pm. Everyone is welcome.

Grace and peace,

Bollman

Band Update

Friday night we played opening for Carjack Lovers. Minus working man Cody Haner we played a stripped down acoustic set. Joel rocked the Djembe and Chris and I played six string acoustics with no effects at all. The crowd was quite robust, mostly Audubon kids that haven't seen us before. I think they were pleasantly surprised that these three old guys who sing about Jesus rocked out with songs relevant to their lives.

Grace and peace,

Bollman

Song Set for Friday

My songs-
Be Me
Deeper Well
Testify
Lazarus Man

Chris' songs-
Holy Water
I Want to Give
Web of Lies


Cover Tunes-
Vindicated- Dashboard Confessional

Comments welcome

Jesus Painting

Oh the Jesus Painter. Now here is a man after my own post-modern, emergent heart. God made us in His image and His image is that of a creator. I have stated over and over again about the inborn desire in the human being to create things. Here is a man who has turned his creativity into praise.

It is my experience that when we turn our joys and our talents into praise (lifted up to glorify the Lord) we find true pleasure and we live life richly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M4_IlbaZHA

The other amazing part of this video are the comments. I am touched by the comments that go something like, "WOW! I am truly touched by this video. PRAISE THE LORD!" I am saddened by the responses that are very negative, "God is dead! Religion is a crutch for fool!" but most of all I am really frightened by the anger of those Christians who answer back with judgement. "YOU WON'T BE SAYING THAT STUFF BURNING IN HELL!!!"

Jesus loves those lost sheep. He wants us to love them and reach out to them with a gentle touch with a message of understanding. If we should at them with a bullhorn that they are going to hell we might find that on judgement day God is a bit upset that we let them slip through our fingers with our angry faces and our damning them to hell.

Go paint big Jesus pictures. Reach out. Save the stone throwing for someone else.

I am what I am

I grew up on comic books and fantasy games. I love Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda. I once drove five hours to have lunch with Gary Gygax. I have little action figures still in the boxes. I have watched every episode of Star Trek. I loved the first three original Star Wars movies... even the killer teddy bears. I like Renaissance Fairs and cheap Forgotten Realms books. I like to watch the first Matrix movie over and over as if it were the only thing on tv. I love Conan the Barbarian with Arnold before he became a politician. I was almost kicked out of a gaming convention for harassing "Chainmail Girl". I love this sort of geeky stuff. I have always loved them since the days of old when I watched Gummy Bears and Thundercats. I am a sci-fi/fantasy nerd at heart.

For a lot of my life I was told that I couldn't be a Christian and like all that stuff. The two didn't mesh. I had to choose between my Savior and the stuff that made me smile. I believed that for a long time. And I thought I must have been made wrong. Because no matter how hard I tried I still loved comic books and dragons and robots.

Then I met Mike and his different kind of Christianity. God made me this way. I am free in Him to enjoy this world as long as He is in my heart. He has vindicated me. He saw something in me worth saving. So He died for me.

COOL BEANS!

Who's Fault

In life we often try and point the finger at someone when things don't turn out the way we want. We look for a bad guy, a scapegoat that can ease our minds. This is true for all of us. No one is exempt.

Some times we try and blame God for our failures. Like Job we look to the sky and raise our hands and and say, "It's not my fault... God dealt me a bad hand... He must have it out for me... It's not fair. God shouldn't have let this bad thing happen to me!"

Other times, we try and blame the devil for our short comings. "The devil made me do it! It was him not me..." How many serial killers show up in court with that excuse? Sure, I believe in the enemy and his tricks... But who has blood on his hands?

Sometimes we find a villain that we can blame all of our disappointments on. I myself have wasted whole months of my life wallowing in self-pity because someone with a dark, cold heart was out to get me... That self-pity didn't make him go away and it didn't make anything better.

We look to these three ways out of admitting something that is OH so hard to spit out of our mouths... That maybe it's someone else's fault altogether.

How often do we look back and realize that it was truly us, that we might be to blame? It's true that God has stuck us in an imperfect world that is tainted by sin. It is also true that we can be swayed by the false promises of evil. We can be tricked to think that easy solutions might grant us real happiness but behind those lies is only disillusionment and pain. We can point a finger at others... friend that led us astray or enemies that tripped us up on our path... All of these excuses make us feel better... But they miss a key point. We make our own decisions. We are the boss of our own choices and our own actions. Others might pressure us. Others might whisper to us. But in the end, we make the misstep, we pull the trigger, we drop the ball.

It might make us feel better to pass the buck off on the devil... it might make us feel guilt--free by pinning culpability on God's world and the hand that was stacked against you... but in the end... We are to blame.

The more I think about that then more I am glad that I have a Friend that will take me back, hold me close and forgive me of my failures.

Take You Back

Jeremy Camp

I'll take you back always

Even when your fight is over now

I'll take you back

Even when the pain is coming through

I'll take you back