Anne Marie Miller

Blog

  • i need your help!

    i know a lot of people reading this work at a church, and most of you go to a church somewhere. so, i ask for you to help me out.

    i work in the communications department at lake pointe, and i am doing a little research. i would LOVE for as many of you as possible to send me your worship guide/bulletins/whatever-you-call them. and if you have a newsletter or something, feel free to throw that in too. you might think yours rocks. you may think it sucks. i don’t care. please just send me one! i’ll send you something cool back…as an incentive. i dont know what that looks like yet…but…it will be cool.

    please drop me a note below to let me know you’ll be sending something, so i can keep an eye out for it. as far as where to send it:

    anne jackson
    c/o lake pointe church
    701 interstate 30
    rockwall, tx 75087

    (and for you internet stalkers out there, there’s no way you would ever find my office…it’s hidden…so don’t even try).

    by the way…there are those with whom i work who don’t think anything good comes out of blogging…and i would love to show them otherwise…how hundreds of people (no pressure) can flood my inbox here with their church’s printed goods!!

    thank you so much!

  • no drivers test for me!

    so, who would have known a texas officer of the law lurks on my blog? not i! until i received an email from him. with his generous help and investigation into my driver’s license status, he discovered i will not have to take the driver’s test and provided me with some documentation to take to the DL office with me when i go.

    to that unspoken hero, i say a public THANK YOU for helping me out!

  • welcome back to driver’s ed

    eleven years ago, i received my driver’s license. it was two months after my 16th birthday, as i broke my wrist on my birthday and was unable to drive to complete my driver’s ed test until 8 weeks later and my cast was removed.

    fast forward to march 2007. LAX. 5am. a quick stop at McDonalds outside united airlines terminal. a wallet left behind on a fork/knife/napkin/straw kiosk. GONE.

    because i am such a procrastinator, i had my kansas driver’s license in there, and have never gotten my texas one, even though i’ve lived here over a year. and because i can’t get the kansas one replaced, here is the process i must go through at some point (until then, keep praying i don’t get pulled over as i have NO valid driver’s license in any state right now!)

    get new social security card
    go to DMV and take written test
    go to DMV and take driving test
    gather current title/registration of my car
    take all above documents to driver’s license office
    smile, flash, photo

    and once again i will be legal

    a driver’s test? are you serious?

    i can’t parallel park.

  • the grass is greener [on the other side of the world]

    i’ve noticed from the “introduce yourself” post that quite a few of my blog readers are from australia. i’ve subscribed to their blogs now and with each read i more and more find myself wanting to move there. it’s autumn there, you know.

    lately, i’ve also been in touch with some friends from scotland. i even had a lady from an ad agency in edinburgh email me last week asking for my CV (resume) and art portfolio, completely out of the blue. talk about temptation! i sent it along, knowing full well we can’t afford to move overseas, or afford to apply for the HSMP to get our visas.

    all of this comes down to my struggle with contentment…being happy where i am at and not day dreaming of far off lands (which i hold in idealistic regard). if money were no issue…i think my dream would be to travel and write for the rest of my life.

    what would you do?

  • dead as a diamond

    BERLIN (Reuters) – A German woman’s plan to turn her dead father’s ashes into a diamond was thwarted Tuesday by her grandmother.

    A district court in Wiesbaden ruled the 19-year-old could not take the cremated remains to Switzerland where a company creates synthetic diamonds from ashes.

    “The daughter of the deceased could not provide sufficient proof that it was his final wish to be pressed into a diamond,” the court in western Germany said, ruling in favor of his 86-year-old mother.

    The court said the daughter’s views on the care of the remains took precedence over the wishes of the dead man’s mother but ruled that any decision had to be in accordance with the expressed wishes of the deceased.

    The ashes are placed in a press under intense pressure and heat, replicating the forces that create a natural diamond, over a period of several months. Synthetic diamonds have been manufactured from carbon since the mid-1950s.

    How do you want to be disposed of?

  • something in the air

    everywhere
    and it’s a good thing
    moving so fast
    and finding it hard to stop
    at least i can rest in
    the fact you
    are in each in breath
    filling my lungs
    circulating in my veins
    coursing with each beat
    through my heart

    thank you

  • flip side

    What are two things that make you happy? Ecstatically happy? Smile for the rest of the day happy?

    Mine are surprise chocolate and lots of pillows.

    Deep, huh?

  • Weekend Thought…two things

    What are two things that just get you fired up? That make your heart rate soar and your adrenaline flow when you are confronted with them? The things you would fight for regardless of how foolish you looked, or how alone you stood?

    Mine are injustice and disrespectfulness.

    What are yours?

  • Give me a U

    I rarely post actual journal entries on my blog, but i was feeling very Jerry Maguire last night as we drove to a screening of the movie first snow (which, by the way, was so-so). You know the moment when Jerry wakes up in a cold sweat and composes his mission statement [not memo]? I had one of those moments last night. It is very rambling (thus the reason i rarely post journal entries) and hopefully by some miracle you will make it through….Here goes:

    Unity. Something I have been seriously testing my heart on lately. Unity within the Church is so hard to come by lately it seems. From internally (my perspective as a PK growing up, and spending collectively seven years in full time vocational ministry)…it is so easy to tear down individual people with whom you work, to get frustrated with a certain department or ministry within the organization.

    And externally: gossip, lying, betrayal; the Body of Christ beating up other members without a second thought. Generally speaking, local church congregations are competing instead of partnering to impact the communities in which we all are placed to be the Christ to those around us.

    While there is always room for constructive criticism, iron sharpening iron per se, it should be handled with love, and Biblically, face-to-face. Not behind closed doors (or behind backs).

    In the area of communication within a local church, something I have been a part of for the last two years, we especially are ever-so-fierce (without intending to be, I’m sure).

    I have both been on the giving and receiving end of other church’s communication pieces, being hypercritical of their design and mistakes. I have also been hypercritical of ministries within the congregation where I serve.

    What is troubling is the ease of which I have done this, and also have seen it done. When I truly reflect, I feel such conviction about conversations in which I have taken part, grumbling about this person, this ministry, this church…and how desensitized many of us have become.

    These rants (subtle or obvious) litter our everyday conversations, blog posts, emails. And if we are so vocally open about them, what is truly the condition of our hearts concerning unity?

    What is the condition of mine?

    We tear apart the Body, piece-by-piece, oblivious to our actions…or their consequences. Again I quote the great Colson: Unity is the single most effective form of evangelism. I am learning how important this unity is. For the sake of believers…but also for the sake of those who don’t yet believe.