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my friend matthew paul turner’s book comes out today!

check it out here.

MPT and i go to church together and i have so much to learn from him as an author.? he freaking rocks, and so does this book, so i urge you dear brethren, go get a copy for yourself!

i am out driving to atlanta today, so…i’ll have some fun videos to post later this evening!

see you then…

A free chapter download anyway.

Chapter 11.

Next to the last one.

All nice and pretty.

Download.? Share.? Repost.? Reprint.? Enjoy.

DOWNLOAD IT HERE.

i am a big fan of google alerts, but let’s face it — they aren’t always perfect.? and since i am officially a “twitter diva,” i really do want to know when someone is talking to me on twitter so i can respond if needed.

twitter replies are great for that, but only if that person starts their tweet with @flowerdust.

welcome to search.twitter.com.

let’s explore how it works:

this link will show you who is saying what about “flowerdust,”? i also have searches set up for mad church disease, and catalyst backstage at the moment, for example.

what’s great is there is an RSS feed for your unique searches…so now anytime someone says “flowerdust,” “mad church disease,” or “catalyst backstage” in their tweet, it comes straight to my google reader!

read some other twitter tips here and from my friend michael hyatt here.

and i start my crazy journey to catalyst tomorrow, so follow me on twitter here to get all the updates along the way.

i’m going to be testing out the video feed on catalyst backstage tonight at 8 pm cst.? i’ve done a video cast before with los and one with crystal, and even a fun pre-recorded ice cream trip, but never have done a broadcast solo.? i think it might be kind of weird. but fun?? i mean just me, alone, talking to you guys on a screen?

i’m half tempted to do it somewhere public so people at least think i’m a little crazy. :)

anyway, 8 pm CST – here at CatalystBackstage.com – for 15 minutes or so, no agenda, just Q&A and looking forward to hanging out with you guys.

you in?

Ok. Not really. But….

CatalystBackstage.com is LIVE!

Now, we realize there isn’t a ton of content on it — YET — but you should see what we have up our sleeves.

Go ahead and hop on, test the comments out, chat a bit, and see what others are saying about Catalyst 08! You know you wanna…

Big thanks to Chris Ediger at Giant Impact and Ben Arment, and all the people at Catalyst for making this happen.

Here is a little blog widget for you to use to spread the word! Just copy and paste the text into your sidebar and viola!

<a href="http://www.catalystbackstage.com"><img decoding="async" src="https://annemariemiller.com/images/catalyst-backstage-anne-jackson.jpg" alt="CATALYST BACKSTAGE" /></a>

There will be a steady stream of videos and blogs going up Tuesday as I road trip down…We are going to try and spread the word about the site as much as possible on Wednesday…so…I hope you all will take a moment to blog about it then (or now…or both!!)

Happy Weekend! Next week is gonna rock!

i won’t lie.

sometimes i do my best to make my thoughts pretty and selective and organized when i write for my blog. because that is what smart bloggers do, right?

lately my brain has not been organized. i have been in an ultra-processing/ultra-internalizing mindset for the last few days and, just in case you have ever had the perception that i am a smart and/or organized blogger, this post is to prove you wrong. :)

with that disclosed, i now present to you, “brain barf, edition 1” (as i am sure there will be many more of these as time passes).

on friends: i have had some of the most amazing conversations and hang time with my friends lately. they are generous and have blessed me in so many ways — some of them i’ve never even met before but in all the crazy, my friends are helping me heal, keeping me sane, and heck, even pampering me a little bit. i feel so unworthy but so lucky.

on family: right now, i’m in a weird season with some members of my family (and i know they read my blog, so…sorry). quite honestly, it sucks and it hurts but i am learning i can’t control the actions of others. nobody’s family is perfect; mine included, and this is new to me. and it’s been jacking with me. a lot.

on religion, and church, and christians: i recently had a conversation with someone who doesn’t subscribe to the christian faith. i feel like so much of the time, we are all in this little churchy bubble, and as intentional as i am to pop out of it for perspective, i realize i’m not doing a very good job at it. we aren’t doing a very good job at it.

during our conversation, my friend’s words sucked me out of the bubble with the force of a dyson and i really think my head exploded. we think we have so much figured out about life and the world around us, yet what we have actually done to shape and form the perception of those outside this jesus bubble TERRIFIES me. this conversation shook me to my core. it made me sick. it made me ashamed. it made me want to get a lobotomy and rediscover and relearn a faith i have “known” since i was in utero. i feel like i’m in the freaking matrix.

on panhandling: i live in an okay part of town, but nestled right in the middle of the hood. the last two days i have given in to panhandlers galore. seriously. i think they must have my picture somewhere because they find me everywhere and i can never say no. and i realize that it’s not always the “best” thing to do for people (ie the very drunk woman who told me she was sober tonight as i got the mail and handed her five bucks) and i can guess that my five bucks probably bought her a drink (when i really, really need one, can’t you tell?) but you know what? i can’t say no. sorry.

on keats: if you have never read the letters of john keats, you simply must.

on weather: my heart is so happy that it is autumn.

and there you have it. a fine mixture of various chunks of my brain. nothing sexy about it. just junk in my head. thank you so much for reading along.