― Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out
Up until this point, my blog has been pretty straight forward. Basically, I would read or hear a scripture pertaining to something in my life that I have dealt with or found appealing at the time, and express what I felt the quote and/or scripture meant to me in my life. In the past few weeks, I've struggled with my blog. I debated whether to change it up or leave it be. Usually, if I'm debating in my mind about it for that long, its time for a change, kind of like a facelift. I tend to be a creature of habit, but I get bored after a while. At this point in my life, I feel most drawn to the people who really are like me. The ones who don't or try to seem as if they have it all together. The ones not afraid to admit the cheese is falling off their cracker. The friends that have real life issues. Real life problems. And real "what if's" that need answers. The ones that won't just say, "I'll pray about that," but, "How can I help?" I mean, isn't that what being a disciple is all about? Isn't that what people are really looking for?
After today, my blog will have a new look and a new purpose. "The Real Deal," will be the new title. The purpose has the same basic goal, to lead people to Christ, but in a completely different way...through secular movies, music, books, etc. The problem with religion is it tends to think God is confined to Christian music, the bible, sermons and things of the like. That's simply not true. No wonder so many people would rather slit their wrists than become a Christian. A lot of churches convince them, "if it's not within these four walls, it's not of God!" Before you write me off as a Christian who's fallen off her rocker, think back to Jesus' example. He was found in some of the most "unreligious" places. Eating with a tax collector, gettin' down on the dance floor at a party (yes, with wine!), conversing with a prostitute (I can't imagine what kind of rumors came out of that story). Despite the religious people of that time who deemed him blasphemous, he carried on day by day, showing others God is by no means confined to the Temple. He is alive, well and active outside those walls. In fact, I would be so bold to say you might have a better chance of finding Him out on the street than in some of these churches. 
Now is the time. People need real people. They aren't looking for those who have the nicely pressed collars around their neck or the "holier than thou's" that are afraid to seem normal, frightful that if they don't seem to have it all together, they will receive some kind of demerit. They are looking for God to be here among us, in the movie they saw, in the song that just came on the radio, in the sunset they just witnessed that seemed almost as if God himself painted it. This blog will be written for them. It is not for the super-religious. It is not for those who refuse to see God in our culture today. It is not for the people who have never been in a valley. It is for the ones who can admit they aren't perfect. It is for those who have tried and tried and still don't seem to "get it." It is for those who for the millionth time are trying to start over. It is for the people who aren't afraid of seeing God from a different angle. It is for the people who swear they have felt the love of God while listening to a Bruce Springsteen song. It is for people like me. If we would pull ourselves away from the four walls of a church. If we could put down the spiritual book we feel obligated to read every morning because we are afraid it will be our only "spiritual medicine" for the day. If we would open our minds and hearts to see the beauty in a sunset, the lyrics in a song, the character in a movie, I believe we could experience a side of God we've never seen before.
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