Alrighty Then…..

***Warning**** The post you are about to read is way longer than I would normally write – But I couldn’t help it.  Try to stick it out to the end.  I think it is worth it.

It all started last Wednesday.  I was spending some time in prayer and in the word when God told me to make sure our house was clean.  At first I was thinking, ‘God, is it that bad that you have noticed…..”  Just kidding – Trisha always makes sure our house is kept clean.  I just felt God saying, “Even though no one has looked or called on your house, have it ready.”  I don’t know if you have noticed or not, but cleaning with the anticipation of someone coming to look at your house with the intention to buy it is a huge step of faith.    So I spoke with Trisha that morning and we made sure (more her than me) the house was clean.  I had forgotten about that morning until Monday afternoon – but I am getting ahead of myself.

This past weekend we went to Savannah.  It was amazing.  We had an informational meeting with people who were interested in coming to the church.  I had a good opportunity to sit down and talk through some things with Doug, and we also were able to look at a few potential meeting places.  It was a great weekend doing Canvas stuff.

On top of the Canvas stuff, Trisha and I had the chance to hang out with each other and play with Trey (who by the way is becoming more and more active and smiling a lot lately.)  Trisha and I talked about how this trip felt differently.  It was as if our hearts were already there.  Overall it was wonderful.  But all of that is not even the coolest God stuff…..

Monday Trisha and I were sitting in the kitchen of a potential landlord filling out paper work when my blessed blackberry buzzed with an email.  Being OCD and not having the abitlity to let the email sit, I picked up my blackberry and saw an email from our Realtor.   As I read it, I thought it was a mistake.  It said,

“Trisha and Mark,

Good morning. We have an offer on your home. I will call you to discuss.

Thanks.

Jennifer Weakland”

My first thought was, how awesome a couple with the names of Trisha and Mark sold their house and the Realtor thinks it is us by mistake.  It can’t possible be us as noone has seen our house since May.  I am excited for this Trisha and Mark and hope we can get the confusion settled soon.  Then I realized that the odds of that were about as slim as us having an offer in the first place.  I showed the email to Trisha and bolted outside to call the Realtor.  Wow….

To make an already long story not as long as it could be…  We eventually accepted the offer and now HAVE A CONTRACT ON OUR HOUSE!!!!!  How awesome is our God???!!!!!

As I reflected on these events, I remembered my last blog before receiving the offer.  It was a list of things for which we needed prayer.  I was blown away by the number of people who were praying for us.  I am blown away at the ability of our God to answer prayer.  Our God cares enough about His people that he will answer the things we ask.  Thank YOU so much to everyone who is praying for us and praying for Canvas.  I can’t deny the work that God is already doing and the huge work that He is just now revealing.

Glory to our God.  The one who can sell a house in this crappy market and THE ONE who can transform a city for His Glory.

This post was long sorry…. thanks for sticking it out.

PRAY….

Pray for the Tanners.  Something awesome is in the works……..

Yes I am still alive….

I am great at this regular blogging thing… I recently realized that alot of our payer partners read this blog. With that in mind, I feel the need to post a prayer list. We have alot going on and have been under attack a lot lately. Here is a list of things we need you to pray for:

+ We have a house to sell – a house that hasn’t been looked at since May 10th.

+ There are some spiritual attacks going on that we just need to band together as a family on.

+ we feel this enormous since of disconnectedness – Its not anybody’s fault – its just hard to be connected to your church when it is 4 hurs away

+ We will be getting to go to Savannah this weekend. This will only be our 4th trip since God called us there. I need a job and I think we will eventually need a place to stay. (if we can get past number 1 – house for sale)

+ Pray as our church staff will meet together for the first time in a long time.

+Pray as we look at potential meeting space

+ Pray that God will continue to prepare us for the awesome work ahead

+ Some needs that only God knows, that don’t belong on the internet

+ Some opportunities that God has to show up big in our lives.

My family and I need your prayers. We have a lot going on. We are trying to move, start a church and figure out how to be parents, all while college football is starting… Ok – so some of those are more important than others… but – hey – you get the point. We appreciate your support – If you want to do more than pray check out these sites for more info….

http://savannahcanvas.com/

http://the249.com

We are excited to see what God is going to do through us!

Different

Life is very different. It’s a good different. I don’t get to sleep much. I am constantly thinking about the little man. We can’t jump in the car and head out for a quick trip to … anywhere. It is different. My heart has been captivated by this little guy. I love him in an indescribable way that only other parents could understand. He is amazing. It would be impossible to live life the same way now that I know him. I wouldn’t trade him for anything.

That being said, I have had little time for blogging so here are some things I have learned in the past few weeks.

1. My son is smart enough to know the exact moment his diaper is off
2. Baby pee doesn’t smell as bad as adult pee
3. A wake time for a baby is apparently sleep time for everyone else.
4. we have managed to dirty up all the closets we had clean a few months ago
5. Houses don’t sell well if people don’t look at it
6. Urine is not too hard to get off the wall (see number 1)
7. I will do whatever it takes to get to Savannah (anybody want to buy a recently reduced townhouse)
8. I am more attached to Canvas than I thought – I feel like a part of me is missing
9. God’s timing is perfect.

That’s what has been going on. Pray Trisha and I sell our house. We listed with a new agent this week and lowered the price. Also pray God will provide the money we will lose when we sell our house. Hopefully it will be soon.

Awesome Weekend

I had a great weekend.  It all started with a night and most of the next day doing Canvas stuff.  We filled out the teaching Calendar for the entire year. We got some exciting stuff planned.   We also made a large organizational chart.  We created it with the vision of having thousands of people attending Canvas Church – we got to plan for what we know God wants to do.

I spent the remainder of my weekend with my wife and son.  It was great.  We woke up Sunday morning and drove to North Point to go to church.  We hadn’t been to church just to go to church in a long time.  It was awesome and well needed.  We then ate at McDonald’s on the way home (nice healthy family meal.)  We got home and took a family nap.   After that I took off to help Wendal with some Family Fusion stuff.  It was a blast doing some voice work with Bill again.  He keeps me laughing.

Later that night we went to the community gathering at Sam’s.  It was amazing to watch that many people worshiping God in the middle of the busiest part of our county.

I got to see God move in different ways all weekend. He gave us huge ideas to challenge the people of Canvas church.  He spoke through Louie about His totally amazing grace and reminded me that no matter how messed up you are, Christ still died for your sin.   God moved in my family in a simple time of rest in which I just got a deeper appreciation for every gift he has given me.   God moved in a unique way that will prepare families going to Family Fusion with The Church at The Ridge.   Then God was just displayed beautifully by the people who were His hands and feet this weekend.

The whole weekend ended perfectly.  I held my son in my arms and worshiped God.  That moment was precious and truly amazing.  Then we went to Starbucks.

It was an amazing God weekend.  This is how it should be everyday.   I can’t wait to get to Savannah.  God has begun something in me that he wants to do in every heart there.  I can’t wait to go and just lift Him up.

hmmm….now to just get down there…

Most Amazing beautiful woman ever

Tomorrow will mark the day that Trisha and I started dating. We had our first date at the Stone Mountain laser show 8 years ago tomorrow. I am so blessed to have married such a wonderful woman. I love her with all my heart and thank God every day for her. She is amazing!!! It has been awesome to watch her with our new baby. She is already a great mom. I look forward to spending the rest of our lives together.

Life Highlights

It’s been a while since my last blog so here are a few life highlights. I am a DAD!! I am so excited I can’t stand it.  My little man is the coolest guy ever!  We should start working on his golf grip soon and slowly move into a basic swing.  For pictures check this out!! Also, in the same week, my little brother got married.  It was a beautiful ceremony and I loved being a part of it.  I love you Luke and Naomi!! I am so proud of both of you!!!  Go has been teaching me a lot about His love through Trey.  It is just amazing how much I love someone I am just getting to know.

God is working

God is doing so much right now. It is very encouraging to see. He provided Shelly with a job that was not expected in a cool way – see her story here. God helped Justin decide when to leave his job – check it out. It’s just amazing how God provides in His timing. I have been worried about being left here and missing out on what God is doing in Savannah. However – I read these stories and am encouraged at how God moves people in His timing and in the way that He gets the most glory – WHICH BY THE WAY IS THE REASON WE ARE GOING TO SAVANNAH – I am just excited to watch God work in Savannah, and I can’t wait to see the way God gets us down there.

I am just claiming Phil 4:19.

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

21 Days in my Car!

In preparation for Savannah, I just began reading a book called “Making Room for Life” by Randy Frazee.  It’s a great book that has been on my reading list for quite some time.  It talks about how everyone needs relationships and how we are too busy to really live.  Well something in the book really struck a chord with me.  I will live close to the office in Savannah.  In the first chapter you do an exercise to see how many relationship groups you have and the “commute” you take to get there (ie: email, car ride etc.) Well I realized I drive about an hour to work 1 way.  That’s 2 hours round trip, 10 hours a week, 520 hours a year or 21.6 days a year.   I have been at my Job 4 years and 9 months.  That means in the past 4 years and 9 months I have spent 102.6 days in my car JUST ON THE WAY TO WORK AND BACK!!!!!!  Wow.  What a large waste of time.   There are many things we can do to make room for life.  1 thing that will obviously help is to move close to work.

I realize it’s not always possible to live close to work.  We would have a hard time living close to work because we don’t make 6 figures each nor do we want to run to the car every morning for fear of getting shot.  I just think this is a great thing to think about.  I am sure there are many things we can change to help make room for life.  I am excited to see what God teaches me through this book.  When we make room for life we make room for relationships.  I believe evangelism takes place best through relationships.  I also believe that spiritual growth takes place best in a close knit small group that has a true sense of community.  I want to make sure that Canvas Journey Groups don’t simply become another activity to take up a night in the week.  I want them to be a meaningful part of the Christian journey.   Small groups should be like Canvas Church – sorely missed if they were suddenly absent.  This book is going to be great!!

Been a while – a little Busy

It’s been a while. I have been somewhat busy trying to get the baby’s room ready and taking care of my wife who has been forced to stay in bed. I am terribly excited about all that God is doing right now. Trisha and I are about to be parents (when Trey gets here – looking like maybe Tomorrow). I am about to finally get into full-time ministry (something I was called to do at the age of 13). We are moving to Savannah (when the house sells). There is quite a lot going on, but it seems like God has us in this waiting period. Every major thing going on is dependent on something else happening. In every circumstance, it is something beyond my control. I hate that!! I like to know the details of something. I like to sit and think it out. Not knowing when kills me. I have this fear that Doug, Jared and Mikey will be in Savannah starting this awesome work and I will be sitting in my townhouse waiting for it to sell.

I know God knows when my house will sell. He knows when my son will come out to play. He knows when I will be able to work full-time at Canvas. Bottom line: God knows. And I am waiting on Him. Please continue to pray that Trisha and I will be able to discern when God is starting to move us to Savannah.  I know He has some awesome things planned.