Hello from the white tundra!

So if you're anywehere near Seattle, you've probably been stuck at home in the snow like me. I realize that I have been remiss in doing any blog entries lately, but I've been busy, with cocoa and snow and kids! That line from that Christmas carol "mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again" really rings true this year. Snow is great, but when the kids are inside all day every day it gets a bit old.

I want to let you know that I havent forgot about the blog. I've just been taking a break. I am going to be into fullforce blogging after the first of the year.

I do want to take a moment to remind you that now is the time to be making some decisions for what you are going to accomplish this year. Thursday is right around the corner.

More than likely, you're thinking this week about the year gone by and how you either did what you set out to do, or failed again. 2009 can be your year of victory! Set it in your mind now to get it done for 2009. there is no reason why you cant accomplish everything that you want to accomplish. Trust that God can do it through you.

I am interested to hear what your hopes are. Send me an email. I will pray and believe with you.

Here's to a great 2009!

matt

Can I get a Hand?

Yesterday our church went to go an pick up the toys that we will be distributing for Toys for Tots. It was quite interesting. The pick up point was not very well organized from my perspective.

We got there and there were about 2 dozen people milling around waiting for their turn to get their presents. Basically, there was a loading dock, and a guy with a clipboard and a pallet jack. He'd call an organization name, and then they were supposed to pull up to the dock, and he would bring out their pallet or two of toys.

Seems simple, right? Wrong. People were at the dock that hadn't had their name called, people were trying to get their name farther up on the list, people were getting angry, and not really having a very festive spirit.

Let me remind you that it was about 24 degrees yesterday. So we're standing there watching all this happen and we decide to start helping some of these people load up their toys figuring it would help the process. It did, to a point. we were on that dock for more than an hour helping people load up. People that showed up thought we worked for the organization we were working so much.

The neatest thing happened in the midst of all that. People who did not know each other, who were not the from the same backgrounds began to help one another. Everyone started to pitch in. It was awesome to see!

Are you a helpful person? Do you pitch in when there is a need somewhere or do you stand around and let someone else do the work? The bible says that "faith without works is dead". Meaning, that even if you say you are a Christian, its not enough to just say it, you have to show it by your actions. Easier said that done, but one easy way to do it is to help out someone who needs help. Carry a box, mow a lawn, stay late or come early to help. All of us need a hand here or there, so if we can be that person to someone its a blessing.

Help someone out today. Be a helpful person and help someone who looks like they don't need it. You'll bless them in the process.

here's to helping
matt

Four Things That Rob Us of Our Joy

The Bible teaches that the Joy of the Lord is our Strength. Meaning, that during tough times, we can still have Joy even though there may be things that are going on around us that are not that wonderful. During this Christmas, you may not be that joyful. Maybe you're not where you want to be, or you have bad memories about things from past Christmases. Its real easy to not have Joy during this time of year.

I want to share with you 4 things that can rob you of your joy.

1. Circumstances. Things just happen to go wrong. These are the things that you can't really change, but seem to happen inevitably. You lose a job, a relationship isn't going well, you just can't seem to get ahead etc. These circumstances have a way of stealing your joy. There was guy in the Bible named Paul who knew about circumstance, he was in prison and was beaten and tortured. But do you know what? He still served God. He still had joy in the midst of those times because he knew that the circumstance was temporary but his relationship with God was eternal.

2. People. For some reason other people have a way of stealing your joy. Family members, or co-workers or someone who cuts you off on the freeway. Whatever it is, somehow we allow other people to steal our joy. DON'T LET THEM! I love the expression "don't let people rent space in your head". Just because someone else is not well adjusted and chooses to take their pain out on you doesn't mean that you have to let them.

3. Things. 10 years ago I didn't have a cell phone, and do you know what? I got by just fine. But now, its become a necessity, or at least I've made it one. Whats the point? Things, that is the stuff we have that we don't really need, or the stuff we don't have that we don't really need, has a way of consuming our minds if we let it. Something breaks, something gets stolen, or we don't have the thing that we want. Things are just that: things. Let them stay that way. You can replace a thing you cant replace a person.

4. worry. And what do we worry about? circumstance, people and things. Jesus said we can't add even an hour to our lives by worry. He takes care of the birds of the fields, how much more will he take care of us? Give up worry today. Let the Lord take that burden and move on. Life is alot easier when you're not clinging to worrying about things you can't change.

Be blessed today. If you're in the Seattle area STAY WARM! Its cold out there today!

matt

Let it snow let it snow let it snow

Am I the only one who loves snow? I understand its wet and cold and all that, but man, I love that stuff.

Here in Seattle we're facing a "winter storm" for this weekend. Usually that means go out and buy some chains, salt, and a snow shovel and then sit back and watch it rain. They never forecast the snow right around here. Usually when they say it wont, it does and when they say it will, it usually never does.

Never the less, I still believe! I went out last night and bought some toboggans for the kids and I am expectantly waiting for it to snow. I can't wait to slide in it, toss snowballs, watch the kids play and run. There's something just so magical about snow at Christmas time!

I can hear the cynics right now: "whats the use of getting excited, its not even snowing yet" or "how often have we got our hopes up and nothing happened". What is interesting is that its usually those same cynical people who love to pop other hope balloons that you may be carrying around.

It happens even in Christian circles. You may be excited about something that the Lord is doing in your life, or expectantly waiting for a prayer to be answered, whatever. And inevitably someone comes along and sees you excited about something and they come along and "Pop"! They just take away all that joy you just had for whatever it was you were hoping for.

Why do they have to be that way? Do they think that they are helping someone out by "keeping it real" or "just letting it all hang out"? I like to hope. I like to dream. I like to expect great and exciting things to happen. Even if it doesn't, its sometimes just as exciting to visualize it happening. I refuse to let people dictate my happiness and what they think should happen. Just because they don't get excited doesn't mean that i cant get excited right?

Are you a person who pops balloons? Stop. Are you a person who is afraid to get excited about something that may happen? Get excited! Have faith that God will do it and wait, with a spirit of expectancy!You'll be amazed at what could happen when you do this.

God's best to you today! Have a spirit of expectancy!

matt

One Year Ago

I celebrated a milestone this week. Its been one full year since I've went full time in the ministry. It went FAST. I really can't believe that it went by so quickly.

I have a natural tendency to reflect on things. And this is no different. As I look back on the past year, there are some really great things that happened, and some things I would have changed, but more than anything I can see that God has been faithful through it all. He's made it happen.

Thinking back to that first week I remember that I had all these great plans on how I was going to spend my week, things to get accomplished, and projects to undertake. Coming from a corporate job, into the ministry I was used to having tasks, and reports and the like. Naturally, I set up my week that way. I put different scales to grade myself on, set up a day by day calendar. Set up hour by hour plans. It was beautiful. I really thought that it would help the plan that God had put in my heart.

I'll let you know, it worked for about a day. Apparently the ministry cannot be confined to a schedule, or a spreadsheet. Usually my days never end up how I expected them. I always have a plan for what I want to get accomplished for the day, but usually it never ends up that way. Go figure. For some reason God in His infinite wisdom chose to throw my plans into to the wind and make sure that I was following His plans.

This doesn't sit well with someone who likes things to go a certain way. It was frustrating at times. But what I have learned is that God knows what He is doing. He has a plan. Its my job to implement His plan, not Him implementing mine. I may have some 'task' that needs to be accomplished, but He needs someone to be ministered to. I may have a 'project' that I want to work on, but he may need me to just sit and be still. Its frustrating at times, but I have learned to trust that He knows whats going on, even if it doesn't fit into my ideas of how it should be.

I'm sure there is some area of your life where you're sticking too much to the plan and not enough to the Lord. Ask God what area you can let go a bit of and let Him move. And then sit back and watch what he will do. Watch how he can move without your plan or actions, but move in spite of your plans or actions. He's God you know. All seeing, all knowing, all loving. He'll never let you down.

Hope you're having a great week.
blessings,
matt

2nd times a charm

I wanted to share with you what we did this weekend. Its probably not that 'spiritually insightful' but it was fun. That's whats fun about this blog, since I'm the one that writes it, I can pretty much write whatever I want. Fun.

So Saturday night Crystal and I were invited to go to a company Christmas party. It was for the company that a couple of guys from our church work for, and is also the company the church rents its space from.

I initially wasn't that excited about going to the party, but as I was getting ready I began to realize what a privilege it was to be invited to go to a party for a company that I wasn't a part of. In addition, they had asked me to do the invocation and bless the food. What an honor.

When we got there, there must have been about 250 or so people in the ball room, there were hors'dourves and the like. It was real nice.

Now whats interesting is that I rarely get nervous about public speaking. Its what I do! come on! I preach 3 times a week! Well, when I got called up to do the prayer, all those eyes started to burn me as I was looking at them.

In most jobs, there are very clear parameters to see whether or not you are being successful at your job. If you're a firefighter, put out the fire. If you you're a mechanic, fix the car, and if you're a pastor, you better know how to pray. Its part of the job description.

To be honest, I thought it was a great prayer. I asked the Lord to bless the company, the president of the company, the time we had together for the night. It was an awesome prayer! People clapped when I was done. "good job matt" I thought to myself as I was walking back to the table. "you sure prayed that prayer". Then, I sat down.

God bless my wife. She leans over to me, and in my ear ever so softly says "honey, you forgot to bless the food". MAN! WHAT KIND OF PASTOR FORGETS TO BLESS THE FOOD?? So, clearly. I failed at my calling Saturday night. I was called upon to bless the food and I failed. Scores of people at risk for food poisoning and the crud because i did not invoke the blessings of our Lord upon the potatoes and prime rib! I should have turned in my credentials at the end of the night.

I redeemed myself last night. Another Christmas party, another prayer, and I delivered! Man. I got to tell you, I slept a whole lot better last night knowing the food was blessed.

So the lesson for the day is don't worry about your mess ups. the Lord will give you a chance to redeem yourself!

Happy praying
matt

The Power of Proper Priorities

Priorities. We all have them. We talk about them, we schedule them, we focus on them. Or do we? I think that alot of people have professed priorities that do not match up with how they actually live their lives.

People will say, " I really want to lose some weight" or " I want to get out of debt" or "I want to improve my relationship with my spouse" but when you begin to really examine their actions, alot of times their actions don't match up with their stated priorities.

Let me give you an example from weight loss. Someone may say that they want to lose weight, but they eat too much food that is bad for them, or just too much food. They may say they want to exercise more, but never schedule the time to do it. They TALK about it, but never DO anything about it. From their actions it is evident that what they really want is to eat calorie rich food, and not exercise. As the old adage goes, "actions speak louder than words".

Merely talking about something does not make it so. Its the DOING it that makes it so. I guarantee that there are areas of all our lives where there is a disconnect with what we profess and how we live it out in our daily lives. The key is, put actions behind your words.

My point? What is the number one stated priority in your life? Does it match up with how you spend your time and resources? Looking at your checkbook is an easy way to determine where you are placing your priorities. There's no hiding what you value when you look at where you spend.

I meet alot of people who claim that they are Christian and they want God's best for their life, but the actions don't match up. I like that statement that says "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions". Its even more impactful for the Christian. If you say that your relationship with God is your number one priority. Live like it. Focus on it. Put your energy into it. Its amazing how much growth you can see in an area of your life if you match up the action part with the intention part.

Get em straight.

matt

Did you miss the blog?

Hey! Thanks for giving me the week off. I didn't get a full week off, but I did get to relax a bit so it was nice. I got some emails about the blog not being up, but I figured you'd be OK without the blog.

This blog has been fun. I try to be transparent on it, because I don't think that its nearly as insightful if I'm never allowing myself to be transparent.

Here's some transparency for you: I get really annoyed with my neighbors who have messy yards. I know it may seem trivial, but I really do. I'm that guy who looks out his window at what my neighbors are doing and wonders when they are going to clean up whatever mess they are making.

I have a neighbor who had a heap of stuff in his driveway for about a month. Some wood scraps, and other miscellaneous things. It irked me. I would walk by it on the way to walk my dog, and i would spend time on my walking playing out the different ways that i could confront my neighbor about his eyesore of a driveway.

After about a month of this, it really began to annoy me. Every time I drove by I would look and get upset. My other neighbors approached me and told me that they had voted me to go and talk to him, which is great, except I don't really like confrontation.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that sees things that need to be confronted and have a hard time confronting them. Its painful. you don't know how the other person will respond, or if its going to have the desired outcome. It can be nerve-racking going through all the different scenarios in your head. But somethings need to be confronted head on.

I know there is probably some people who have a 'live and let live' mentality, but I don't think that works in relationships. Not in a marriage, or a church, or on your street. If you live with or near someone what you do effects those other people. And, sometimes, when people are allowing their freedom to infringe on your ability to enjoy your freedom, they should be confronted, lovingly.

Is there someone in your life that needs to be confronted? Something that they are doing that you have let go on too long? There is nothing wrong with loving confrontations, if they're done in the right way. Don't be afraid to talk to the person, ask some questions, and share your point. what they do with it is up to them. You did your part.

Here's to hoping the confrontation you need to do isn't towards me
matt

ps. i talked to the neighbor last night. he cleaned his driveway this morning.