Vacation with Susan - March 26, 2007
My wife and I are on a two week vacation that really started today. We will be traveling down the East Coast of the US starting off in Boston visiting her folks. We are doing a couple of day trips to New Haven, CT and Providence, RI. Then we are off to the wonderful state of Pennsylvania to see some friends for a couple of days. From there we are off to Annapolis, MD to see my brother and his family, and my parents will be driving up from St. Augustine, FL. We will be spending a few days in the D.C. area and then making our way down the coast to Charelston, SC where we will fly back to Seattle on the 8th.
I will do my best to keep you posted, but it is vacation afterall and sometimes blogging is hardwork!
Keepin’ it street!
Opinionated + judgmental + lazy = Ave. Christian in North America - March 24, 2007
How true is it? I talk to Christians all the time. “I hate this. I hate that. And that’s why I’m not going to church.” Or, “Pastor Matthew, if only your church would do this, then I would like it.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? My question right back to ‘em is, “Well what are you doing about it?” Since when has God called us to go into all the churches to judge people in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? It seems to me that we’ve allowed the North American mentality of, “It’s all about me and my wants and my likes” to seep into the soul of many followers of Jesus today. What’s going on here?
The Gospel According to Incubus, Part 2 - March 23, 2007
Do you ever feel like your going to explode? I do. The irony is that the feeling that I am about to blow up comes from various angles. On one hand, I feel like I’m going to explode when the stress of living seems to get the best of me. On the flip side, when I am walking closely with Jesus, I am on fire for Him and so in a good since I feel like I am going to burst into flames.
Here is the first stanza of the song Pardon Me by the band Incubus:
A decade ago
I never thought I would be
At twenty three
On the verge of spontaneous combustion
Woe-is-me
But I guess that it comes
With the territory
An ominous landscape of never ending calamity
I need you to hear
I need you to see
That I have had all I can take
And exploding seems like
A definite possibility to me
Obviously in the context of this lyric, Brandon Boyd is talking about a time when he is frustrated with the world and all the negativity that comes with it. Unfortunately for me I would say that I feel this way quite a bit (especially in Seattle traffic). That is when I can turn to God and tell Him, “I need You to hear, I need You to see, that I have had all I can take.” It is there that I sense Jesus inviting me to enter into His rest and peace… even in the midst of a traffic jam!
Witness the End - March 21, 2007
This past Saturday @ 24-Seven I shared a message entitled Light. We were wrapping up a series out of the book of Revelation that we had called Witness the End.
One cannot help but to go through the gamut of emotions when reading through the book of Revelation. As I was preparing the message for this past week, I kept reading over the last chapter (chapter 22) over and over again. While doing so, a word in the fifth verse kept popping out to me: light (Revelation 22:5 “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.")
But then it dawned on me that Jesus talked a lot about light while he was here on this earth. He said that He is the light of the world, and that his children shall be called children of light. Then I started to think about the rest of the Bible and how it tells us that the word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
Here are three things that we can do to know that we are walking in the light:
1 – Follow Jesus – “Whoever FOLLOWS ME will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12
2 – Get in His Word – “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” – Psalm 119:105
3 – Seek Council – “Praise the LORD. I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.” – Psalm 111:1
Blessings to you!
Yonder Mountain String Band - March 14, 2007
I was born and raised in a small town called Stow (no not Stowe, VT) just outside of Boston, MA. When I was 13 my best friend, who’s mom is from Singapore, invited me and two other friends on a trip for a couple of months to Singapore. It was one of the best experiences of my life. It has been years since that trip and I had lost touch with two of the three guys who went on the trip. One of them I recently reconnected with. In so doing I found out that he is in a band called Yonder Mountain String Band.
Take a look at their new video for their song Classic Situation - CLICK HERE. My buddy’s name is Ben Kaufmann. He is the one playing the bass in the video.
Keep up the strong work Ben!
The Gospel According to Incubus, Part 1 - March 12, 2007
Who’s to say what is Christian or not, even when it comes to music? From my perspective God can use anything He chooses to deliver a message. And it seems to me that music is a medium where human expression of spiritual matters is most prevalent.
I feel that it is time that I come out of the closet and announce that I love “secular” music. Not just because it’s secular, but because in it is found the expression of the human heart. Lately I have found myself in awe of the band Incubus (def: an evil spirit that lies on persons in their sleep). In many of their songs I find myself identifying with the lyrics on a spiritual level. My blog entitled: The Gospel According to Incubus is the beginning of our journey through this bands music whereby I will share where I am relating to the lyrics.
On this first go around, let’s take a look at the song Pardon Me. Let me know if you can relate…
Pardon Me (Incubus)
A decade ago
I never thought I would be
At twenty three
On the verge of spontaneous combustion
Woe-is-me
But I guess that it comes With the territory
An ominous landscape of never ending calamity
I need you to hear
I need you to see
That I have had all I can take
And exploding seems like
A definite possibility to me
So pardon me while I burst into flames
I’ve had enough of the world
And it’s people’s mindless games
So pardon me while I burn
And rise above the flame
Pardon me, pardon me
I’ll never be the same
Not two days ago
I was having a look
In a book and I saw a picture of a guy fried up above his knees
I said, “I can relate,”
Cause’ lately I’ve been thinking of combustication as a welcomed vacation from
The burdens of the planet earth
Like gravity, hypocrisy, and the perils of being in 3-D
And thinking so much differently
So pardon me while I burst into flames
I’ve had enough of the world
And it’s people’s mindless games
So pardon me while I burn
And rise above the flame
Pardon me, pardon me
I’ll never be the same
Adventist Student Personnel Association (ASPA) - Boston, MA - March 8, 2007
I have just finished presenting at the 2007 Adventist Student Personnel Association (ASPA) annual meeting. This year the event was held on the campus of Atlantic Union College just outside of Boston in Lancaster, MA. The conference was attended by student services personnel from all over North America, Central America and the Caribbean. It was an honor to be a part of this important event.
Having heard that I was presenting on the topics of prayer and pornography at Just Claim It last week in Dallas, TX, I was asked to present on those two topics at the ASPA Convention. God truly blessed as the participants were challenged to take some time deepening their spiritual life by sitting in God’s presence and writing a love letter to Him. Then in the afternoon session on pornography, we took a look at some of the startling realities of this epidemic that is plaguing our society.
If you have any questions or would like more information on the above to topics, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Keep up the great work ASPA Professionals!
Quiksilver Pro - Gold Coast, Australia - March 6, 2007
I don’t know about you, but I love surfing. I love everything about the sport: the waves, the warm air, the fact that you are immersed in God’s creation, I love it all.
Today is the last day of the Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast in Australia. If you don’t know anything about surfing, you can start watching the event live by going to www.quiksilver.com (click on the LIVE tab). I hope that you will find pleasure in watching. As well, while you are at it, go ahead and cheer for the 8th World Title holder Kelly Slater, as right now he is in the quarter finals! Today is the last day of the event.
Blessings and happy watching!
Just Claim It - Dallas, TX
I am off to Just Claim It, the first NAD Youth/Young Adult Prayer Congress. The expectation is that there will be over 10,000 people in attendance. It ought to be a ton of fun. If you are there, please be sure to post some comments and let me know about your experience.
I will be presenting on two different topics: 1) Prayer 101; and 2) The Porn Epidemic. I would love to have you join me in either of the two presentations.
Blessings to you and I will see you in Dallas!
Spiritual Lukewarm-ness
A friend of mine recently responded to a sermon that I had preached @ 24-Seven Ministry Center on Laodicea in her blog. As I reflected on spiritual lukewarm-ness a couple of things hit me:
1) We are spiritually flame retardant. What I mean by this is that we, in and of ourselves, are unable to be on fire. It is only by abiding in His presence (John 15:4,5) that we can have the appearance of being on fire. The reality is, however, that it is really the fire of God that we are abiding in (much like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego [Dan 3:19-26]) that makes us look like we are on fire. Take us out and we will just be smoking.
2) We are too preoccupied for God. Much of what you described about your present situation in life is what many are facing in this day and age. We are not consumed with Jesus, rather the demands of this world. The beauty is that God is working on you where you are.
I just heard Brennan Manning speak a couple of weeks ago and he kept reminding us that, “God loves you as you are, not as you should be.” All of that is great, but we still need to be connected with our Abba, Father. So what do we do in our preoccupied state?
Jesus, through the Psalmist, provides for us a prescription that you can pick up in the comforts of your own home, at a coffee shop, in a book store, in a church sanctuary, in nature, wherever you are… it’s simply “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). In our hectic pace, Jesus simply gives us an invitation to sit and be still and know that He is God… that He is Lord… that He is our Savior and our Best Friend! Maybe this occurs moments before you hit the on button on the remote when you pause just to be still. Or maybe it is when you wake up in the morning or before you go to bed. Or maybe this starts occurring throughout the course of the day.
Another thing that I picked up from author Brennan Manning was an exercise that I practice throughout the day. He had us meditate on the phrase “Abba” while breathing in and then saying in our minds or verbally, “I am yours” as we exhale. While I am walking my dog I am saying this. Sometimes when sitting in my office, I stop just to say, “Abba, I am yours.” What a beautiful reality!
