It seems as though since Charlie was born we have been so busy. I think part of it just has to do with how busy the other two boys are. But it does seem like we never slow down. I’m excited for the summer. We’re going to get away for at least a week and I think I’m going to take the boys away for a little ‘excursion’ for a few days.

I am so thankful for God’s goodness – His grace and mercy. I am thankful for our family, our friends, our church community. I’m thankful for my wife. Life is good.

We are spiritual contributors not spiritual consumers. The church does not exist for us. We are the church and we exist for the world.

So what are you contributing?

Saturday, I ran by the M2M Hike to raise awareness for our summer mission trip to Sierra Prietta, Dominican Republic. There were 70-80 hikers there. It was awesome. Pictures…

Sunday at MMCC…where do I begin? The Elephant was definitely in the house this weekend. The ‘sexy’ elephant that is. I think there was some tension built around what I would say about sex. This week, we built a foundation to understand God’s design. Next week, we’ll go a bit further. Here are a few thoughts from the morning…

• Sex was God’s idea…and He commands it.
• Sex is sticky. And the more we pass it around with multiple people, the more we lose our stickiness.
• Sex is more than skin on skin – it is spiritual and sacred.
• It’s not that we want too much out of sex. It’s that we want too little.

We’ll have more next week. Then, we have the political elephant, the apocalyptic elephant, and the divorced elephant.

There are moments in life when we are overwhelmed. Today was one of those days. Here are a few things that made that happen:

• Considering the price Jesus paid to put our lives and our world back together again.
• The love of the Father – to send His Son.
• Worship today was awesome. The songs Joe chose helped us turn our minds and hearts toward God.
• The song ‘True Love’ by Phil Wickham has been on my mind all week. And I can’t quit singing it today. Love that song.
• Colossians chapter 1 – Christ at the center of all things…putting all things back together…putting you and me back together.
• Some friends hung around the house all afternoon – I LOVE sharing life with others. That IS life.
• My son wrote me an Easter note this morning and hid it in my Bible. Incredible.
• My wife is beautiful … she has a beautiful voice … and she loves me.
• I have never seen that many people in the theater before. People sitting everywhere. Glad the fire marshal didn’t show up today.

MMCC – Thanks for letting me be a part of this journey with you. We have a God who desperately loves the world and is putting all that’s broken back together. Let’s continue to be a part of that restoration and redemption. I love serving alongside you and sharing life with you.

Grace and peace-

matt

• Thanks to some great friends, we were able to stay in a cabin up in Show Low, AZ – the white mountains. I took the boys skiing – their first time: http://www.facebook.com/anderson.matt?v=app_2392950137#!/video/video.php?v=1335760028986

• Calvin had his first tee ball game. He’s a part of the Arizona Diamondbacks: http://www.facebook.com/anderson.matt?v=app_2392950137#!/video/video.php?v=1336122878057
• Charlie is growing like crazy. He started whistling and walking this last week. Crazy! He’s only two months old.

Today was Palm Sunday. At MMCC, we went a bit different than the traditional BIG route. We stripped everything back and went acoustic. I thought it was a great morning…

• Palm Sunday was ‘lamb selection day’ for the Jews who had traveled to Jerusalem for Passover.
• Roman officers would have entered town on distinguished animals. Jesus entered on a donkey.
• The palm branch was a sign of nationalistic pride. It was the Jews’ way of saying that they wanted their nation back and wanted the Romans out.
• Hosanna meant ‘save us.’ But not in the way we sing it today. They were looking for political freedom from the Romans.
• I preached in the dark today. I’ve never done that. Jesus said He was the light of the world. I wanted to magnify the idea that we are surrounded by darkness and need Jesus to follow, to expose our ‘stuff’ and for hope.
• We are also called to be the light. So we hid a bunch of flashlights under chairs in the theater. When all of those flashlights were on, the darkness was pushed aside. Hmmmmmmm….hope that picture/idea stuck.
• Spent the afternoon watching a little bball. Wanted Baylor to pull it out. At least the Spartans pushed through.

Looking forward to a great Holy Week. Always good to slow down and reflect on who Jesus was, why He died and what He accomplished by overcoming that death.

I’m constantly trying to learn how to be a better parent. Whenever I meet a young person that seems to be well rounded and following Christ I grab a notepad and pepper them with questions about what their parents did “right.” Especially if they grew up in a pastor’s home! So if you have a kids, read this. If you’re in ministry and you have kids, study this.

With that in mind I recently asked Heather Stevens, a 17 year old junior in high school who’s a regular reader of this blog, about her experience with her parents. Heather’s father is Tim Stevens, a great blogger and author who’s on staff at Granger Community Church. I think you’ll find her thoughts incredible insightful and encouraging. Enjoy.

Although I haven’t actually experienced this yet, I have to imagine that being a parent is the toughest job there is. As a parent, you have the responsibility to raise your children in the way that you believe is right; you have to instill in them proper values and morals, and in most cases, how you lead results in your child’s beliefs, and what they view as wrong and right. In all honesty, I’m scared to raise children, because ultimately, what I do or don’t do will shape my child’s life.
I know kids from all sorts of families; kids from good two parent homes, kids from good one parent homes, kids who are beaten both physically or mentally by one or both of their parents, kids who live with their grandparents and have had to pretty much raise themselves on their own, and the list goes on and on. Fortunately, I’ve been raised in a very good family, by two God fearing people who have raised me to love Jesus and continue growing in my relationship with Him every day. I think there are many factors in how my mom and dad parented their kids, here are some of the ways that I think worked very well:

read more here…

http://withoutwax.tv/2010/03/21/the-toughest-job-ever/

I do not myself like the word ‘intervention’, because it implies that God is normally ‘outside’ the processes of this world and would then be ‘stepping in’, like a headmaster ‘intervening’ in a lesson where the ordinary teacher couldn’t cope. Instead, the Bible offers us a more interesting and dynamic model of cosmology (heaven and earth and how they relate) and of God’s being and action therein. God, says the Psalmist, ‘feeds the young ravens when they call on him’. Is that ‘intervention’? Or do we call it the ravens’ ‘instinct’? Or is it both? Of course that could then collapse into pantheism and the BIble is clear that isn’t the answer either. But you see the point: God is always around the place, always active, and sometimes that activity results in things that take us by surprise, rather like (only ‘rather’, but still a bit ‘like’) Einsteinian physics takes Newtonian physics by surprise (curved space? time warps?). Or perhaps like a sphere takes a circle by surprise. So, yes: another dimension, intersecting with the usual ones.

“God is always around the place, always active, and sometimes that activity results in things that take us by surprise…” wow. so i wonder…has God taken you by surprise lately? and have you actively joined in the activity of God?

Here are some thoughts from the morning…

• The energy level on Sunday mornings is so high. There is a buzz before and after services. And I LOVE that.
• I think we are learning to be a worshiping community. It seems as though there is more and more engagement in worship – more people turning their hearts, minds and voices toward God.
• Joe is doing a great job choosing songs that help us express our hearts. You Never Let Go, Our God Reigns, Come Thou Fount… great lyrics for us on a rainy day.
• We built the morning around the passage from Mark 10 – the young man who asked Jesus about eternal life. Jesus took that question and talked about the Kingdom of God.
• Luis Sena, the Food for the Hungry country director for the Dominican Republic, joined me for the teaching. He is brilliant … and I love his heart and passion.
• He said this: “The Kingdom of God isn’t present when we talk about it or when we read about it. The Kingdom of God is present when our lives are submitted to God’s ways and rule.” True.
• Just as the young man had an idol that prevented him from following Jesus, so too do we have idols that keep us from God’s Kingdom.
• We ended with this question from Mark 10.21 (READ IT NOW): What would Jesus find if He looked us in the eyes?

Grace and peace.

Monday evening, I had the opportunity to hear some stories from some great golfers and golf coaches. Brandel Chamblee from the Golf Channel hosted the evening. It was a relaxed, conversational look at life on the tour. Zach Johnson talked about hitting a cut-3 iron, a blind shot on number 11 at Augusta – and at that point had a good idea he would win the Masters. Aaron Baddeley talked about about winning his first US Tour event on Easter Sunday, the day after his 1-year anniversary to his wife. Kevin Streelman talked about finishing the first round of Q-school 4-under on the last 5 holes…just making it to the second round. He went on to win the Kodak challenge last year. Stan Utley told how he became the number one short game coach in the world: simply by helping the people around us. He admitted that he’ll stand behind a pro during a lesson and pray: God, help me know what to say next to help this guy out. Dr. David Cook talked about how he helps golfers from around the world with the mental side of the game: See it, Feel it, Trust it. But the thing that stuck with me the most is the way each of these golfers and coaches reminded us of a simple principle: it’s just golf…it’s only a game. They talked about having a healthy perspective on life and continually reminding themselves that who they are is not what they do for a living. Their value and worth has nothing to do with the money they make or the trophies they win. Aaron had a tough year in 2009 on tour – but he told the crowd that it was one of the best years he’s ever had personally. It reminds me of something Rob Bell said in ‘Drops Like Stars’: Even the failed pieces are necessary.

Looking forward to following these guys at the Phoenix Open this week.

If you haven’t read Golf’s Sacred Journey, pick it up and read it.

• we are in our euangelion series – and we tried to strip things back today. candles were all over the stage. fire hazzard. but it looked awesome. it set the atmosphere for us to step back in time just a bit.
• there were four acoustics on stage, a bass guitar and a piano. four acoustics can sometimes get muddy – that was not the case today. it sounded awesome. jake petty on the bass was tight.
• there was a moment during ‘it is well’ that caught me off guard – and i heard it caught others off guard as well. it was one of those ‘moments’ that can’t be explained. that’s what sometimes happens when a group of people turn their heart and mind and voice toward God.
• i never thought i would teach from the ‘madman’ passage out of mark. but i couldn’t get it out of my mind when i was preparing. we all are like that madman – in bondage to something in life. in some mysterious way, Jesus changes things. i wish there was a nice formula attached…but there is not.
• holding the bread and the cup took on sacred meaning today – realizing that the death of Jesus frees us from those things that enslave us.
• i love the journey we are on at mmcc. there is so much momentum and life change taking place. i believe we are on the edge of great things. God is doing something in and through us as a community.
• this afternoon, charlie fell asleep lying on my chest. we watched golf and curling. there could not have been a better way to spend the afternoon.

and now, our community group is headed to saddle ranch – we are going to ride the bull. we thought it would be a great way to end the ‘live like you were dying’ series. just another reason to join a community group. riding the bull. i’m shooting for 2.8 seconds. peace-