I'm Never Eating At A McDonalds Again

On Sunday, after church, our family had to drive to Snohomish from Auburn via Covington. We had a memorial service to attend, and we were very short on time. We typically don't eat breakfast before church, so after 2nd service, I was particularly hungry. My kids were hungry also.

 

Like any good parent stuck in a vehicle on their way to some event and needing to feed the kids, we were pressed to find somewhere to grab some quick food, or it were, food that we could get fast. You might call it Fast-Food.

 

Anyway, we're in the SUV, on our way, discussing options and the Golden Arches is discussed as an option.

 

From the back seat, my son, Gabriel declares that he is never going to eat at McDonalds ever again. He says that last time he went, he got sick, and threw up, so he's done eating at McDonalds. He goes on to explain that we should sue McDonalds, and that it is evil, and they were out to get him, and its this big burger conspiracy.

 

Listen here kid. We've got places to go, there is one place on the way and it has a clown in the front and dollar cheeseburgers. You can have McDonalds or nothing, what's it gonna be?

 

Gabe digs in and declares that he will never eat there ever again. Ever. He said, and I quote "If I were lying in the bottom of a well, starving, and someone tossed me down a McDonalds cheeseburger I wouldn't eat it".

 

I can get where he's coming from. When you have a bad experience with something it makes you a bit reluctant to expose yourself to it again. I think its human nature. We do what we can to shield ourselves from hurt and pain and will do just about anything to protect ourselves.

 

But is that really the answer? Isn't there room to allow ourselves to readjust to get what it is that we need? We need to eat right? Just because one McDonalds made you sick doesn't mean that they will all make you sick. Just because you got in one car accident doesn't mean that all cars are bad.

 

There's a sermon in here somewhere. I'm not sure if you're getting it. Just because we've been hurt doesn't mean that we become a recluse that never opens up again. Yes I'm using the example of an unhealthy burger conglomerate but it applies in other areas of our life as well.

 

Is there someone or something that you've drawn away from because of a past hurt? Are you trying to protect yourself from being hurt? It doesn't work, all that happens is that you miss out on what you really need to help you grow or live. We all need food. We all need relationships. We all need to connect with God.

 

You may have been hurt, but don't let it ruin your life. Go get another cheeseburger at a different McDonalds. That's what Gabriel eventually did.

 

Blessings

pastor matt

 

 

 

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog

Do You Feel Like You Can't Change?

Someone once told me that a common theme in my preaching is change. They told me that when you listen to most of sermons, that the element of personal change comes into it quite a bit.

 

I tend to agree with them. I do talk about change alot. Why? Because I believe that we can and should change.

 

Let me explain.

 

I was a psychology major at Seattle Pacific University, and I learned that there has always been a debate on whether its our nature that determines who we are, or it is our nurturing that determines who we are. The argument is that we are either born a certain way, or we are raised a certain way.

 

For me, I think its a combination of both, but if I were to lean on one side of the argument more, it would be on the nurture side. Sure, there may be a few snippets of biological in there somewhere, but for the most part, I'm a 'nurture' guy.

 

What got me thinking about this? This article I read today- http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100806/sc_livescience/personalitysetforlifeby1stgradestudysuggests It says that the personality that we have when we're in the 1st grade carries on into adulthood. Apparently if you're a slack when you're 6 you're a slack your whole life.

 

I don't buy it. Not for a minute. Why? Because I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Holy Spirit can change anyone, anywhere, anytime. I've seen it.

 

I've seen angry frustrated people change into loving patient people. I've seen introverted self loathers become extroverted encouragers. I've seen a person who couldn't look someone in the eye get up and address a congregation.

 

People can change with God's help. If they couldn't, then why would the Bible say we could? Why would the Bible constantly challenge us to change the way we think, act, respond, and speak if it were not possible?

 

Here's the deal- you may think because of what someone told you that you are who you are and that is what it is. Don't believe it. Don't give in to it. Don't believe that just because some study says that you are the way that you are that you have to stay that way.

 

Today, you can start to become whoever you want to be. If you don't like part of your personality, change it. If you don't like something in your life, take it out. 

 

God created you with the ability to adapt and change, so do it. Just because people have always told you that you are a certain way doesn't mean you have to stay that way. You can be whoever you want.

 

Be blessed

pastor matt

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog

Are You This Word?

There is a word that has been in my head the last few days. I use it every once in a while and figured I had a pretty good handle on what it meant. I looked it up and realized that the definition is even more powerful than what I thought it meant.

 

Here it is- Exhibiting or feeling great or offensive satisfaction with oneself or with one's situation; self-righteously complacent.

 

Sounds like a powerful word doesn't it? Do you know what word I'm talking about? I'll tell you this- this word is not a word that you want people to use to describe you. Especially if you are a person who considers yourself a follower of Jesus.

 

Here's what I've noticed lately. There are a contingent of people whom I have met, and whom I know that are every sense of this word. It drips out of their pores and comes out of their mouth. You can smell it on their breath. They exude it. They live it. They are it.

 

This person is a person that in essence, looks down on other people and finds great satisfaction that they are somewhere that other people are not. They have arrived, you have not. They know it all, you do not. They have all they need, they don't care if you do.

 

The word? Smug.

 

That's right. Smug. Its a powerful word. Not one that I want people to use to describe me. Its a very descriptive word though. One that none of us should attain to have used to describe us. Why? Because a person who is smug has lost the capacity for compassion. They've distanced themselves from others in an attempt to feel better about their own condition and have found great satisfaction that they know or have something that others don't.

 

Don't ever become smug. Don't ever think that you're better than someone else. Don't think that as long as your comfortable that it doesn't matter if others aren't. God has called us all to be humble people who reach out to people, not isolate ourselves to feel better about ourselves. We are supposed to be loving people, and people who are loving.

 

God never intended us to be smug. In fact quite the opposite- he expects us to consider others better than ourselves- Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

 

I realize that one could argue that talking about not being smug, or challenging others not to be smug, may be a bit smuggy itself. This is not my intention- we shall work together to eradicate smuggyness from the planet. You and I together shall not be smug.

 

Chew on that today. Do you think you're better than others? You might be smug, and smug my friend is not a word you want others to use to describe you.

 

Have a blessed day.

matt

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog

Your Grandma was a Gorilla (pictures included)

I can assume that the bulk of people that read my blog agree somewhat with who I am and what I'm about- so I may be preaching to the choir here, but I want to make it clear how much I don't believe in the process of Evolution as the means by which we came into existence.

 

I did not desend from an ape- if that were the case, then why are there still apes?

 

I did not rise out of some pool of goo- because if I was born in goo I would have died when I got out of it.

 

I didn't trip and fall and suddenly grow legs- people have been swimming for years and we still dont have gills and webbed feet.

 

I don't buy the notion that I'm here by accident, that in some way that the Earth was formed from some explosion in the sky (with no explanation by that bang theorist where the matter came from, or how the bang occured),

 

I am no accident. I am not descended. I am not at the top of some ladder. I can't explain it all but I can explain this- beleiving that the human body, as complex as it is, happened by accident is the same as believing if I took all the parts of a watch and put them in a bag and shook it vigorously, that over time it would become a watch.

 

Why does this bother me? Because I think it minimizes our self value and even more minimizes the creative power of God. The thought goes, that if we weren't created by someone then we answer to no one but ourselves, which is not the case. God created us- therefore we are responsible to respond to His creative power in our lives. We can't deny it, we can't escape it, we must embrace it.

 

Where's all this coming from? I found this slick slideshow today and all I could think about was how awesome creation is, and how there are still so many people who don't believe in God.

 

Who would have thought that a dust mite could show God's power- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/picture-galleries/7924099/Creepy-crawlies-Amazing-Scanning-Electron-Microscope-pictures-of-insects-and-spiders.html look at these pictures! They are simply put- amazing in every sense of the word.

 

What is the nugget for the day? Have you forgot that it was God that created you? That He set in motion this wonderful world that we live on? Perhaps you should take a moment to thank Him. To glorify Him for the gift that He gave us- our life, and a life on this beautiful Earth. All of creation points to His glory- Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

 

Live it today. God created you. You are no accident.

 

Be blessed

matt

 

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog

When Reality Slaps You In The Face

The wife and I had the opportunity to go away for this past weekend. It was awesome. Our friends planned this weekend and had us all get sitters for our kids, and took us up to Orcas Island in the San Juans for a weekend of pampering. Our friends just wanted to have a great weekend away with friends. It was awesome.

 

Depending on your perspective, there is either a lot to do on Orcas, or absolutely nothing to do on Orcas. The place we were staying didn't have a television, or a computer, so we spent the evenings either sitting on the deck, or talking in the living room. One night we played pictionary (the guys won). But other than that, we went on a short hike one day, and a drive to the top of Mt. Constitution. The bulk of the weekend was spent sitting around fellowshipping, talking and relaxing. Next to no chores. No responsibility. No pressure. No email. No deadlines. It was great.

 

On Monday when we were all packing up and getting ready for the drive home, reality started to set in. You could almost feel the brains of the people in our SUV cranking out the list for the coming days. We're all professionals with jobs, lives and kids, so its only natural that after a few day hiatus that our minds would gravitate to what 'needs' to be done. To be honest, it kind of put a damper on my mood. It wasn't nearly as exciting driving back as it was driving there. Driving towards a weekend of fun and relaxation is invigorating. Driving back to reality is, well, an overwhelming sense of responsibility and order.

 

Here's the deal though- we can't live our lives in La-La land where there are no deadlines and no outcomes. The world simply does not work that way. No matter who you are and what you do, we are a people who were created to produce, not to loaf around. Sure, there are times in our lives that we are able to relax and shuck responsibility, but that's not what the normative experience of our lives should be. We should be people who work and get stuff done.

 

But here's the other part of this equation though- do we shove so much into our daily lives that we don't find the time to relax and unwind? Do we pack our days so tight, and our recreation so intense that the thought of sitting around doing nothing doesn't even enter our consciousness? Perhaps an exercise in doing nothing around our normal living conditions would invigorate us to accomplish more within our normal days and weeks.

 

God created us to work, but he also gives us the ability to recreate. Its necessary and a blessing to do so, but we have to organize our lives in such a way that we allow ourselves the time to do it. If we're packing and stacking every last bit of stuff into our 24 hours, we will miss out on the blessing of doing nothing and end far worse off than we expect.

 

You may not get the chance to get away- its rare for me, but maybe you can get away where you're at, by taking some stuff off your plate and relaxing a bit.

 

Be blessed

matt

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog