My Friend Got In a Car Wreck (pics included)

Have you ever been in a car wreck? Its a pretty harrowing experience. When you're in a car wreck, its scary, and can injure or kill you. Its not fun at all. I've only been in a couple of wrecks in my life. One when I was a child, and one last year. I remember both of them very vividly. They're scary.

My friend got in a car wreck a few weeks ago. He was coming home from church, and was waiting at an intersection when two cars smashed into each other, and came towards him. He was the first car at the front of the line, so when they were skidding towards him, there really wasn't anything that he could do but sit there and watch them come at him.

He braced and waited. And then the car collided with his.

The truck that had been hit by the other truck came skidding towards my friends truck, and hit him on the drivers side. It was pressed up against his drivers side door, so there was no way my friend to get out, except the other side.

When he Got out he was amazed to see the damage on the other cars, and how the car came to rest against his truck.

Here is pictures of the two cars that hit each other-






You can see that both of these trucks are smashed up a bit. Here's where it gets good. Look at where the other truck came to rest after it got smashed (my friends truck is the green one)






The red truck gets pulled away, and watch all the damage that happened to my friends truck.




Amazing. I probably wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it my self. On the fender picture you can see a little dent, but my friend thinks that may have even been there before.

Here's the deal- sometimes we don't realize it, but God watches out for us. Angels were watching over my friend and his son that day. it could have been so much worse, instead, its a powerful testimony of the goodness of God and his protection.

Walk in that protection today. Pray, God, please watch over me today as I drive and go about my business. Lord, watch over me as I work and rest. Amen.

He loves you. He watches out for you everyday.

Be blessed,
matt

Another Reason For People To Not Go To Church

Some people think church is outdated. A thing of that past that has lost its usefulness. To them its merely a place of social interaction and recreation, not a place of worship and fellowship.

I can understand why some people don't want to go to church. Usually its because of some bad experience with a leader, or a group of people. There has been a bunch of people who have ruined church for others because of their actions.

Here's another one to add to the list. You can read the article here. Its a bit interesting. Some guy in Wisconsin used a stun gun a male dance instructor repeatedly because "his church does not condone touching while dancing".

Nice. Chalk up another one for the weirdos of the world.

Here's the frustrating part. Church is a great place with a bunch of great people. Its an opportunity to connect with God and people. Its the heart of God. The church is one of the means by which God moves on this planet. It important. But when you have a bunch of weirdos out there doing stuff like this an then talking about church, I don't think it does a bunch for the PR of the church.

What I don't think that this stun gun guy realizes is that he is hurting, not helping his church. His actions are harming his church.

Now I realize that every person who reads this blog is not the church going type, and that's good, but let me say a few things about this. To the church types, and not church types.

1. This is not what you should expect at a normal church. We do not stun gun people.

2. If you go to a church, do not stun gun people. They will not come back.

There. I think that clears things up a bit.

The nugget for the day? Church or not, we need to be people that love people regardless of what they do. Dance instructor or not, we need to be people of love.

There is a self-righteous attitude that permeates many peoples lives that inhibits their ability to adequately love others. If they would start to love others, instead of attack them, both physically and emotionally, it would change lives.

Be loving today. Don't stun gun anyone.

Blessings
matt

A Great Communication Failure We All Do

I spend the better part of most of my time communicating with people. Its my job. Its what I do. I listen, talk, read, and write with people most of the day. What I also do, is notice people communicating. I'm a people watcher. You can learn alot about them, and yourself, by watching how they communicate.

In my view, most of people's relationship problems are centered around their lack of communication, or poor communication. Either people don't have the right tools, or they don't use the tools they have correctly.

Which brings me to a very small soap box on which I will stand today to talk about a miscommunication style that is both frustrating and unhelpful.

It's called- the "sigh".

People do it all the time. They are frustrated,upset, or angry, and instead of articulating that emotion to the person they are in relationship, they sigh. They let out a big breath of air in a way that is loud and attempts to convey some sort of emotion that they can't or wont articulate verbally.

Here's what happens- someone is upset with another person, and instead of saying, "Friend, I'd like to share with you my current frustration" they let out air like a tire going flat. This is poor communication. Good communication is sharing with someone what you are feeling in a way that is clear, not in a way that is shrouded in negative emotion.

Sighing leaves interpretation of emotion up to the person who is receiving it. It usually ends up in the person who is at the receiving end of the sigh misunderstanding the sigh, and continuing the cycle of miscommunication.

Here's the deal- if you sigh, no one knows what you are really feeling, so they can't respond to you correctly. If you're feeling an emotion- share it verbally in a constructive way, don't sigh and assume that people will know what you're feeling. If want people to identify with what you are feeling- tell them what you are feeling.

There. I said it. Lets try to sigh less and talk more. Be clearer in what we're feeling. When we do that, we will help our relationships, not harm them.

Be blessed
matt

Have You Ever Got A Speeding Ticket?

Okay. I may be jinxing my self on this one, but I don't believe in Jinxes, so I guess I'll be fine- I've never got a speeding ticket before. Actually never received a ticket for any violation ever. Crystal says its because I'm lucky, or that somehow I am able to get out of it with my verbal gymnastics. Whatever it is, I've never got one. Been pulled over before? Oh yes. Plenty of times, but a ticket? Thank God, no.

It gives me a certain sense of pride to know that I've never got a ticket. Have I ever sped? Of course I have. I would say its almost daily that I end up speeding. Do I set out to 'speed'? Not really, but if your city is anything like mine, the flow of traffic is such that the 60mph zone sometimes gets going 63 or 65, or the 35 goes 37 or whatever. Over the limit is speeding. You don't have to go 20 over to be breaking the law, that's why they call it the limit. You're not supposed to go over it.

I'm thankful I've never got a ticket. I hear they're expensive. I don't want one. There has been times when I've been on the freeway and seen the officer outside his car with the radar gun, and hoped he didn't get me, and I got by unscathed.

On the flip side, which I think is an interesting phenomenon is that I seem to get a wee bit of satisfaction from seeing other people pulled over. When you see a cop pulling over a speeder, or when I see a person on the side of the road, there is a bit of personal pride I get from seeing someone else 'get it'. Glad that they got caught and that they're going to get a ticket. They're speeding. They should get a ticket.

I realized this- I like to get away with something I like other people to get punished for. For me? Grace. For them? Judgement!

Hopefully you can see this biblical misapplication in my personal righteousness regarding Washington state traffic law. The same grace that I receive is not the same grace that I wish upon others.

I think that happens alot in other people's lives. When faced with mistakes or poor choices, people want to receive grace and mercy from others. When it is the other way around, and they are at the receiving end of someones mistakes or poor choices, they want to heap judgment and wrath upon them.

Another way to say it is that people don't want to give others the same measure of grace that they want for themselves. We want forgiveness. We want them to pay.

Its not right. I think that for us to be people that truly love. That truly want to help others and impact their lives that we should extend the same measure of grace to them that we would want measured against us. That's what Jesus said, so I think its a good idea.

Be blessed, and forgiving.

matt

Have You Ever Seen a 6'5" 250lb Man Roller Skating?

We went roller skating last night. It was "all city club" night for Young Life, so they had it at the Auburn Skate connection. I hadn't been roller skating in about 15 years, so when I found out that's what we were doing, I was a little excited.

When we got to the roller rink, it was like stepping back into time. I think every roller rink in America is probably a bit like this one. Old lockers, old video games, funky carpet, dated decor, and those wonderful brown leather rental skates with the orange wheels that have that distinct smell of 30 years of foot sweat. It was great hearing some Rod Stewart and Michael Jackson music.

My kids had never been skating before. We got them some skates, and laced them up and begrudgingly got them on the floor. Neither one of them wanted to do it. They wanted to have helmets and pads. They were afraid they were going to fall down. They thought they couldn't do it.

My son was the most defiant. He was absolutely convinced that he was going to die out there on the floor. He wanted no part of this roller skating thing. To him- it was the beginning of certain death and end of life as he knew it. He said he was going to sit on the side and just watch.

With a little bit of "coaxing" we got them out there on the floor. Well, technically, we got them to start holding the rail all the way around the floor with their skates on. There was apprehension, some frustration and some falling on the floor, but they made it once around that place in about 5 mins.

It was great watching those two trying something new for the first time. Trying to figure out their balance and how it worked. By the end of the night, my son was skating not holding the wall. It was rather inventive the way he started skating- I've never seen another human do it this way. He was squatted down (he said the closer he was to the floor the less distance he had to fall) and was pushing out with one leg to get him going. He did quite nice with this little technique.

What's the point? Last night I saw two kids try something new for the first time. Initially they were scared and thought they weren't going to be able to do it. By the end of the night, they had drastically improved and were on their way to getting proficient at it.

As I was watching them I couldn't help but think- most people fail because they never try. Or when they do try, if they are not immediately successful, they give up.

The Bible says in Galatians 6:9- Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Sure, that verse isn't about roller skating, but I think the principle still applies, and the principle is this- we receive the best things in life when we don't give up.

Don't give up today. Don't falter. Don't quit. You'll get better. It will get better. You'll be victorious.

Blessings
matt