Kick it hard, but don't use your hands!

Some of you may have heard- I have signed up to be a soccer coach for my 8 year old daughters team. 

She has never played soccer, and neither have I, so this experience is going to be rather interesting. To tell you the truth, I am a little nervous. 

I am going to have 9 little players who are going to be depending on me to teach them the basics and lead them to victory. I could honestly have an Olympic hopeful on my team and one day they could be standing at some podium and say something like "I owe the foundation of my excellence to my first coach, Coach Matt" or "I never thought I could achieve heights such as this when I started with the worst coach I had in my career when I was 8 years old". 

This is serious business here. 

But there is part of my plan for success that I am going to share with you, that I think applies to other areas of your life that may encourage you. Here it is-

1. Find Someone Better.

No, I'm not saying the team needs a better coach, but already I am contacting and talking to other coaches that have done this before who can guide me. I know that my chances for success are that much better if I ask for help from someone who knows more than I do. 

2. Read something.

Books- they have existed for a long time and still contain valuable knowledge to teach us things. I am reading books about soccer and ingesting as much information about it as I can. I heard a phrase one time- "Leaders are Readers". Text is a great way to learn. 

3. Set Realistic Goals.

Initially, I was thinking about going for the youth soccer world cup, but then I came to my senses and figured I would settle on everyone learning something, and everyone having a good time. Winning is fun, but playing is fun too. Sometimes we set our expectations so high that we don't enjoy the moment. 

4. Be Committed

I know before I start that at some point I am going to want to quit. It will probably be about half way through the season when it is cold and rainy and things aren't going as well as I expected. But now, before I start, I am committed to seeing this to the end, no matter what. 

Now, this is for my soccer team, but I am sure that there is some area of your life that you can apply this to also. 

Set a spiritual, emotional, physical or financial goal today and stick to it. Realize that God wants to help you through the process, that there is something you can learn and that you'll be better on the other side because of it. 

Be blessed. 

pastor matt

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog

Excuse Me, Is that a Cat on your Shoulder?

I do not believe that you need to live your life to please other people. That is a fruitless exercise. You cannot please everyone, that is obvious. 

But there is a component of living this life that we have to interact with our fellow humans. Through that, inevitably others will form opinions of us based on what we wear, what we say, how we act, and how we speak. 

What we do conveys what we are about. 

I was thinking about this yesterday when I was sitting in a fast-food restaurant watching a young lady holding her cat. 

That's right. She was sitting there, having lunch, trying to keep her cat from crawling all over the place. 

I'm not going to go into great detail about what she looked like, but from where I was sitting, and what she was wearing, and what she was doing, I got this sense that she was somewhat rebellious. This wasn't a kitten. It was a full grown black cat that she was walking with around her neck. 

Cats are okay to use as clothing if they are alive nowadays I guess.

Dead cat pelt around neck = bad. Live cat around neck = good. 

Whatever. 

Here's what I'm saying- and this is from the pastor who wore a Seattle Seahawks jersey as his uniform for the day yesterday- if we have something about us that becomes a focal point of our life that everyone looks at, it defines who we are to them. 

The guy who wears all camouflage all the time is probably a hunter. The guy wearing the full body spandex suit is probably a bicyclist. The person who constantly talks about politics is probably into politics. You get the picture. What they are doing, or what they talk about all the time begins to define who they are. 

They are now known as "the hunter" the "bicyclist" or the "politically charged guy". 

Or "the lady with the black cat around the neck". 

All that stuff is well and good and fine and all that but here is my issue- is that what those people want to be known for? Is that what they want to be remembered for and be identified with?

In your life, is there something that you are allowing to dominate your persona? 

Step back, and think- how would most people describe me? By what am I known?

Here's the best part- you can be known by what you choose to identify with and what you choose to identify with will define who you are. 

Decide today what you want to be known by and live it out.

Even if its a 'lady with a cat around your neck'.

be blessed

pastor matt 

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog

I Got Hosed At The BK Drive Thru

I don't know what it is, but somehow, my kids know how to soak me for a few buck every chance they get. It is always a dollar here and a dollar there. Buy me this and buy me that. Those little trouts need to get a job I tell ya. 

So last night the kids coaxed me into getting them a "slurpee" (which is code for any slush type drink). They said that they wanted to go through the drive through at Burger King, rather than have to walk into the AM/PM and get the drinks that way. 

I was all for it. The Icees at BK are only a buck. The drinks at AM/PM are twice that. 

Except deep down in my heart I knew that the ulterior motive behind my children's culinary choice was that they would have the opportunity to up sell their dad to getting more off the menu then they bargained for. 

I'm no dummy. I know the trick. Its the "Dad I'm so hungry I haven't eaten in weeks I'm going to die" ploy. Or they "don't you love me enough to get me just one small thing off the dollar menu" ploy. I'm a softie. I always give in. 

Now I'm hoping you can follow this, and hopefully you can- We get to the window, and I tell the kids that they get the one dollar drink and they each get one item off the dollar menu. That would bring the bill to about 4 bucks. 

At the order microphone, I ordered 2 Icees, a BK single stacker and a Small fry. The total on the screen is over 7 dollars- the screen flashed so fast that if I hadn't seen it, I would have missed it, but they gave me a double stacker ($2) vs a single stacker ($1) so I said, I only wanted a single stacker, not a double, so she says she will have my new order total at the window. 

We get to the window, I give her the debit card (crystal and I were in conversation at this point- also the kids are loving each other so loudly that it is distracting) so I am not really listening- I just pay and we go.  Enroute Gabe exclaims "We got an extra burger" which turned into "Isn't it wrong to keep this if we didn't pay for it Dad?"

Crystal checks the receipt. We paid for 2 burgers 2 Icees and a small fry. The total was over 6 dollars. 

What? How the sam hill did that happen? I'll tell you how it happened- either I wasn't clear enough, or they didn't hear well enough- the order change on the burgers was wrong and here's the kicker and the point of this blog- apparently when you ask for a 'small fry' you don't get the smallest order of fries that they have to offer. You get the order of 'small fries' that costs 1.79. If you want the smallest fries that they offer you must have to ask for the "BK Value Fries" which are 1.29. 

I got hosed for an extra 1.50 at least. I'm sure of it. 

But as we were driving away, I was thinking- that's kind of like our prayers. We are not clear. We don't listen. We don't ask for specifics. How can we expect God to bless something that we are not asking specifically for? Shouldn't our prayers be specific?

We ask God to 'bless us' but then we don't let him know what area specifically we want the blessing or in what way. God wants to bless us, but we need to let Him know specifics. Sure, he may in his wisdom choose something else for us, but at least from our end we will be clear. If there is something you need or want, make sure you're being clear. 

Are you praying specific prayers? Are you letting God know exactly what you need? Be as specific as possible and see what God can do with that prayer. You will see that your prayers will get answered in a different way than before. 

Trust me and trust God on this one. Get specific. You might be missing out on $1.50 more of blessings. 

Be blessed

pastor matt

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog

The Blog Is BACK

I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes. It takes a while for me to 'get something' that God is trying to speak to me. Often, I am either not listening, or not paying attention (sounds like High School) to what He is trying to say, or I am choosing to not listen. 

I haven't written the blog in about 7 weeks. I know. I've been a slacker. 

A few weeks ago, I was in Pasco, Washington, and was at a family friends house. I met this lady who introduced herself and said "Hey, where has the blog been?". 

What? Someone other than my mom reads the blog?

About a week ago a new couple came to visit our church on a Wednesday night they told me that that had been reading my blog and decided to come to church, but hadn't seen in it a while so they decided to come to church and see if I was still alive. 

Yesterday my friend Chris put me on blast on Facebook and encouraged me to get back at it. 

I think I'm getting the point. I'm going to get back to the blog. 

Laying in bed this morning, I was thinking about what my blog return was going to be. Should it be epic? Should I quote a bunch of scripture? Include a picture? Lots has happened in the past weeks, but one theme kept coming in my head. This theme was directed towards me, but I'm sure in your life, it applies also-

The little things you do matter. 

I'm no superhero. I have been known to give into self-defeating self-depreciating self loathing thoughts. When that happens, I beat my self up and think that the little things I do don't matter. I begin to think that they are fruitless and pointless. I believe the lie that the little things have no value, when the truth is that they do matter.

The little things matter in my life and they matter in yours too. I'm sure of it. 

God can strategically use your personality and your connections to bless someone else's life. The trick is that you actually have to do it. You have to talk to those people at work that you pass by every day. You have to encourage that neighbor who doesn't have any close family. You have call that person that has been on your mind. You have to write the blog Matt. 

Don't fall into the trap of believing that what you do in other people's lives doesn't matter. It matters a lot. 

Live that out today. Find someone to encourage and someone to bless. Don't worry about if they will receive it or not. Just be obedient to who God wants you to be and you will find that you will be blessed in the process. Think about something that you used to do that you thought was fruitless and start doing it again. 

The little stuff you do matters. I'm sure of it. 

Be blessed. 

I've missed you

pastor matt

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog

Blog Block

Sorry about the lack of a blog this week- I've had blog block. 

Read your Bible. 

be blessed

pastor matt

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog