Matt's Blog

Holy Discontent by Bill Hybels

1. God says to Moses and to you, “I’ve been looking high and low for someone exactly like you. If you will participate in my plan, then I will harness the internal firestorm that rages inside you and channel it into positive action.
2. I’m going to assign you to a specific role because I see that you are as stirred up on earth as I am in heaven about the issue. I can see what this is doing to you on the inside. I see in you a passion for your people. In your raw emotion, I see a man with a tremendous capacity for activism.—a man who refuses to idly sit by while his people are being mistreated. Your frustration can forge leadership mettle and fortitude in you, if you will let it.
3. What happens when we reach the point where we can’t stand any more?
4. God used the firestorm of frustration that he was brewing in Moses’ soul to launch this unlikely leader into a prominent role that resulted in the nation of Israel eventually inhabiting the promised land.
5. The motivating reason people choose to do good in the world is because there is something wrong in that world. In fact there is something so wrong they just can’t stand it. As a result they devote their lives, energies and money to making sure it gets fixed.
6. If it's broken, it needs fixing.
7. What wrecks the heart of someone who loves God is often the very thing God wants to use to fire them up to do something!
8. The most inspired, motivated, and driven people I know are the ones who live their lives from the energy of their holy discontent.
9. They refuse to stay fed up and instead get fueled up by their restless longing for the better day realities God says are coming soon. They listen to the soulish instinct inside them that says life doesn’t have to be the way that most people experience it.

This book was AWESOME! I have 50 more notes on this book i would LOVE to send you. Drop me an email and i'll give you the complete list.

Jim’s departure

A couple weeks ago Pastor Jim announced that God has led him to finish his seminary degree in Kentucky.  He will be leaving at the end of December.  The church will be having a Celebration time for the Voigts on December 2, 2007 from 9:30-11:00 am.  Be sure to tell Jim and Kim how God has used them to impact your life!

Because of Jim’s departure, the youth of SUMC will have a time of transition.  Please faithfully pray for God’s leadership as changes take place.  God is faithful and will continue to lead the SUMC Youth. 

Pray specifically for your current leaders Justin, Kelly, Drew, Kathy, Summer, Julianne, Angela, Trevor, Cooper, Daniel and Gayle.    

Here we go again!

School starts next week!  It will be a time of new beginnings.  How many of you have said, “This year I’m going to get straight A’s.  This year I’m going to turn in ALL my work on time.  This year I’m NOT going to get detentions.”  It’s almost like New Year’s Resolutions in August!  I firmly believe in setting realistic and attainable goals.  Just make sure that if you mess-up along the way, you don’t just “scrap” the whole goal and stop trying.  It has been said “Don’t measure me by how many times I fall.  Measure me by how many times I get up.”  Be sure to get up each time you fall.  And remember the words of King Leonidas “Never retreat, never surrender.”

Speaking of new beginnings:  If you see my bride JoEllen, please congratulate her on her pregnancy.  She is cooking our 4^th child due in March.

This is one of my favorite times of the year:  The Tour de France, a 2,000 mile bicycle race through France.  It features short sprints, enormous mountain climbs, but mostly 125 mile day-long rides.  The riders race 21 out of 23 days at the end of each July.  I started following this race about 10 years ago very casually.  Then, in 1999 I watched Lance Armstrong win his first of seven tours and I was hooked.  In part, it was Lance Armstrong’s work ethic and motivation from his book “It’s not about the Bike” that motivated me to lose over 70 pounds a few years ago.

More recently, the Kerners have motivated me to participate in a short triathlon.  We will all be participating in the first annual Republic Tiger Tri next month.  I have completed three previous triathlons with the longest being a ¾ mile swim, 20 mile bike and 5 mile run.  I know the discipline and training involved to prepare for an event like this and feel I am ready for the challenge and risks involved.  Last week I had my fist training crash.

I was riding my bike on an indoor trainer.  This is a contraption that attaches to the rear wheel elevating it slightly and providing some resistance so I can bike indoors.  I have it setup in my garage next to a small TV.  I was riding along about 15 mph watching the movie V for Vendetta (one of my favs) when I realized I was leaning slightly to the left.  I thought I could correct this by straightening out my front wheel.  So, I sharply turned my handlebars to the left.  In an instant I was HURTLING to the floor as my rear wheel had become dislodged form the trainer!  This wouldn’t have been a problem except for the fact that my shoes were clipped into my pedals!  I have SPD pedals that attach directly to the bottom of my shoes requiring a sharp twisting motion for separation.  This separation was not possible as I was heading to the floor!  Luckily, we have an elliptical machine right next to my bike and I was able to grab the handles of the elliptical INCHES before I hit the ground.    Now I have crashed many times (most involving wild turkeys on the bike trail) but I have NEVER crashed a stationary bike.  There I was, hanging on to an elliptical with all my might, straining to unclip from my bicycle which was now parallel with the ground and for the most part on top of me, and laughing.  Eventually I freed myself from the mess and literally said out loud “Did that just happen?” 

From now on, I will ALWAYS wear my helmet whether bicycling outside or indoors!

Last weekend I performed the funeral for one of my former students.  He was 21 and out celebrating the completion of his junior year at MSU.  The boat he was in hit the wake of another boat and Dustin was thrown overboard.   Alcohol played a major role in this tragedy.  As of today, he still has not been recovered.  However, his family proceeded with the funeral in an attempt to bring some closure.

Over 750 people came to the visitation on Friday and over 300 were at the funeral on Saturday.  Obviously, Dustin had formed a lot of relationships in his brief 21 years.  While relationships are wonderful things and bring joy to our lives, Dustin's death reinforced what the Bible teaches: that someday all these relationships will end.  At that point, only ONE relatioship will matter: a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Dustin's friends and family asked if I thought he was in Heaven.  Only Dustin and God know.  However, we have the opportunity to know for ourselves that when we die whether at 21 or 101, we can spend eternity with Christ.  Romans 10:9-10 make it clear what we must do if we want to go to Heaven: believe in Jesus (who He was and what He did) and confess that we need Him to run our lives.  Once we have done that, we are told to seek the things of God with all our might (Matthew 6:33 and Eclessiastes 9:10). 

If you have never believed or confessed or are struggling with seeking God first, please visit with me.  It doesn't matter if you are a middle schooler, high schooler, college student, young adult or adult.  I would love nothing more that to help you find God and pursue Him passionately.

In His service and yours,

MA