Really?

It's hard to think that this is really a true story...

Sopapilla Cheesecake!

What Do You Think?

Here is a new song from Derek Webb. What do you think about it?



(I first saw this on Iggy's site)

The Best Moment of My Life So Far

I'm very thankful that I've been able to experience some wonderful events in my life. Being made a new creation by Christ, meeting my wife, getting married, having a family, and getting to do LIFe Ministries. There's more that would fit in this list but I'll just keep it to this for now...the list isn't the most important part anyway.

This past Sunday, I got to walk into a lake with my oldest daughter and baptize her! It was INDESCRIBABLE.



It was a special occasion for my family and me as we were with the church where Dani and I were involved during college, Brazos Meadows. Billy Edwards is the pastor there and has been a dear friend, devoted mentor, and member of the LIFe Ministries board since we began.

But the best moment was when I looked down at her and realized what we were doing...just trying to say to the crowd that she was doing this because she's exchanged her dead life for Christ's abundant life was more than I could push out. I'm not sure what all I ended up saying, but it wasn't much.

I finally just decided to dunk her. So I did. It is an amazing view point getting to look over her as she goes under and getting to hold her as she comes back up. It's just a beautiful experience that I'm so thankful to be have had this past Sunday.



It's really hard to express adequately all that I felt, and still feel about this event. Thank You, Jesus, for making my daughter a new creation in You and for the experienced blessing of getting to baptize her in Your Name.

Academic Earth

I found this really cool site called Academic Earth. You can watch lectures from professors at schools like Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, and more.

Check it out if you're interested in getting to virtually sit in on a class.

The website is www.academicearth.org

Don't Say It...

This past Friday, Charlie Hall and Phil Wickham played at Common Grounds in Waco. Dani, Debbie (my mother-in-law),Logan (my brother), and I went to the concert. It was AWESOME! I've like Charlie Hall for years, but this concert was so good. From start to finish, it was Jesus speaking through him. It was incredible. Spending a little more than an hour just listening to Truth is a wonderful experience.

Now, for the past three years I've tried contacting Charlie Hall every now and then to try to connect Living In Freedom with him to see if he would be open to partnering with us in any way...and really just to talk about life, ministry, and to hear more of his journey. I've attempted to contact him because the lyrics to his music most often spells out the exchanged life/Christ-life message.

After the concert, we were hanging out and I saw Charlie Hall walk by. So, I went over to him to meet him. As I went, my thoughts were:

"Don't say that you've e-mailed him several times. Just don't say it. Don't say that you've e-mailed him several times, etc."

When I finally make it over to him, I start off the conversation with:

"Hi, I'm Matt. I've e-mailed you several times."

Man, I can't believe I said that! I was shocked and I'm not really sure what I said after that. Everything was a bit off. Man, I totally felt like Michael Scott from The Office.

Bummer.

New Again

My mom sent me a link to this video so I thought I'd post it here too. Happy Easter!

Sound of Music Meets Techno

Eating Breakfast

Wow. No more biscuits??? No more Frosted Flakes? What??? :)

The Touch of Love

I hadn't heard of little Dani's story (not my wifey...a different Dani). The title of the article is "A Feral Child's Journey to Recovery." It's a difficult story to read.

However, if you're interested in checking it out, you can read the whole article here.

MommyDani78

I love my wife. I LOVE watching Jesus in her, live through her and radically change her life. The way He expresses Himself through her challenges, encourages, and spurs me on in my faith as well.

We've always connected spiritually. However, since Christmas, there has been a deeper connection in our spirits that we hadn't experience before. It's been really sweet. Not only has this connection between us been incredible to experience, but it has also greatly increased our feelings towards each other.

I can honestly say that I feel more in love with her and have stronger feelings for her than I've ever had...even when we were first dating. It is an incredible blessing to my soul to share life with her and experience our life in Jesus together.

She has a blog also...it's MUCH better than mine (and I'm not just saying that because she's my wife). :)

Her latest post in very moving and honest. If you have time, please read it...it will be worth it! You can find it here or just go to her blog here.

Free CD

If you liked the song on my previous post...you can download a new cd from him by signing up to receive updates from him. There is NO COST!

Just go to Phil Wickham's website. It's really easy and the cd is nice. It is a recording of a live concert he did in Oregon. Every song is just him, a guitar, and the people who came singing along with him. I'm enjoying it.

Beautiful

This is a great song by Phil Wickham, called "Beautiful."

My Caring Daughters

Tonight I had the worst headache that I've ever had. I'm not being dramatic here...it was bad. I spent the latter part of the afternoon, on into the evening, lying in bed. The pain was pretty intense and my meds didn't seem to touch it.

As Dani was getting the girls to bed, I made my way up to their room to hug and kiss them goodnight. A was praying as I walked in the room and when she finished, I sat down on her bed and she compassionately asked me how I was feeling and if my head still hurt. I told I was a little better and thanked her for asking.

I then walked over to S's bed and got next to her to give her a hug and kiss. She was lying with Dani looking at her when I got over to where they were. As soon as I was close to S's face, she looked over at me and said, "You ave a aideache and I ave a treat for you. You can sleep in ere with me!" (She followed this with a big smile).

How could I say no to that! A was a little concerned that I wouldn't get enough sleep if I slept in their room because they wake up so early. And she told S that, "If Daddy has a headache, he needs to sleep in."

That sounded good to me...but I think I'll pass on that this time. So tonight, my head still hurts a little, but I'll be sleeping on the floor in my girls' room...what a treat! My girls are pretty sweet to me. I love my family!!!

Baby Talk

So, I enjoy watching my girls grow up. The first 9 months are REALLY hard for me. I have such a hard time understanding what they need and meeting those needs patiently. I have realized my inadequacy in parenting the most during those first 9 months. I usually describe this time period as being in a tunnel with a really small light at the end...

That being said, due to the difficult nature of those months, I'm brought to the reality of the way we are created to parent...totally dependent on the Father who is patient, kind, good, just, perfect, unconditional, never-ceasing, and compassionate.

Now, my youngest is just over a year old (14 months). She's pretty cool too. She has, from birth, seemed to look for things to be happy about and tried to enjoy her little life up to this point. It's been fun bonding with her in unique ways, as it's been fun with my other two girls in their unique ways.

For all three, I've whispered a little saying to them as I lay them down to sleep when their still in their crib. Little L has responded differently than the other two.

I walk to her crib, holding her face close to mine, and I whisper, "Daddy loves you. Mommy loves you. Jesus loves you and He's always with you. He'll never leave you."

Just the other night she started doing this...and has done it each night since for the past week. When I start whispering, she kinda sits up and says, "shweshweshew, shweshweshew, shweshweshew." With that, she turns and leans for her pillow.

As much as I enjoy watching her grow up, I will miss when she stops "whispering" back to me. Maybe she won't...

I Am Second

My friend, Tim, posted a link on his facebook about this site yesterday. It's pretty sweet. Tim and I, along with the pastors from The Vista went to a church leadership conference in Dallas this past week, hosted by Bent Tree Bible Fellowship where Pete Briscoe is the lead pastor. His clip is pretty sweet. It's definitely worth taking the time to watch these videos.

My Dream House

Yep, this has to be the coolest house on earth.

First Dance

I found this to be rather moving. There is just something special seeing the connection between people.

Grace Giving vs. "Biblical Giving"

I'm half-way listening to some dude online talk to a group of students about the "Giving Revolution." He's discussing how he feels the Bible "compels us to give" and how it's different from those who say, "I give what the Lord leads me to give."

Wow.

The funny thing to me is that as I'm listening to him dissect what his views on giving are, it sounds like those who say, "I give what the Lord leads me to give" have a more biblical stance...because that statement would imply that their focus is on the Lord.

He spends a significant amount of time talking about how we just make up in our mind what we want to give and give it cheerfully.

Hhhmmm...

I think it sounds rather biblical to "fix our eyes on Jesus"...even in the giving department.

Ouch...he just said that the "act of giving increases our personal godliness."

Ok, I'm not going to write anymore about this. :)

Committing Sin vs. Believing Lies

A comment from my previous post is the basis for this post. So, what's the difference between committing a sin and believing a lie?

Believing lies are what lead us to committing sin. If we are in Christ (which means He is also in us) then the most natural thing for us is to do the things He does (because it's actually Him doing them through us). He is our life. He is our Source for life. He is our Source for living this life. That's the true reality for those who believe in Him.

However, most of us life as if there were a different truth. We live as if this life is up to us, that we have to live it on our own (or maybe with God's help). When we live thinking God expects us to live a certain way, then we are always under the pressure to choose correctly, live righteously, and be a good witness to those around us.

However, our righteousness only comes from God...who has made us in Christ the righteousness of God (1 Corintians something....it's late so I'm not looking it up right now). :)

Anyway, as we believe lies about who we are (i.e. that we're not righteous, that we're still sinners instead of saints who sometimes sin, that God isn't pleased with us, that we don't measure up, that we're not good enough, that we need to earn His favor, etc.) then we will act according to those lies.

For example, in the previous post, Haggard said that he was a loser. Believing that, he will act according to those thoughts. The truth, in Christ no one is a loser. No matter what we've done, we are secure in Christ and more than conquerors. Whether we experience that in our physical lives and in our souls is a diffferent issue.

Committing sin is acting on the lies we believe. If we are believing truth, we will live out truth, righteousness, and holiness. We will live this out because we will be surrendered to Christ, allowing Him to be our life (practically, in every moment, not just in our spirit).

The act of committing a sin is the by-product of a lie believed. May our lives be transformed by the renewing of our minds to His Truth. The Truth of who He is, who He is in us, and the new creation He makes all those who believe in Him.