Live. Love. Dream.

Live fully.
Live intentionally.
Live righteously.

Love truly.
Love deeply.
Love freely.

Dream big.
Dream high.
Dream often.

Powerless

The power went out in my neighbourhood today for a few hours.
I came home in the dark, to a dark apartment.  And since there was no power, I simply (using my iPhone as night light) went to the washroom to pee, dropped off my stuff and went to cell.
I was thinking, briefly, about the scripture in the Bible where it says, "in our weakness he is strong," or in the NLT, "My power works best in weakness."  Paul then goes on to say how he rejoices in his weakness so that Christ's power can do it's thing.
I began to think of the parallel at work in the High Park area.  Here we are, here I am, and I have no power of my own.  I'm incapable of doing anything, really.  There's no power to do it with.  I'm completely devoid of it.  That was when I felt the Holy Spirit remind me of that passage.  I was totally at peace.  I knew that everything was going to be okay.  I mean, it's not like a power outage in Toronto is ever that big a deal, they don't generally last long, and I had to go out and have cell anyway, but I was just reminded of how God has all the power I need.  I have power, yes, but only through him.  HE is my power.  Without him, I'm powerless, hopeless.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed that.  Remember to enjoy your powerlessness and embrace his power (which becomes yours, yes, but you get the point).

As...

As a creation, made by God my Creator, I can't help but feel a little more like him when I'm doing something creative.

As a lover, in relationship with God who is Love, I can't help but feel a little more like him when I'm giving or getting love.

As an intellectual being, learning from God who is Truth, I can't help but feel a little more like him when I'm discovering something new.

As a man and a warrior, in service to God my Great Warrior and King, I can't help but feel a little more like him when I'm fighting for goodness and righteousness.

As a leader, under the authority of God my Leader, I can't help but feel a little more like him when I'm leading someone or something deeper into a life-changing, world-changing movement.

As a servant, in debt to God my (kind) Master, I can't help but feel a little more like him when I'm serving someone in their moment of need or greatness.

As a redeemed, righteous temple for Holy Spirit, the spirit of God, I can't help but feel a little more like him when I'm choosing righteousness over compromise.

As Matt Mitchell, the Matt Mitchell who is in and of and one with God, I can't help but feel a little more like him, when I'm becoming more and more the Matt Mitchell I'm made to be.

Genesis 1:27a - "So God created human beings in his own image." (NLT)

Esther 4:14b - "And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion" (AMP)

Acts 17:27-28 - "God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'" (NIV)

Ephesians 5:1 - "Imitate God therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children." (NLT)

Redemption

the harder the attack, the greater is the victory
the more devastating the loss, the better is the redemption
the dryer the desert, the more bountiful is the harvest
the deeper the persecution, the more beautiful is the reward
the darker the path, the brighter is the future
the tougher the season, the more joyous is the breakthrough
the more painful the death, the greater is the resurrection

Matt

The Law

I was on the bus today, thinking about how driving and how some people
just do stupid, sometimes illegal things. I thought about how one of
the typical "road ragey" driver lines for such an instance is,
"doesn't he know how to drive!? Doesn't he know the law!?"
It's funny how people understand why the government makes laws to help
protect us and keep us safe, to keep society on track, so to speak.
Than I thought about how God has done the same thing with laws for us
for life and yet people don't seem to get that.
It's interesting how people look at God's laws. I think people see
them as something to be obtained, as though the completion and
obedience of the law is the destination of life, the outcome. Again, I
wondered how people don't make the connection. The laws of the road
aren't our destination, they're guidelines to help us (everyone) get
to our destination. It's the same with God's laws. Obeying his
commandments isn't our goal as Christians or humans, obeying his
commandments is a tool to help us to get there successfully. The
destination is intimate relationship with him.
As Bobby Conner would say, "Ain't he good!"

Matt

As the season changes

Well, it's been a while since I last blogged. Lots has happened in a short amount of time, I suppose. I'll start with the biggest piece of Matt Mitchell news...

I've been wanting to move out for a while and started pursuing different options to see what I could do. A member of my family offered to give me first and last months' rent, which totally enabled me to move, so I just needed to find roommate(s) and a place that I could afford. It wasn't looking all that great, to be honest. I was looking in the Bloor West/High Park/Roncesvalles area and wasn't having much luck in finding something affordable that worked for me and the potential roomies. A friend of mine recommended another friend of mine (the awesome James Sangster) to me who was looking to move out at the same time. I contacted James and we saw a couple places, neither of which really had us. We decided to let them drop and not apply for them, believing God had better for us. Then we found a great place across from High Park for a deal we couldn't pass up. We loved it upon seeing it and decided to apply. All in all, we were signed and locked in in four days!

God is so good. He totally got a deal for me and James that worked for the both of us financially and otherwise. I'm so incredibly blessed and thankful to be living where I am, in this amazing apartment with an awesome man of God for a roommate. I love the neighbourhood. It has tonnes of great pubs, restaurants, coffee/tea shops, bakeries, fruit markets, and other great stuff. A lot of my friends are also in the area, and I love living near them and being a part of a community with them- a part of a community I want to build and grow and expand. I look forward to the next year or more living here and will certainly have lots more to blog about over that time. I'm looking forward to meeting my neighbours and telling them about what I do and who I am and about how awesome Jesus is. I'm looking forward to learning to cook new things for myself and organize my life and finances further. I'm looking forward to growing in relationship with James as a roommate and friend. I'm looking forward to having people over and learning about being a good host. I'm looking forward to using this place as a medium make people feel welcome and loved. I'm looking forward to the ways that God is going to stretch and grow me as a person providing for himself. I'm looking forward to experiencing a whole new stage of life, basically, and God is totally awesome in helping me through all this.

Speaking of new life stages, with the sudden change in weather, I'm reminded of how everything is different from one season to another. It's much like this with life (Mark and Beth Hardy preached an AWESOME last message on this kind of thing at TACF North York on Sunday). It's so very different living away from home than it was with my family. It feels amazing. I'm so thankful to God for this change of season in my life, because He's doing amazing things in my heart and is totally showing me his goodness in this season and I feel happier than I have in a long time. Through this and other things he's done and is doing, He's really done a lot in my heart. He's really put to rest a lot of my fear and doubt and frustration and anger and sadness. He's really showed me that he does still love me and want to help me out. And He's put a new spark of love in my heart.
Sure, it's tighter financially. Moving costs money and I don't have as much pocket money as I used to, but God is teaching me wisdom with my money, and I'm doing my part to walk that wisdom out. Part of this move is based in faith, so I'm really excited to see how God opens doors and shows me his providence and favour as I've stepped into a new time in my life that he's called me to.

People keep asking me how I'm doing, and I just can't help but answer, "Excellent! Really excellent!"

Thank you so much Jesus for the shower of blessings you've poured on me!

And thanks to all of you who were praying for me when I was looking for a place and calling out to God to come and show me his goodness and move in a big way in my life. He's definitely come through with more than I could've asked for.

Anyway, I'm off for now.

Cheers!

Matt

"Heart Knowledge"

We use a lot of buzzwords around the church, especially at TACF. It's not a bad thing, it's just funny how many there are. One of the phrases we use is "knowing something in your heart." This is different from knowing something in your head. Here's how:

You can know something in your head, but not live a life that shows that you believe that is true. You can know it in your head, but have no real depth of understanding in it. You can know it in your head, but have no feeling of certainty in your heart. Does this make sense? Do you get me here? (most of you probably will, as you've probably heard it before.)

Recently, a lot of things that used to be heart knowledge seemed to have been shaken in their place and are now sitting in the "head knowledge" realm. It's been really unsettling. I went through a few weeks where I was progressively struggling more and more with simple beliefs and feelings and truths that gave me much strength and comfort. This started to cause a lot of trouble in my relationship with God. I don't know if these things were being shaken so that they can be resettled with more conviction, more truth, more revelation. I'm not sure. I'm still kind of trying to get them back there. Truth be told, even though things are starting to feel better, I'm still not quite sure of these things that have been losing hold. I'm not quite sure I even remember the process of translating knowledge from head to heart. I've forgotten how that twelve-ish inch journey is made. I think, for things having to do with God, it requires the Holy Spirit. Maybe I need more of Holy Spirit?

It's scary when all of the sudden God's love is just a piece of knowledge and not a place in your heart. It's scary when your identity in him is suddenly a matter of fact and not a matter of confidence. It's really hard when his goodness is an idea and not a comfort. When you feel abandoned and lonely and separated from his presence, his voice, his heart, his love, what do you do? It's even harder when you feel like you don't have people to turn to. And at this point, even the people you do have to turn to seem far away, and your views of God and yourself and your friends are all skewed by the turmoil of your heart.

What's one to do? I guess you just have to truck through. I don't know how to give up on God. I know how it feels to want to, but I don't know how to actually do it. To abandon him completely doesn't seem like something I can wrap my heard around.

I'm still waiting for a lot of this to settle again, it all still seems in transit somewhere. Lost, fragmented, and hurt. But even if in my heart I don't feel it, something in me, even if it's just head knowledge, knows he's good and he loves me. Let's see how God uses that to build my heart.

How about you? Do you know how this feels? Has God been shaking your heart knowledge? Or maybe your head knowledge? Or maybe even everything you know?

Mosquito Bites

I was at a cottage this weekend past relaxing with family and just chilling and got a few mosquito bites. And you know, I realized something...

God put Mosquitoes on Earth to teach us about temptation and sin. I'm just sure of it.

Here's why...

Let's say that the mosquito is like the devil. Him trying to bite you, or biting you, is temptation, and that scratching that itchy bug bite is sin.

Let's work backwards.

You know how when you get a mosquito bite, you feel it and you see it and then you feel that itch? What then happens? You scratch it. Why? Because it feels... good! YES! It feels so good!

But what happens when you start scratching that pesky mosquito puncture? You want to scratch it more! And so you do. You keep scratching until it's this big red blotch on you and it's driving you crazy. The only reason you stop scratching is it because you remind yourself that if you continue scratching, you'll eventually scratch the skin off.

I think this is kind of like temptation and sin. You're tempted to scratch that little mosquito bite because something in your flesh is like "oooh, it's bugging me (no pun intended) and it will feel sooooo good! I'll just scratch it a little bit." Then, this little, mostly hidden mosquito bite you started scratching just a little bit, is this giant welt of a thing that's the size of a toonie. You suddenly have this giant red spot on you that drives you crazy. You can't stop thinking about how irritated and itchy it is, and if you don't put something on it (I recommend Aloe Vera lotion or Afterbite), you will scratch so long and so hard that you'll make yourself bleed.

Sin does this. You start by just doing it a little, "it won't hurt anyone," you say, and you just like "try it out" or something. Then, you realize how good sin feels to your flesh, and you keep going. You "just can't help it."

And then you get to the point when you look down (on your hand or your foot, let's say. STUPID foot bites!) and you see the mess you've created for yourself. All the sudden you have this giant, throbbing, red sore mass on you that people can see and tell that you've been scratching. All the sudden, what was a hidden guilty pleasure is this ugly, obvious spot on you that drives you crazy. How many times have we seen this happen in people's lives? If only if I'd put something on it and stopped myself from scratching it, it would've gone away in hurry! (the mosquito bite, that is) If only I'd been more diligent to protect myself from getting bitten by that mosquito in the first place!

You see, it all makes sense, doesn't it? Mosquitoes are here on earth to teach us to be careful about giving into temptation and falling into sin. It's not the temptation that's the sin. You can't always help being tempted (you can do things to put yourself in tempting situations though, and do things to help you not be tempted), but you can ask God for strength and help to fight off that temptation and keep away from falling into the trap of continually scratching and scratching and being stuck in that habit.

Think about it...

True Community Two

NOTE: I've just re-read this blog, and it's really just a more intense, in-depth, slightly more emotional version of my last blog on community. Pardon this, the only reason of this is, though my views on the topic have not changed, my frustration has increased. Anyway, if you would still like to read this, go ahead, and please comment, but you've heard it before. :-)

I've been toying with the idea of a follow up on my last blog on my thoughts on "true community", and have made the decision to do it today. It's a bit of a tricky thing for me to blog about, because I have strong feelings and beliefs on the topic, and those feelings could be challenging for some, or many. But, since it is something I'm so passionate about, and since the last one went over so well, I'll continue with this sequel.

I think our society, our culture, our routines, whatever you want to call them, here (in Toronto/the urban Western World) are (becoming more and more) anti-community and relationship. It seems to me that the life of an individual or couple or family seems to have a lot of focus on activity and being busy and "making your way in way", and as this pattern progresses, there is less and less time and focus for relationship and community.

I recently figured out that most of the "community" I experience, and most of my friendships (the vast majority, actually) are dependent on happenstance or common commitments/places of regular attendance. Things like church, work, and small group seem to be the "glue" of commitment in all but a small few of my relationships.
I used to be really good at being the glue. I used to make regular phone calls to probably about a dozen people. I'd call and/or email, text message, and facebook probably somewhere from twice a month to weekly, depending on the person. The return on these communications from people, most of whom those I was/am close, to, was quite low. Sometimes it would be a couple months before hearing back from them.
I stopped trying. I had to make the decision that I can't put in the effort for both sides of the relationship, it's just too hard on the heart.
Now, I'm not trying to accumulate pity points or shine a light in your face or make you feel guilty or anything of the sort. I'm over it, people aren't that great at relationship. We live in a fallen world with hurt and imperfect people, and not everyone sees relationship the same way I do.

Why am I going on and on with this then? Let me get back to my original point.

I believe that true community keeps itself going by the sustaining effort, spontaneity, and commitment from its members. You can live in a community and never take part in any activities; never go over to anyone's house for coffee; never go to any barbeques or pool parties; never go to church together; never help someone move house; never help someone take care of their kids or their chores; never really have any meaningful or relational time with anyone at all for, as far as I can think of, the following reasons:

It could be that you are invited, and these things are all happening, but you're just not able or interested to.

or

If the other people in your community are doing those things with each other out of their own love and commitment to one another, and you're never invited because they're comfortable with what they've got going and don't care for opening up to anyone new, than you have a clique.

or

Maybe you're never invited to any of these things because no one does them, because everyone's just looking after themselves. I think if that's the case, then you really don't have a true community at all. You just have a group of people living in the same building/area. Perhaps you build some relationship with the people in your community during regular activities put on by the landlord of your apartment, and you attend meetings for attendees, and see people in the elevator and say hello and goodbye there because you leave the house at the same time every morning.
You could move to another area of the city, and probably never hear from anyone in that old community again.


I kind of feel like I'm in that last one. I feel like if I worked somewhere else and stopped attending my church, TACF, that I'd never hear from about 90% of all my friends, and probably a good three quarters of my closer friends. (TACF is a great church, by the way. No church is perfect, but this one is awesome.)

I mean, to be honest, I moved to TACF a couple years ago, and after I did, I almost never heard from the people from my old church, and I still pretty much never do. And to continue in honesty, I've stopped missing them. I had to. To continue to give a place in my heart to people who seem to have no interest in continuing to have relationship with me is just too hard, it's not healthy.

It seems if relationship isn't convenient, it's not happening. If it comes at a cost of time and effort and reciprocity and spontaneity and giving of yourself outside of happenstances, it's not worth it, and dare I say, it seems we're okay with that. Sure, people say how much they love community, but I think that people love it in theory; they love the concept of it. Actually making it happen, the attitude seems to be "that's a bit too hard thanks, I'll stick with my happenstance-style community."

I wonder if the people in Acts 2 had chosen this mentality if they would have continued to follow the disciples teachings and bring people into the Kingdom of God daily. I wonder how we can expect to do that if we continue on this way.


Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this entry.

Cheers!

-Matt

Gospel Music

You know, I love gospel music.

I'm sitting here at work (don't tell anybody I'm blogging at work) listening to gospel music as I do mindless data entry and am just enjoying myself. I'm dancing in my chair and feeling good.

I think I want to join a gospel choir. Every gospel choir needs a white boy right?

Good ol' gospel!

One Man, One Blog

So,

I've decided to merge my "life blog" and my "devotional blog".

I am not Matt the Christian, and Matt the person. I'm Matt the Christian person. God is in all of my life, so why separate the God stuff from everything else?

I've imported all of my old devotional blogs to this one and set the devotion blog to forward here.

Expect many more musing from the mind of Matt to come.

God is always up to something!

Cheers!

Matt

True Community

I believe that true community is the integration of others into your every day life.

I think it means making people a real part of your journey on this earth. It's not just in the big things, like long talks, sharing burdens, helping each other out at our lowest, and partying at our best. It's eating dinner together, going out for lunch together, hanging out and watching TV together, doing chores together, sharing your hobbies with each other. Things like that.

I think that true community is making an effort, and being somewhat spontaneous, not just seeing each other at meetings and gatherings. If the only community we have with each other is church and/or cell, and we don't make an effort to integrate one another into the day-to-day, we're really just two people who happen to like to chat at a meeting we both happen to attend.

I know a bunch of people who really love community, and love to talk about community, but I don't really see the evidence of this true (and Biblical) community in their lives. It's these same people who always talk about community, but don't seem to have it in their schedule.

Community comes at a price, you see. It comes at the price of giving up your time and resources, and essentially, a part of your life, to others. It requires sacrifice at times, especially at those times when certain members seem to be more at need.

I've been thinking on the topic of loneliness recently, and on the topic of community.

I think that in a true community, people don't feel lonely and separated from the others (all unGodly beliefs, etc. aside).

This is the kind community I want to be a part of. I hope you do too.

Acts 2:42-47 is a great example of a true community, one that seemed to mean that people integrated one another into their lives daily and it seems that that community of love and fellowship seemed to thrive (as God was adding to their numbers daily). Now, I think that due to culture and other factors, daily community is a bit much for us here in the Western world. That being said, I think we use our busyness as an excuse. I know I have. And though I want to be a part of a thriving, loving, inclusive and pervasive community, I can't do it alone. Anyone out there wanting to help a brother out?

Just some thoughts from the heart and head of Matt Mitchell here. These are just my opinions based on observations in my own life, and my thoughts on what the Bible has to say on it. Let me know what you think eh.

Truth

I'd just like to say one simple thing that I believe.

"Nothing should be preached from a pulpit with the same conviction and tone of truth as Biblical truth."

It's my belief, observation, whatever, that we as Christians are in the habit of preaching our local church culture, policy, experience, and opinion (with Biblical basis of different degrees being regardless) with the same conviction and tone as we do direct Biblical truth. I don't think that's good.

Feel free to tell me what you think on this...

Stop whining

God doesn't want us to complain, he wants us to contend.

-Matt Mitchell

I'm a hugger, what can I say?

So, I'm watching one of my favourite tv shows, Scrubs, and on Scrubs, they tend to make extreme and quirky one-time characters. On the episode of Scrubs I just watched, the quirky character is "Jimmy the overly touchy resident". Jimmy tends to come up behind people and give 'em a hug of squeeze or feel of the sort.
I have to admit, this quirky, crazy, touchy-feely guy reminds me much of myself. I express myself physically to people I love, what can I say? I love a good hug! I'm not a really conservative or reserved person, so I have no problems with hugs and such, and I think that's good!
I'm a hugger, what can I say?

"Brothers don't shake hands! Brothers hug!" -from the movie "Tommy Boy"

Matt

Objects of Affection for the Spending of my Time

I love spending time with...

God
Friends, close and acquantance
My guitar
My family
Music
Books

Matt