I just filled up my car (it was BELOW the empty line) for $30! That is great compared to the $50 it cost us to fill up this summer in Glenwood. :) The average price around here is around $2.35, I think - but we found a station last week for $2.19! I'm glad the prices have been going down... I just hope they stay that way!
I DO have some pictures and stories from all of our concerts but I haven't gotten around to sorting through pictures yet. I will try to get those up sometime this week.
***EDIT*** I saw a station today with gas for $2.14/gallon!!!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
True Discipleship
In Mark 12:41-44, we are told the story of the poor widow offering everything she had to give. Jesus praises her actions saying that she had given more than the rich people who gave out of their wealth. But isn’t she offering her money in the temple? In Mark 11 we read the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree and cleansing the temple. This widow is giving her money to a failed institution. Why is Jesus commending her for what she is doing?
In Mark 14:3-9, we are told the story of a poor woman who breaks an expensive ointment and anoints Jesus. It seems like such a waste. I can understand the people’s response; I probably would have responded the same way. She could have very well taken this perfume, sold it for pretty good money, and given that money to those in need. I remember being told, “...whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mtt. 25:40).
The importance in these two stories is not what the women are giving, and it’s certainly not where they are giving it. The greatest importance is that they are giving to the Lord. Even further than this, they are giving everything they have, their greatest offering, to God. Women are going to love this, and the “women have their place and it’s not in leadership” folks may not want to read the following: These two poor women are showing the nature of true discipleship against a world where the men are showing treachery. The widow offering her entire living leads to the woman offering her best which leads to Jesus offering his entire self for the world.
The anointing of Jesus holds even more significance. In the time of Jesus, before taking the throne, kings were anointed. In addition, when a person would die, the body would go through a ceremonial anointing or treatment. Before becoming king in his death, Jesus is anointed by a poor woman in the home of a leper. We are led to the greatest sacrifice ever given, Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, among the despised, among the poor, in the house of an outcast, a leper.
With this we must ask, are we living true discipleship? Are we leading others in our serving just as these poor women did? May we give our entire life to the one who gives us life, to the one who gave his very life for us.
-Matt
In Mark 14:3-9, we are told the story of a poor woman who breaks an expensive ointment and anoints Jesus. It seems like such a waste. I can understand the people’s response; I probably would have responded the same way. She could have very well taken this perfume, sold it for pretty good money, and given that money to those in need. I remember being told, “...whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mtt. 25:40).
The importance in these two stories is not what the women are giving, and it’s certainly not where they are giving it. The greatest importance is that they are giving to the Lord. Even further than this, they are giving everything they have, their greatest offering, to God. Women are going to love this, and the “women have their place and it’s not in leadership” folks may not want to read the following: These two poor women are showing the nature of true discipleship against a world where the men are showing treachery. The widow offering her entire living leads to the woman offering her best which leads to Jesus offering his entire self for the world.
The anointing of Jesus holds even more significance. In the time of Jesus, before taking the throne, kings were anointed. In addition, when a person would die, the body would go through a ceremonial anointing or treatment. Before becoming king in his death, Jesus is anointed by a poor woman in the home of a leper. We are led to the greatest sacrifice ever given, Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, among the despised, among the poor, in the house of an outcast, a leper.
With this we must ask, are we living true discipleship? Are we leading others in our serving just as these poor women did? May we give our entire life to the one who gives us life, to the one who gave his very life for us.
-Matt
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
A Child's Trust
In Mark 11:11-25, Jesus gives sight to Bartimaeus, the last healing mentioned in Mark before entering Jerusalem. When Bartimaeus finds out this is Jesus, he cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” In crying out these simple words, people rebuked him and told him to be quiet. This only made him cry out even more. Once again, when the people want nothing to do with this man, Jesus takes him in and asks what he wants him to do. Bartimaeus replies, “Master, let me receive my sight.” With these words, it was done. Jesus, however, does not claim this victory for himself; he tells the man that his faith has made him well.
Later, Jesus will tell the disciples that faith can move mountains. I think about this and I wonder, “How strong is my faith?” Here is a blind man who sees nothing, only hears what has been said and done, but he has a greater faith than I can imagine. I have clear sight, at least with my glasses. I can look around me and see God’s creation just as the disciples could do, but, just like the disciples, I’m not sure I understand this kind of faith. Hebrews says that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. I always thought I could claim this, but do I really believe this idea that faith can save us and make us well? I have heard this story many times, but maybe I’ve only heard it with my ears and not with my heart.
Jesus has also told his disciples to accept the kingdom like a child. Imagine a child’s simple trust for their parent. Anytime anything goes wrong, the child runs to the parent knowing that they will take care of them. Here, Bartimaeus shows this simple trust. With this simple, child-like trust, he shows great faith. He runs into his Father's arms knowing all will be well. He sees Jesus’ mission in its truest sense, his eyes are opened, and he follows him.
In hard times, in times of misunderstanding, and in times of little faith we should remember the trust of a child, trust in its simplest yet greatest form. We should run to Jesus and cry out, “Have mercy on me; let me receive my sight,” and it will be done.
--Matt
Later, Jesus will tell the disciples that faith can move mountains. I think about this and I wonder, “How strong is my faith?” Here is a blind man who sees nothing, only hears what has been said and done, but he has a greater faith than I can imagine. I have clear sight, at least with my glasses. I can look around me and see God’s creation just as the disciples could do, but, just like the disciples, I’m not sure I understand this kind of faith. Hebrews says that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. I always thought I could claim this, but do I really believe this idea that faith can save us and make us well? I have heard this story many times, but maybe I’ve only heard it with my ears and not with my heart.
Jesus has also told his disciples to accept the kingdom like a child. Imagine a child’s simple trust for their parent. Anytime anything goes wrong, the child runs to the parent knowing that they will take care of them. Here, Bartimaeus shows this simple trust. With this simple, child-like trust, he shows great faith. He runs into his Father's arms knowing all will be well. He sees Jesus’ mission in its truest sense, his eyes are opened, and he follows him.
In hard times, in times of misunderstanding, and in times of little faith we should remember the trust of a child, trust in its simplest yet greatest form. We should run to Jesus and cry out, “Have mercy on me; let me receive my sight,” and it will be done.
--Matt
Monday, October 20, 2008
HELP - lunches!
I looked through my bank account today and realized that Matt and I have been spending WAY too much money on FOOD! We were real good for a while and made our lunches nearly every day. Sandwiches get old in a hurry and we have slowly gotten into the slump of just swinging through McDonalds or Subway to pick up some lunch. SO what I need are some ideas for lunches! Obviously, it has to be something that we can pack and have for a few hours before we eat it. Even things as simple as making a sandwich with rolls or crescents or wrapping up meat and cheese in a tortilla - ANYTHING! Just not the same 'ol white bread with meat and cheese. Help us out! :)
San Antonio
This weekend Matt and I drove to San Antonio for a few different things. It is only a little over an hour from Austin so it was a real easy trip. First of all, we went and met up with my cousin, Wes! I hadn't seen or talked to him in YEARS! I found him on myspace and we had been talking a little through that, but decided we needed to meet up! We went and ate then just sat around for a few hours visiting and catching up! It was GREAT getting to see him and find out what he has been doing since I last saw him! (By the way, I think the last time I saw him, we were probably about the same size! Haha!) So anyway, now that we know that we are only about an hour away, we said we would have to get together more often!
After visiting with Wes for a while we went to the Brad Paisley concert! We just had lawn seats, but we were some of the first people to get in so we were able to snag a spot right up front. We couldn't see a whole lot, but we could hear it and watch a lot of it on the big screens.
The first guy who played was Chuck Wicks. When he first came out he told us that this was their final show for that tour. I had heard before that Brad Paisley was a real prankster and we found out on Saturday that it is true! Chuck even said when he first came out that the pranks would be flying that night. Well during his first song, a group of guys ran out on stage and rolled him with some kind of glue then poured bags and bags of feathers all over him! It was hilarious! The sad thing is, he played the rest of his set with feathers all over him. It was pretty hard to take him seriously! His second song was his big hit Stealing Cinderella. During the song they had a giant picture of a castle on the screens behind him. Soon after he started, a big picture of Cinderella popped up on the screen but it has his face put on it! It was hilarious! Slowly, more "Cinderellas" popped up with different faces (guys from the band, I think). Again, it was VERY hard to take him seriously! After that song, Brad came out and said he had a video to show that nobody had watched yet. It was a fake video of Chuck's girlfriend (Julianne Hough from Dancing with the Stars - and now a country performer) pretending to break up with him. Chuck sang another song then Brad came back out and showed the "just kidding" video from his girlfriend. Chuck seemed to be a good sport about it all. I think he was expecting something already, but probably not all of that! It was pretty amusing though. :)
The next performer was Jewel. I have never been a fan of Jewel anyway, but I'm certainly not now! She was AWFUL live. We just couldn't believe that she was up there singing the way she was - it was not good at all. Sometimes the things she did were amusing because they were so bad, and sometimes it was just painful. We were not at all impressed with her performance.
Next up was BRAD PAISLEY! I get so excited when I see him in concert. He is SO good! He definitely puts on a good show and dishes out some AMAZING guitar solos! Sometimes I would look over at Matt and he would just kind of shake his head like, "How in the world does he do that..." I think Matt enjoyed it too, but probably not as much as me. :) I told him I would like to take him to one where we were closer up and could actually see the band. He is playing in Austin in January so I figured I might do some ebay searching the week of the concert and see if I happened to find any last minute good deals. Anyway, we had a great time!
Our next concert is on Thursday for Gavin DeGraw. We also found out just this week that ANOTHER one of our favorite bands Needtobreathe is playing with Gavin! EVEN BETTER, it is a FREE concert! That being said, there will probably be a million people there, so who knows if we will be able to see a thing, but we're going to try! :)
Then Friday is Marc Broussard and Saturday is Ben Folds and Missy Higgins! Fun, fun, fun!
After visiting with Wes for a while we went to the Brad Paisley concert! We just had lawn seats, but we were some of the first people to get in so we were able to snag a spot right up front. We couldn't see a whole lot, but we could hear it and watch a lot of it on the big screens.
The first guy who played was Chuck Wicks. When he first came out he told us that this was their final show for that tour. I had heard before that Brad Paisley was a real prankster and we found out on Saturday that it is true! Chuck even said when he first came out that the pranks would be flying that night. Well during his first song, a group of guys ran out on stage and rolled him with some kind of glue then poured bags and bags of feathers all over him! It was hilarious! The sad thing is, he played the rest of his set with feathers all over him. It was pretty hard to take him seriously! His second song was his big hit Stealing Cinderella. During the song they had a giant picture of a castle on the screens behind him. Soon after he started, a big picture of Cinderella popped up on the screen but it has his face put on it! It was hilarious! Slowly, more "Cinderellas" popped up with different faces (guys from the band, I think). Again, it was VERY hard to take him seriously! After that song, Brad came out and said he had a video to show that nobody had watched yet. It was a fake video of Chuck's girlfriend (Julianne Hough from Dancing with the Stars - and now a country performer) pretending to break up with him. Chuck sang another song then Brad came back out and showed the "just kidding" video from his girlfriend. Chuck seemed to be a good sport about it all. I think he was expecting something already, but probably not all of that! It was pretty amusing though. :)
The next performer was Jewel. I have never been a fan of Jewel anyway, but I'm certainly not now! She was AWFUL live. We just couldn't believe that she was up there singing the way she was - it was not good at all. Sometimes the things she did were amusing because they were so bad, and sometimes it was just painful. We were not at all impressed with her performance.
Next up was BRAD PAISLEY! I get so excited when I see him in concert. He is SO good! He definitely puts on a good show and dishes out some AMAZING guitar solos! Sometimes I would look over at Matt and he would just kind of shake his head like, "How in the world does he do that..." I think Matt enjoyed it too, but probably not as much as me. :) I told him I would like to take him to one where we were closer up and could actually see the band. He is playing in Austin in January so I figured I might do some ebay searching the week of the concert and see if I happened to find any last minute good deals. Anyway, we had a great time!
Our next concert is on Thursday for Gavin DeGraw. We also found out just this week that ANOTHER one of our favorite bands Needtobreathe is playing with Gavin! EVEN BETTER, it is a FREE concert! That being said, there will probably be a million people there, so who knows if we will be able to see a thing, but we're going to try! :)
Then Friday is Marc Broussard and Saturday is Ben Folds and Missy Higgins! Fun, fun, fun!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Children's Class
I have been asked if I would be interested in teaching a class at church - K-2nd grade. I NEED YOUR HELP! If I do it, I want it to be something REALLY cool and REALLY fun and REALLY creative! :) There aren't many kids that night - anywhere from two to six or seven probably. So anyway, if you have ANY suggestions, or a cool lesson book or anything, let me know please!
Matt's Thoughts
I have been thinking--scary, I know. I have been learning many new things and many important things recently; school has a tendency to do that to a person. I feel that I've been given a lot of information but haven't been telling people (Lauren would probably say differently; she has to listen to it all the time--I don't feel bad, that's her job). So I thought maybe once a week or so I could send out an email with something short--something to think about or read about. You can respond if you would like, but you don't have to. This is really to give you a chance to read and think; if you want to talk about it or have something else to add, even better. I'll start with this one:
Mark 9:2-9 is known as the transfiguration. Here, Jesus takes his inner group, Peter, James, and John, to the top of a mountain. At the top, they see him as the resurrected figure, almost a "flash forward" that reveals his future seat on the throne. (Read the entire story; it's interesting) Towards the end, in verse 7, a voice from the clouds tells the 3 with him, "This is my beloved Son, listen to him." Previously, the disciples have not understood many things (they question the parables, the miracles, the prediction of Jesus' death, etc.). Here, this voice says, "...listen to him." The very next thing it says that Jesus tells them is to tell no one what they have seen UNTIL THE SON OF MAN SHOULD HAVE RISEN FROM THE DEAD (verse 9). They have already been told to listen, but it seems their ears were still closed, or possibly just their minds. Then, over in verse 31 and 32, Jesus tells them very clearly, "The Son of man will be delivered into thehands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise." But still they didn't get it! It even says that they were afraid to ask which, to me, says that they knew they should be getting something out of it, but they didn't know what that was, even though he states it very clearly.
Are we, still today, so closed minded that we sometimes simply hear with our ears and not with our hearts? Jesus is still speaking to us; are we truly listening to every word with open minds and open hearts to understand what is being said? And even if we still do not understand, are we too afraid or have too much pride to ask?
-Matt
Mark 9:2-9 is known as the transfiguration. Here, Jesus takes his inner group, Peter, James, and John, to the top of a mountain. At the top, they see him as the resurrected figure, almost a "flash forward" that reveals his future seat on the throne. (Read the entire story; it's interesting) Towards the end, in verse 7, a voice from the clouds tells the 3 with him, "This is my beloved Son, listen to him." Previously, the disciples have not understood many things (they question the parables, the miracles, the prediction of Jesus' death, etc.). Here, this voice says, "...listen to him." The very next thing it says that Jesus tells them is to tell no one what they have seen UNTIL THE SON OF MAN SHOULD HAVE RISEN FROM THE DEAD (verse 9). They have already been told to listen, but it seems their ears were still closed, or possibly just their minds. Then, over in verse 31 and 32, Jesus tells them very clearly, "The Son of man will be delivered into thehands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise." But still they didn't get it! It even says that they were afraid to ask which, to me, says that they knew they should be getting something out of it, but they didn't know what that was, even though he states it very clearly.
Are we, still today, so closed minded that we sometimes simply hear with our ears and not with our hearts? Jesus is still speaking to us; are we truly listening to every word with open minds and open hearts to understand what is being said? And even if we still do not understand, are we too afraid or have too much pride to ask?
-Matt
Missing Glenwood
Lately Matt and I have been missing Glenwood Springs - we miss the cool weather, the river, and some of our friends there. We have been looking up the weather there occassionally and the low temperatures sound pretty nice too. Amy Bruner posted the picture below on her blog of Glenwood now and how the colors are starting to change. They'll be getting snow anytime now! We'll be lucky if we get an inch here! Haha! :)
This was yesterday morning around 8:30am. I talked to June (the lady I lived with) on the phone yesterday and when I told her I saw that it was 14 degrees she said, "Oh now... that is a bit of an exaggeration... it was at least 24 degrees!" Haha, so EITHER WAY it is getting very chilly there! June said things were going well except for the fact that the frost killed her flowers and her walnut tree is leaving lots of leaves and walnuts for her to pick up. :)
After one of the first times that I expressed to Matt that I missed being in Colorado, he sent me an email later that night saying that he found this picture and started missing it himself. This is us with Allyson (Justin & Amy's oldest daughter) at the Sylvan Lake campout.
So anyway, if we can ever afford a trip anytime soon, I know we would both love to go back and visit. I would love to go in the winter sometime and see all the snow - I bet it is absolutely beautiful! I will be keeping up with Amy's blog to get those pictures (pressure is on now, Amy!).
Also, be sure to check out Amy's blog for the recipe for Monkey bread (or Bubble bread). Matt and I made some and it is WONDERFUL! So go try it. :)
This was yesterday morning around 8:30am. I talked to June (the lady I lived with) on the phone yesterday and when I told her I saw that it was 14 degrees she said, "Oh now... that is a bit of an exaggeration... it was at least 24 degrees!" Haha, so EITHER WAY it is getting very chilly there! June said things were going well except for the fact that the frost killed her flowers and her walnut tree is leaving lots of leaves and walnuts for her to pick up. :)
After one of the first times that I expressed to Matt that I missed being in Colorado, he sent me an email later that night saying that he found this picture and started missing it himself. This is us with Allyson (Justin & Amy's oldest daughter) at the Sylvan Lake campout.
So anyway, if we can ever afford a trip anytime soon, I know we would both love to go back and visit. I would love to go in the winter sometime and see all the snow - I bet it is absolutely beautiful! I will be keeping up with Amy's blog to get those pictures (pressure is on now, Amy!).
Also, be sure to check out Amy's blog for the recipe for Monkey bread (or Bubble bread). Matt and I made some and it is WONDERFUL! So go try it. :)
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
"Charlie Bit My Finger" Video
This video has become a huge hit on YouTube! Matt and I were just searching videos one day and we came across it. We thought it was so cute and so funny that I just had to share!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Concert Month
This month Matt I will see the following people in concert: Brad Paisley, Gavin DeGraw, Marc Broussard, Ben Folds, Missy Higgins, and maybe Mercy Me! All of those but one (Brad Paisley) are in the same week! Thursday through Sunday, actually. I linked all of the names to the myspace page for that artist if you're interested in checking them out, but I specifically wanted to share two videos of Marc Broussard playing live... this man is AMAZING! On one of the videos on YouTube, one of the first comments says something like, "I have never seen a white man with this much soul," and that is the truth!! So check them out! (the first one is kind of long, but keep watching - he really gets more into it the further into the song he gets)
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