Noise 1.0

It is so nice this morning, as I sit outside and write this post. It is 60 degrees on a July morning in Texas. The birds are singing all around. Cup of coffee in hand, dog @ my feet, everyone inside my house asleep. Aw! Peace Perfect Peace! All but one thing! Someone is keeping a dozer running about 100 yards north of my house, getting a pad site ready for a gas well. The noise is only the beginning; of a month of noise as they drill on this site in the name of money.

Thinking time

My favorite place to go and think is outside on a cool morning. Hear to coo of a lonesome Dove and watch the tiny sparrows steal my dog’s food! The occasional bark of a dog, the sounds of squirrels scurrying up and down tress, but underneath all that I can still heart it. I can hear the dull hum of traffic on the freeway. Yes it’s distant and I can block it out. That’s he current of life we live in. I for a moment have jumped out of that current, it’s very peaceful, but the lure and hum of progress is always very near even when we try to get away.

So how do you get away? Do you ever get quiet enough to hear the still small voice of God? When is the last time you had the birds (chirp, chirp kind) download you their latest MP3? How long has it been since you have been alone and quiet with God?

Too long. . .

Circle

Have you ever been between a rock and a hard place? Of course we all have been there at one time or another! I suppose it is a rather stupid question to ask. When our world turns its back on us, things get ugly, messy, bloody and muddy. When the heat gets turned up we develop a few “warts” on our complexions, we become less “attractive” (no, I don’t mean like kissy face attractive) to people.

Many of our “so called friends” abandon us when times get tough. These are the times when us, our families, and God really find out what we are made of. Do we become bitter or better?

Many friends come and go, both when you have these bad times in life it has a way of refining our friendships. Discovering new friendships that have been there all along and we may not have even known it.

It pushes us to a deeper level, a more meaningful level. May we always be loyal to those new alliances we form and may we never “throw them under the bus” but make sure we have their backs all the way like they did for us.

So the question is. . . Is it better to have a wide circle of friends, or a narrow “band of brothers", or some combo in-between?





Matt

Lake Rats!

Today we had our first ever youth group outing! We had a great time together on a perfect day. A day completely filled with thrills and spills along with a few battle scars. The boys will be busy making up some good stories to go behind their battle scars.

This was all about good clean fun with your buddies. We want to teach our children to have a good time and enjoy life with their friends. No better way to do this than hanging out on the lake on a bright summer day.

Thanks to Brad and Steve for providing the gas and the boats.


We are all looking forward to many more good times with friends.

Windows

Windows are made for looking through to see what lies beyond the walls. We have window of opportunity just beyond our walls today. There is a halfway house that needs our help. The house is too small and they need to expand it to accommodate for more people. God has given them a heart to do more and help more people.

It is a very nice home and she is doing a great job of helping people get on track again while exposing them to the love of Christ.

They are in the process of locating funding from local churches to buy the materials. This is where you and I come in. We have all the building trades represented in our group. Let’s build them what they want! We can do it. Please prayerfully consider what God puts on your heart about this.
Matt

Church

Church continues to rock along.
We began one month ago on Father's Day.
We continue to meet in rented a building and soon will out grow it's capacity.

Still don't have a name, and It's OK. We don't have a list of rules about what worship is and is not. We don't have a list of can's and cant's. We have tasted the freedom of the gospel, the river is deep and full of life.

God is doing great things among us, His Spirit is alive and well here.

We are so blessed not to have the burden of a building to pay for. How much of God's money is wasted in utility bills, parking lots, buildings that are empty for 5 days of the week. . . We are not here to invest in the seen but to invest in the unseen things of God. God needs us to invest in people not buildings.

We must break free from the mindset of thinking that church is a building, or a place. It's a movement of people. It's the most radical counter culture, anti-conformity movement that has ever been on the planet. Punk's, Goth's, Indies beware, you don't have the corner on Counter Culture!

Our plan is to keep it simple as long as possible. Right now we don't pass a plate for money, we encourage people to give to people around them that need help. We have no preacher, we feel as if we don't need one provided with today's technology their is an endless supply incredible life changing messages available at our finger tips for free or very low cost.

We are a group of people that believe in the power of prayer. We are learning to pray very specific prayers, and to pray for spiritual things. We believe in the Spirit of an active God that is alive and well working through believers everywhere.

Christians Meet Here!

Hello all, isn't this what we are, just a group of Christians! We are very blessed not to have the burden of a building and the baggage that goes with that. God is stirring among us, reviving our hearts from within, creating something new.

Try this out I don't know if we want to keep it or not?

Let me know by your blog comments, or lack there of!
Matt