Change - not by osmosis

Change is hard. And more importantly, change is hard work.

If you are reading this, and are thinking in any way that change isn't for you, then don't read any further. If you are reading this and you want to change, then click to read the full post.

I am glad that you decided to read a little more...

There are many people that want to change. They know that they need to change, and that is what they want to do, but they just don't know how to do it. Maybe they have even tried to change before and have failed. Maybe they have even failed many times. And maybe, they have given up.

But don't give up. God's desire for you is to change.

I would like to spend some time talking about the shortcomings that most people face when they truly attempt to change, and discuss what the Bible tells us about how to change. And believe it or not, the Bible does have something to say about life change. II Peter 1:3 says,

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

There is so much in this passage that it is hard to know where to begin. The next post that I do on change will begin with a breakdown of these two verses.

But for today, know that the Bible has what you need to know. It is the user's manual for human existence. But it isn't a "magic book" that you just rub on your head and *poof* you become a changed human being. And it isn't a "radioactive meteorite" either.

This is why Jesus, in talking about becoming a disciple, states, "take up your cross daily, and follow me." Taking up a cross doesn't sound easy, and taking it up daily sounds even more difficult. Change, true lasting change, only comes by hard work and discipline. But don't let this deter you. As Paul states in Phil. 1:6, "... it is God who works in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

If you are interested in change, then please come back so that I can share with you what little I have learned. Maybe, by the grace of God, it will be of some help to you.

Love from your Valentine

have had the same valentine for nearly 15 years. We have been through the thick and the thin, the good and the bad, the difficult and the easy, the ugly and the pretty. And through all of these times, the highs and the lows, she has remained my valentine.

t is said that St. Valentine defied Claudius, the emperor of Rome. Caludius was forbidding any new marriages to add to the size of the Roman army (married men could not be enlisted). Valentine did not agree with this law forbidding these new marriages and decided to perform marriage ceremonies in secret. When he was found out, he was immediately imprisoned. During his imprisonment, he was befriended by the jailor's daughter, and the two of them began to develop a deep love for each other.

nfortunately Valentine was eventualy martyred for his faith. He was martyred February 14, 270 ad. And on the day that he was martyred he sent a note to the jailor's daughter that said, "Love, from your Valentine." Hence the supposed beginning of the tradition.

is the message. It is just one word, but it is a powerful word. And attached to that message is the idea of ownership. He doesn't just say, "from Valentine" he says, "from your Valentine." I belong to you, and you alone. I am yours.

I don't know how true the legend of St. Valentine is... But I know for me, the message stays the same.

Love from your Matt.

three men and a cakey

Today is my youngest's 3rd birthday. But it seems like I have always known him. Both of my boys are such an integral part of my life.

I have been at a Bible Conference for an entire week, and after being gone from my family for such a long time, it was good for my heart to be back with my boys again.

My wife's blog has a quote from sophocles that says, "Sons are the anchors of a mother's life." I would say that for a father, sons are the sails. They keep me moving forward. Their lives remind me how to keep my imagination alive, how to play and how to smile at anything. They teach me again how to enjoy the smallest things, like a little toy train on a birthday cake. They dream of life and that presses me on to enjoy the life.

Most people know that the Bible speaks of children being a blessing. And it is true. My life is blessed because of them. In the Hebrew language, the word for blessing means happiness. And that is what they are to me.

They are a happiness to my soul. Their sails are full, pulling me on to new horizons.

leave your message after the tone

Need to contact me?

Want to ask me a question?

Just feel like saying "HI!"

Well, now you can. I have signed up with a service called eVoice. They give you a voice mail number, that people can call, and the messages show up as e-mail attachments. And it works, I tried it.

Pretty Cool.

My eVoice, voice mail number is 1-320-210-1943, and if you would like to drop me a line, feel free. Maybe I will start up my harmless advice, advice column again...

If you would like to get your own voicemail number, just check out eVoice.com and they will hook you up. It is totally free, so check it out.

The same company does something called eFax too, but I haven't tried it yet.

God or god?

Psalm 19 is one of my all time favorite Psalms. I currently have this Psalm posted on the back wall of my classroom. I have also posted this Psalm on this blog two other times. You can find those posts here and here.

There are so many applications that can be drawn from this passage. It is filled with great insight, from the creation of the world to the living of day to day life. But I have recently learned something new about this verse, and I thought that I would share it with you.

If you read through this passage, you may notice, upon closer inspection, that "God" is only mentioned once in the first six verses. Those first verses are all about how creation shouts... screams that there is a creator. After those first six verses you will find that His name is mentioned several more times. This is a fairly interesting fact, that might pose a few questions as to why it is like this, but it gets even more interesting once you look at the actual word usage.

That one mention of the word "God" in those first six verses is actually the Hebrew word "el" which simply refers to deity. In fact, in mideastern culture, during this time period, the name of "el" was also used to refer to another "father god" that was over all of the mideastern deities. So creation shouts of the existence of the divine.

"There is a creator! There is a god! Can't you see him? His works are everywhere!"

But it isn't until the 7th verse that you get to see who this god is: It is THE God! His name is YAHWEH! The Lord of Heaven and Earth. The God who is found in the Bible, the word of the one true God. This is the God whom created the heavens and earth. We do not have to wonder about the nature of this creator, because He reveals himself in His word. And in His word we learn that his work is not finished. This Creator God is not done with us yet. He uses His word, with its laws, precepts, testimonies and statutes, to convert you, to change you, to rejoice your heart, and to make you wise.

Is this the God whom you serve? Or are you a little confused about who you are serving?

There are alot of people who believe in a god. Oh yeah, they might say that they believe in the God of the Bible, but do they really? How can you tell?

Acknowledging that there is the divine isn't enough. If you read this psalm, it is evident that this one true God is out to change you. The reality of this God and His gospel will be (not could be or may be) evident in your life. It is an inescapable truth. The Bible says that that "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." And in this passage we can see the results of this Word.

Notice that it does not say that it might convert you, or that it has the power of making wise the simple. There are no options here. It will rejoice the heart! It will convert the soul! It will make wise the simple! It will enlighten the eyes! This creator God has given us the words of life! This is the one true gospel! It is not just a gospel for life after death, it is a gospel for life before death.

In the book of James, God tells us, "If a man believes in god, he does well, but the demons also believe and tremble." There are many that would say with the mouth that they are believers. They may talk of some time in their past that they "accepted Jesus as their Saviour." And they may have done these things, but the Bible never speaks of us accepting Jesus. It does have alot to say of Him accepting us. And when we are accepted in Him, real salvation takes place.

Ask yourself, "do you believe in god or do you believe in God?"

The Dad's Group

I would like to take a moment to refer all of you to a new blog called The Dad's Group.

It is a group blog that is composed of Dads! I don't know how it is going to go, but I am a member of this blog, so check it out!

two new things

There have been two new things that I have decided to try on the web. I have enjoyed both of them so much that I decided to share both of them with you.

The first one is Gmail. I absolutely love Gmail. I hate to break it to you MSN... But Gmail is much better than Hotmail. (At least that is my opinion.)

Gmail has several features that I really love. The first one is the mail search. Very handy. The next one is the "conversation" feature. When you pull up a message, it pulls up all of the messages that were related to that one. It is hard to explain, but once I got used to it, I don't think that I ever want to go back.

You are also given an 1gig limit. That is huge! The idea is that you don't need to dicard old mail, you just archive it.

My favorite thing is the Gmail notifier. I know that most people don't have to worry about this, but after using hotmail, without a notifier, I have had to continually check to see if I have any new mail. Well, thanks to the people at google, I don't have to worry about that any more.

My new e-mail address is mattharmless@gmail.com and if you want to send me a "hello" that would be great! I also have several gmail invites that I could give out. I am not sure how this affects me, but if you would like to try gmail, just drop me a note, or comment on this post.

A special thanks to Jeff for the first invite.

I have also started using a service called Bloglines. I have been using it for about a week. It collects all of your blogs into one place. I don't know if I can explain it well enough, but the best feature that Bloglines offers is their blog notifier.

The blog notifier stays connected to bloglines as long as you are online. And everytime one of your blogs that you read publishes a new post, it will notify you.

It also saves you time. You don't have to go to every single blog one at a time. You can just go to Bloglines first thing in the morning, and see all of the blogs that have published since you were last on.

Anyway, I thought that I would share these two items with you. Check them out and tell me what you think.