Simeon & Anna

In the advent spirit I thought I'd point us back over to Scott McKnight's blog where he has reflected on what Christmas meant for Simeon and Anna:

Simeon & Anna 1
Simeon & Anna 2
Simeon & Anna 3
Simeon & Anna 4
Simeon & Anna 5
Matt

A Night @ Kiltiernan

We went up for some snowboarding lessons with Cormac, Steve, and a bunch of the lads going on the trip in Feb. If I get any pics, I'll put 'em up for ya. It's always fun learning to snowboard on millions of toothbrushes in the hills of Dublin. And we did look like idiots but as Steve said, "I felt really uncool, until I walked passed the skiers." It was great craic. We walked away from it getting to know how to snowboard a bit better and having some quality time with some quality lads.

Matt

Mary & Elizabeth

Scott McKnight has a great blog I've bee reading quite a bit lately. He is doing a short "series" on it about the meaning of Christmas for Mary & Elizabeth and shows quite some insight in his observations. Link below to read:

Mary & Elizabeth 1
Mary & Elizabeth 2
Mary & Elizabeth 3
Mary & Elizabeth 4
Mary & Elizabeth 5

Matt

Back to the Hospital

Well, we have decided to take Hailey back into the hospital. She just hasn't been doing well and could benefit from some more time on the drip.

Update: When I left Hailey at the hospital tonight she was in good spirits. She hasn't vomited much today - a HUGE blessing - and she is doing a lot better now with the I.V. Please pray that she would be able to sleep well there tonight. Last time she spent the night at the hospital she found it very hard to sleep due to hearing woman after woman go into labour.

Narnia Tip

Hey, it doesn't look like Hailey and I will be able to join you all for the Narnia adventure but I did want to let you guys know that rumour has it that you'll want to wait around after the credits. Supposedly there is an important scene there. So don't leave early.

Hailey and I are so thankful for your support in both prayer and provision. We are considering taking her back to the hospital today. I'll let you know what we end up doing.

Matt

Christmas Re-imagined

One of my personal prayers this Christmas has been to hear the story of the birth of Jesus anew. There is a tendency for me to hear the story I grew to know as a child and to close my ears to what really happened. Biblical story slowly turns to fairy tale. Recently, I found the CD "A Christmas Story You've Never Heard," reviewed over at The Ooze. I was thinking it might be fun to listen to this as a group as we try to hear the story with fresh ears.

Matt

Seattle Metro Church

Seattle Metro Church seems to be doing community similar to ourselves. Thought I'd put the link up here so we can explore it together and see if we can learn from these guys.

Matt

Being Available for God

I mentioned to some of us how I had really appreciated the testimony of Nick Vujicic (the guy with no limbs). You can check out his life and testimony on his website, or listen to him here (mp3) or even watch him here (quicktime). This is a guy who in many a person's eye would be simply a pity case but he is not. Nick is a guy who I've only listened to once but who has inspired me to a more missional mindset in life. His message is "be available to be used by God" and that means in the grocery store, or in my car, keeping my radar up and prayerfully asking, "God use me." I was brought back to this message after reading a quote from Bono in an interview with Q Magazine. He was their person of the year. You can read the entire article here (just click on the images). Here's the quote:

"Q: Money. Irishness. God. Which one couldn't you live without?


Bono: Wow. Well it's an easy question to ask but... here's a thing. When I was 16, my head was exploding. I just felt my life was going nowhere. I didn't fit in. I couldn't get a job. I didn't know how I could do my exams and I wasn't even sure I could concentrate at college. In those days, I remember, a prayer came up inside me. I said "I don't know what I'm going to do with my life but if there's a God out there, and I believe there is, and You want me to do something, then I'm ready. I don't have any plans for myself and I'm available for work." Pretty much within a few months of that epiphany I had joined U2 and started going out with Ali. A pretty good two months! Now had my destiny been -- if the God in heaven had said I want you to become a fireman and run up very dangerous buildings and save people's pets, I'd like to hope I'd have gone at it with the same gusto. So -- I couldn't let go of my faith. But what's more interesting is that I don't think God will let go of me. I love it when people on bar stools rub their chins and say do you believe in God? That's so presumptuous. A much more important question is does God believe in us?


Q: That sounds like you believe you were chosen.


Bono: No, no, no, I don't believe that. I do think God gets a laugh out of using some very poor materials. I volunteered is what I'm telling you."
--Bono in Q Magazine

And so as we enter our daily lives lets do it with the attitude of availability, with the desire to be be used by God.

Matt