I know there is some insightful commentary here about Christmas, children, and our soceity, but I can’t quite seem to verbalize it.

–Wholly Surrender!

Now I know that the “new year” simply represents the start of a man-made time measurement, and that in the spiritual realm it has no significance. In fact the Word tells us that in the Kingdom every day is a new and fresh start.

Lamentations 3:22-23

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

Still for us humans it seems to bring some psychological relief. It seems to mark the end of our problems, troubles, and faults from the previous year, and ushers in a new start. A fresh start. For us that has already proven true in our community of church family. These are the same people we see every Sunday, and talk to on at least a weekly basis. Still the time we have spent together the last couple days has had a renewed sweetness to it.

I am not sure exactly why that is. It could be psychological, it could be a case of “absence makes the heart grow fonder”, or it could just be a reminder from our Heavenly Father that we need each other. That we were built for community. That we are never meant to live in seclusion. That true joy and ministry is found in spending your time, your blessings, and yourself on others.

A great reminder to start the new year.

–Wholly Surrender!

Also I wanted to let you all know that we have started a special site to journal and record our pregnancy for all our friends and family. You can check it out at www.mathisbaby.com. Also you can subscribe to the RSS feed to get updates everytime we post new information (for those of you still unsure what RSS means check out this post).

We are really really excited about expanding our family, and know that you all will rejoice with us. We will also be looking for much needed advice and encouragement as we embark on this new and somewhat scary journey. More news to come I am sure.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

–Wholly Surrender!

Family, feasts, giving, games, fun, love, movies, and hope. We are surrounded by the most fantastic family and friends. They make the holidays (and every day for the matter) so much sweeter. So I just want to thank you to all of them. You know who you are.

I also wanted to say a special thank you to all our family that teamed up with us to bring the hope of Christmas to those in need around the world. This Christmas Courtney and I kind of threw our family a curve ball. We asked that they buy our primary gifts through various charities. We wanted to them to give something to those in need on our behalf instead of giving a material gift directly to us, and they did an outstanding job.

In all we were able to give  1 goat, 4 chickens, 2 ducks, 2 basketballs, a share of a deep well, and 1 day of investigative work and aftercare to a human trafficking victim. Some may look at that and think “That is nice, but can such small gifts really make an impact?” The answer is unequivocally YES! If each of us would make small gifts/sacrifices such as these the whole world would change.

So if you are still looking for a way to give more presence this year check out these sites. It is never too late.

www.worldvision.org
www.water.cc
www.ijm.org
www.bloodwatermission.com

The weird part is I am enjoying these gifts much more than my usual gifts. Who knew?

–Wholly Surrender!

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

–Wholly Surrender!

On the way home Dad, Wanda, Courtney and I were discussing the church and how we felt the ministry was going. We talked about our growth, future plans, and reflected some on this past year’s activities. Honest reflection is an important process in all ministries. It is way to easy to get caught up in our passion and work, and miss the ministry mark. It is a process that is not only important as a church/ministry, but also as a team, leader, and individual.

Since I am the Worship Leader my goal for our team is that we continually aid and lead the congregation in growing deeper in their adoration and worship of the Heavenly Father. Just like we all mature in our spiritual walk and biblical knowledge, it is also important we are continually maturing in our biblical disciplines like study, prayer, love, servanthood, and worship. So when I assess our team one of the things I look at is how well if our congregation maturing in the discipline of worship, or in other words are they continually growing deeper in their desire for and expressions of worship? Sure we can’t force anyone to worship, nor can we totally control their growth in this area, but over many weeks, months, and years if the congregation as a whole is not making some degree of progress in this area we must clearly examine if we are leading effectively.

The hardest and most important application of this concept is Self-Appraisal. It is honestly and thoughtfully examining our own spiritual growth, and making hard decisions to work on areas of weakness. This includes all areas of our lives like marriage, family, ministry, work, personal quiet time, spiritual gifts, biblical study, and expression of love to name a handful. This is much much harder exercise, but extremely vital if we are to have any accuracy in our perspective of the world and community around us. If we cannot honestly assess our own lives, actions, beliefs, and behaviors then our personal bias will automatically cloud our perception of everything else.

So as we move into the new year I would encourage to start off with a honest and painful self-appraisal to see what areas you need God to help you work on in 2009. Then you will be better equipped to interpret and serve in the world around  you.

–Wholly Surrender!

Top 3 Albums:

1. Jimmy Needham- Not Without Love

2. Tenth Avenue North - Over and Underneath

3. Bebo Norman - Bebo Norman

Top 3 Books:

1. Sex God - by Rob Bell

2. Searching for God Knows What - by Donald Miller

3. Porn-Again Christian - by Mark Driscoll

Top 3 Movies:

1. Traitor

2. The Dark Knight

3. Juno

Top 3 TV Shows:

1. Criminal Minds

2. How I Met Your Mother

3. LOST

Top 3 New Websites:

1. i am second.com

2. advent conspiracy

3. noise trade

Top 3 Blogs:

1. Collide Magazine

2. Fact Check

3. iPhone Atlas

Top 3 Causes:

1. World Vision

2. Living Water International

3. International Justice Mission

Top 3 Passages/Verses:

1. Philippians 2

2. John 21

3. John 3:30

I know some of you could care less about what my personal top three are, but at least now it is down for public record.

–Wholly Surrender!

If you can’t see the video in your RSS Reader trying venturing out to the actual blog.

I love when great art, mainstream culture, and the Jesus intersect.

–Wholly Surrender!

I am not sure exactly what to do with all that information, but it has to have some important application to the Church and our future. I am almost certain it has something to say to the future of our country as well. I will let you draw your own conclusions.

–Wholly Surrender!

I started thinking this morning about the common saying in our society, “Tis the Season.” Usually we hear those words followed by phrases such as “to be jolly” or “to be merry” or “to be giving.” That is great and all, but have you ever thought “why” this is the season for those things. As Christians we know why this is the season, because it is the season of our Savior’s birth. It is the season when Christ came to earth to redeem His fallen creation. It is the season that God gave humanity the ultimate gift.

So based on that rationale I think the best way to complete that statement is the “to be giving” option. So to that end Courtney and I this season have been looking for more ways we can be giving, and not just to our family and friends but to all of humanity. We have been abundantly blessed and want to glorify God for His providence. So we have requested that our family members consider using some of the money they would usually spend on our gifts to help worthy causes such Living Water International, World Vision, Blood:Water Mission, or the International Justice Mission. We considered spending the money ourselves and then giving cards to everyone explaining we gave their normal Christmas presents to these causes, but then decided against it. In that scenario they are the ones sacrificing not us. So we decided to turn the tables so we were the ones giving something up instead of forcing that on our friends and family.

I know other people and organizations who encourage the other alternative, and there is nothing wrong with that if all sides agree on that arrangement, but if it is only us who has conviction, then the responsibility should fall on us not them. We are also considering foregoing buying each other gifts to help out in these areas as well.

Now I am not saying we should never give gifts to each other, because giving gifts is very biblical expression of love. It is a great way to show we care. It is the over-indulgent gift giving or obligation gift giving that I believe we can better use to show Christ’s love to the world. So I would encourage you to consider finding ways to re-route your excessive gift-giving funds to achieve a more Christ-like outcome. Let our excess give Him glory rather than ourselves or others.

–Wholly Surrender!