Currently Listening Drive By Graham Colton Band see related

Guitar stuck!

::::This is my myspace blog from June 7th::::

**Warning - this blog might not interest you unless you are a musician...and even then it might still be lame***

Lately, I've been really wanting to grow as a musician.  I've been working on playing guitar for about 12 years now, but have been stuck in a rut for about 2 years.  I guess that happens when the majority of your guitar playing is done in a "Christian Worship Music" setting (which mainly consists of G and E progressions).  I really need something to spark me into a new direction.  I haven't really learned anything new unless it was for church in some way.  Last year I played electric guitar at a conference in Maryland and I learned a couple new rock songs for it...but that was about the last cool guitar thing I've done. 

Maybe I'll start listening to country.  Or more James Taylor.

Any help?  Ideas? 

Currently Listening Fortress By Sister Hazel see related

Don't roll your eyes.

My wife is amazing.  She's down the hall right now and in a different room and she just said something to me. 

Then I rolled my eyes.

And she said, "Don't roll your eyes at me!"

Holy crap, she's going to be a great mom.

Currently Listening The Best of James Taylor By James Taylor see related

Stupid Hoax!

::::This is my myspace blog from May 11th::::

So, I'm preaching this weekend in Refuge (which is our teen service on Sunday Mornings) and I have been really happy because I got my sermon pretty much done on Wednesday (which NEVER happens).  I am also really excited because I'm going to tell a lot of stories in my sermon, which I didn't get to do much the only other time I preached in Refuge - and I love telling stories in sermons...I think they can do a lot in a sermon...but I digress...let me get to the point. 

I had this great opening story for my sermon and it is all about laying a proper foundation.  I found this story in a book called "Cat and Dog Theology" and there was one detail of the story that was a little unclear to me, so I decided to look it up on Google so I could describe it better than the guy does in the book. The story is about the reason why railroad tracks are all spaced 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches apart.  It is actually a neat story that gets its origins from the width of 2 horses butts during the Roman Empire.  In the book I was reading the author mentioned something about "pre-railroad tramways in England in the 18th century" and I had no idea what he was talking about. (I know, I'm a dork).   

So, as I'm looking this up I find something out that shocked me - the whole stinkin' story is made up!!  It is an internet hoax made up as a joke saying that 2 horses butts were the width of Roman chariots, and if you trace history down you'll find the the horses butts ended up determining the width of railroads in America.  So, some dude just made this up as and internet hoax and it got circulated so much that it people started thinking it was true, and then it ended up in a book about Christian Theology.  So this guy find s a story on the internet and thinks it is neat and, without authenticating the story, he puts it in a book!! 

Not only that, I compared the internet hoax to the book, and it is almost WORD for WORD. 

That means the author of this book just took the story from the internet and pasted it into his book. I did the research this morning on railroad tracks and their width and the real story is not nearly as cool. Plus, it has absolutely nothing to do with horses butts!  I can't preach the real origin of railroad width now!!  It was okay when it had horses butts, but now it has nothing!  Talk about b-o-r-i-n-g!  

So, I'm just writing this because i'm upset.  Now I have to find a completely different story for my sermon, because I can't tell the story now knowing that it ins't true.  So, I'm off.  Time to get to work. 

And if any of you are still reading this, I'll bet you'd agree with me that there was really no point to this - all you've accomplished by reading this is that you have now wasted 2 minutes of your life that you'll never have back.  You are all now dumber having read this.  Later,

-- Matt

Currently Listening Wander This World By Jonny Lang see related

I guess there's nothing you can do about it...

::::This is my myspace blog from April 27th::::

Sometimes people will get mad at you without knowing exactly what happened.  I think a lot of times people like getting mad at someone, especially if they are the kind of person who likes to speak their mind.

I had some madness thrown at me recently.  I don't like it when someone throws madness at me.  Even in situaitons where I am not the one at fault, I don't like it.  Have you ever noticed that when someone is upset about something and there's nothing you can do about it all your friends will tell you not to worry about it?  "Don't worry about it."  "Don't sweat it, man."  "Don't let it get to you."  Well, you now what, I don't like it when people are mad.  Call me silly.  Tell me I care too much about what people think about me. But nevertheless, I don't like it. 

Maybe I want things to be happy-go-lucky (whatever that silly phrase means).  Maybe I want the Garden of Eden.  Who knows? 

I get especially worked up when someone gets mad at me and questions my moral character, or even my character as a Christian, or even my character as a minister.  Like I said before, someone got mad at me recently because I took a stand on something.  And then another person, not at all involved in the initial issue, send me words of critique, meanness, and basically told me I'm the kind of minister that turns people away from Christ. 

That hurt me...I don't know what else to say.  I took a stand, and I got hurt...but I still stand by my decision.  

I didn't write this blog because I learned a valuable truth today and I wanted to share it. I already knew the truth.  The truth is, sometimes you've got to take a stand.  And the stronger the stand you take, the more it will make some people really mad.  I guess the most important thing in the whole situaiton is, what will you do when you're attacked? 

Currently Listening Try! John Mayer Trio Live in Concert By John Mayer Trio Another Kind of Green see related

Catt poo, top ten movies, and jello

::::This is my myspace blog from April 17th::::

I think Turk wants to die.

So, we have 2 cats.  Chloe and Turk.  I think Turk wants to die.  He's a good cat, and I'm fond of him...but I'm pretty sure he's had enough of this life.  I think he's trying to get himself killed. In our guest room/computer room/box storage room/guitar room we've been noticing an odd "cat smell" for a couple days.  We thought maybe it was the litter box stinking up the room.  So we moved the litter box downstairs.  The smell remained.  I thought it was just lingering poop smell from the litter box...but on Easter morning I found out the truth.  Despite the fact that the litter box was only 8 feet away, Turk has been (multiple times) pooping in an open box we have in that room.  It woldn't be so bad, but it just happens to be a box that we've got some clothes in - notably, my favorite black sweater, a sweatshirt, a nice purple shirt of Tessa's, and various socks, underwear and tshirts.  When Tessa got to church yesterday (Easter), one of the first things she said to me was "I found out why the upstairs room smells so bad."  I can think of no reason he pooped on stuff, other than the fact that he wants me to kill him.  I think he just wants to die.  We're looking in to getting him some counceling. 

I also started work on a Top Ten list of my favorite movies (inspired by Topher Lytle).  It's very hard to nail down.  I have 9 solid ones filled in...but i have about 25 notables that are fighting for the #10 spot...I'll get it together eventually, and when i do i'll it in a blog (not because I think people are interested in my list, just because I feel like I should have some more blogs).  I've decided that trying to make a Top 10 list of movies for me is like trying to grab a handful of jello.  

Mmmm.  Jello.  Jello is tasty.