Psalm 95:1-6 – O Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, And a great King above all gods, In whose hand are the depths of the earth; The peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it; And His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

LORD, I am thankful for:

1)   My family that you show your love to me through each and every day

2)   My church that is a part of Your Church that shows me the gift of community

3)   My house selling in Tennessee so we will be debt free! WOOHOO!

4)   Old friends and new friends for they continue to show me grace, mercy, and support and build me up for greater service to You.

5)   My B-I-B-L-E, yep it’s the book for me! I can’t imagine how stupid I would be if I didn’t have Your Words to show me wisdom.

6)   Good health so I can be to others an encouragement and support. And so I can take care of my family as I’ve dreamed.

7)   A forgiven past. Thank you God that you continue to redeem me from myself. May I always decrease and you increase.

8)   A BIG AWESOME GRACE FILLED FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST FOR ETERNITY!!! There’s no greater joy than the joy I now have knowing my present and my future is protected by your victory!

9)   Oh, and great Thanksgiving food – c’mon! Who doesn’t love Thanksgiving food! Best meal all year! I think I’m going to get Alyson to let us celebrate Thanksgiving at least once a quarter. Who’s with me?!

What are you thankful for?

I hardly get to see them. At best, it seems like I see her family for about 10 days a year. None of us are excited about that. All of us wish it could be more, but that is just how it is. Life has a funny way of catching up with me and keeping me so busy that I just find it hard to get away.

It’s been good to take time to get away.

Since I’ve been here, I’ve worked less, and rested more. Thought less about stuff I should be doing, and more about the wonderful relationships I’m making and growing.

Today, as I continue to reflect on Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for the time to mend, begin, and develop relationships.

Proverbs 18:1 says, “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.”

So far this Thanksgiving season, I’ve worked to mend a relationship, begin a relationship, and develop relationships. And to be completely blunt, I feel so much more thankful this season as I’ve done this. I’ve realized that through relationships I truly am able to see and feel the love of my Heavenly Father.

Prayer: Thank you God for loving me through other people, especially Your Son Whom died on the cross for my sins, so I can have relationship with You, In Jesus Name, Amen.

This Thanksgiving, let someone specifically know that you are thankful for him or her and the relationship you are building.

One of the things I wrestle with is my  tendency to see things from a negative perspective. What this means, is that when someone says something to me, I hear what what they say from a negative slant. Even if the comments are positive, I have to ask someone to point out the positive.

This is a problem. It’s a big problem. I’m working on it. This isn’t how I want to be.

If you’re like me then, then this is how you cure negative thinking: Colossians 3:1-17.

What an awesome reminder to stop looking down and start looking up! We don’t have to look at things negatively because Christ is on the throne and reigning over us. He is for us and not against us! Therefore even if something is meant to be negative, God will make it positive.

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

What situations are keeping you down? What is causing you to be negative? Put those things to the side. Christ died for us, so we can have a joyful and abundant life, and not one filled with negativity.

Be positive! God is on the throne!

What a wonderful short surprise.

I pastor a church in the mountains of North Carolina. This is not where I grew up. It is not the culture I received my training. While reading this book, I was reminded that regardless of the type of culture or the type of economical situation you may find your church in, there is one thing that we can all share in common – the ability to get stuck in ministry.

In the past, I have read books that were designed to help ministers take their congregations to new levels of followership, commitment, and service, but didn’t offer practical advice. Literally, in like 20 pages, Tony shares great expert advice on how to come to a ministry realization, and then how to deal with that realization if you are stuck.

Possibly the greatest advice I read, was to cut back on staff. Don’t worry staff, I’m not looking to make cuts.  However, my first instinctive thought on starting something new is always to find someone new to hire.  I think Tony would suggest letting a volunteer handle the role in order to maximize congregation participation. What a novel idea. I don’t know how many times, I have told people they need to plug into their, or a, church. This morning I realized that the issue might not be that our congregations don’t want to plug into the church, but that we haven’t given them the opportunity to.

If you are in leadership at a church, you need to read this short book. If you are not in leadership, you need to print off this book and give it to your pastor. This could be the very thing that motivates and compels your church to be unstuck in its rut.

What is something you have done to get out of the ruts that life can sometimes bring?

The Word of Promise The Gift of Psalms

As a pastor, I read a lot. And I mean a lot. I was impressed with the ease of readability of The Word of Promise The Gift of Psalms. I was able to read the entire book in various breaks throughout two days.

But don’t let this quick read be a deterrent believing it is not packed with valuable information. The phrasing and insight given is not a regular part of my vernacular. The words and insight have brought healing to me, and to many persons in whom I counsel.

My only frustration with the book is that it does not cover all 150 Psalms. There are many wonderful Psalms that the book seemed to overlook or pass off as seemingly unhelpful to the discerning reader. Therefore, I would not recommend this book as a study tool for the Psalms, but I would recommend this book as a way to be introduced to Bible Study.

But after-all, it is only a devotional.

If you are interested in purchasing this book, you can find it here.

On another note: what is your favorite psalm?

Some of you have been so great at encouraging me to write blogs, but to be completely blunt, I don’t know if I have a whole lot to say. To me, I’m boring. Sure, God is teaching me things about life, but I seem to be able to fit those into a Facebook status or a Tweet (Add me on both if you haven’t already!).

Therefore, I am thinking about changing the way I blog altogether. I’m thinking about making my blog a family blog. It would be something that Alyson and I would both write on and work to keep up. That way, you all will have something much more regularly.

A couple questions come to my mind if this is to happen that I would love for you all to help answer:

1)   What do you read and comment on? For instance, I’m not interested in seeing me think, I’m interested in conversation.

2)   What should we call this new blog? (If we pick your name we definitely give you props!)

I’m pumped to hear what you think! Don’t be shy! Go!

Enter here, God’s first book for us to understand life, Genesis.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty (chaos), darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

It may seem as though nothing good could come from chaos, but it does make sense. Before we can recognize and appreciate order, we have to understand disorder. And believe me, if your life is anything like mine, then you understand disorder and chaos.

Lately with the “move” and saying goodbye to friends, life for the Costner’s has been chaotic. Our schedules have been off, our routine has been changing and it will change in the future. And in the midst of all this I’ve truly found peace in the above Scripture. Here’s why: In Hebrews 13, Paul (or whoever you believe wrote Hebrews) is wrapping up his book and encouraging the people. He starts off, “Continue loving one another…” then he says something that is life changing. It’s verse 8, and it says this: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Here’s the deal – If God is the same now as He was long ago, then He is still hovering over the chaos. Nothing has changed. And it won’t ever change.

I am confident that the creation story is a microcosm of what God wants to do in our lives. He hovers over the chaotic situations ready to create order. And if we will let Him, He will create something far more beautiful than we can imagine.

Don’t get down when chaos finds you. Trust God. Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.

The reality for my family and me is that as much as those things are good, I am and have been doing them prematurely. I have realized in my life that just because something may be good to do, doesn’t mean it’s good to do it right now. For instance, it’s good to eat dinner, but not before we wash our hands to rid ourselves of the excessive germs.

To do things prematurely is to do them without full potential. I can meditate, but I’m so tired of all the work that I have been doing, I get sleepy and don’t focus. I can read, but not being able to focus, means I do not really comprehend. I can write, but not comprehending what I’m reading and being out of focus, means my writings are incoherent thoughts (I hope this isn’t one of those!).

There is a remedy though. It’s called a vacation.

A recent survey shows that people should take a vacation every 62 days. To not do so may mean becoming sick, anxious, aggressive, and withdrawn. To take a time-out can mean better health for you, a better family life,  and a happier boss because we are better able to focus on our tasks at hand.

So, my family and I are taking a vacation.

If you are like my family and don’t have much money, here are 3 easy vacations you can take.

Vacation 1 – Call a friend in another city, and go visit. The only excessive cost will be the gas to get there. You buy some groceries when you get there and the cost is not much more than normal life.

Vacation 2 – Go for a walk. This morning I went for an eight-mile hike. I put my favorite music on, and set out on a journey around my neighborhood (4x around = 8 miles). I promise, after mile 2, I was caught up in the music and walking and was in a world of my own.

Vacation 3 – Unplug. This is the hardest for me to do, but take the phone off the hook, and turn your cell phones and laptops off. Grab a book or watch your favorite movie or two. Not focusing on your norm will give your body a chance to re-energize.

Have you taken a vacation recently? What did you do? Any tips for inexpensive vacations?

It is with mixed emotions I write this letter. I never thought I would. I can’t believe I am.

For several months now, I have felt a stirring in my Spirit that change was coming. However, I didn’t know exactly what that meant. To be completely blunt, I thought that the change was going to be another church would merge with East Nashville Community Church. And, well, that happened. On July 03, 2011 a church began meeting in ENCC’s ministry building and on July 31, 2011 we officially merged into one service. (It was definitely a glorious day to always be remembered!!!)

And yet that wasn’t the change God was calling my family to.

For the last several years of my life, and for the entire time that Alyson and I have been married, we have sought to do nothing other than what God was calling us to. We have listened carefully. We have pursued Jesus without abandon. This decision has been unpopular to some people. It has caused dissention in some places. It has even led to the loss of some friends, but we have not waivered from the desire to dwell in God’s will.

In our pursuit, it became evident last month that the change I felt coming was not just in assignment, it was in location. On July 31, 2011 I announced at East Nashville Community Church that my family and I would be moving to North Carolina (I will write more about that later). Even now at 4:30 a.m. as I write this letter because I can’t sleep, my heart get’s heavy at the thought of leaving the community and church that I love so deeply, and yet I am excited about the future and my new assignment.

This early morning as I think about East Nashville Community Church the thought that continues to run across my mind is that it is a church that is truly the work of the Lord. My wife and I began planting the church starting back in January of 2010. We had a stirring in our heart for a church to exist that would resemble the community with all her diversity and would seek to love and embrace the community as we sought to love her into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Such a church exists. Be proud! Rejoice! Join her in action. My family’s moving on doesn’t mean the church will cease to work, it simply means God’s got even bigger plans for her. Get excited! Join where God is moving! Join what God is doing! Don’t look back! Pursue Jesus. Pursue Jesus. Pursue Jesus. He is worth it. The Church is worth it.

East Nashville Community Church you will always hold a special place in my heart! I am excited to watch you grow. I will love you always.

Your founding pastor,

Matthew

And I haven’t heard anything. God has been quiet.

In God’s quietness, my initial reaction was, “God, where are you?” And I have to be completely transparent with you here; I realized I was asking the wrong question.  The better question for me, and that I think most of us forget to ask in our journey, is, “God, where am I?”

I’ve been so busy lately “doing” that I’ve forgotten to “be.”  If we aren’t careful, we can do so much and get so busy doing good and great things for God, or simply living life, that we lose the relationship with Him. And then when we need to hear from God most, we just aren’t close enough to hear Him.

If you have been searching for God and wondering where He is, maybe your focus should turn from where God is to where you are. Friends, don’t get so caught up in searching for God that you actually wander away from Him. Pursue being in relationship.

Here are 3 steps to help in your relationship with God:

1)   Pray for God to reveal where you are – we can’t change what we don’t know.

2)   Be honest with yourself on where you are – if we focus on where we wish we were we would never be able to take the steps away from where we are.

3)   Be intentional in your time with God – as cheesy as it may sound, you dated (or set apart a specific time) your spouse or significant other; do the same with Jesus.

What advice do you have that can help us all in our relationship with God?