Leaving a Legacy

As I reflect on our past year and what incredible changes have occurred in our lives I am left with the thought of the effect that our move will have on generations to come. We made this move to forever change the lives of our sons, and their children, to forge a new path, to allow them to grow up in adventure to explore the majesty around them. This will be a legacy.

Today I embark on a journey that I invite all those that read this to join me on. Today I start on a journey to that will change my heart so that I will in turn be able to leave a legacy to my sons so that they will see my walk with the Lord. I started to read the Bible in it's entirety using the Legacy Reading plan by Hank Hanegraaf. The reason I like this plan is because it groups the books of the Bible together by genres, you aren't simply reading from Genesis to Revelation, instead you read by Hebrew History, Prophetic Books, etc. You can find out more by taking a look at the actual plan: http://www.equip.org/site/legacy_bible_reading_plan. The other aspect is that you read at your own pace, their are goals for each month, but it's not something you have to do everyday. This is something I hope to do each an every year, not because I have to but because I want to. God has spoken to us, He has only spoken to us through His Word.

So what does this have to do with a legacy? As I have shared in the past, no matter what a person does during his/her life it will eventually be forgotten. Man is a vapor. The absolute greatest impact one can have on this life is the legacy that is left with his/her children. Whether you know it or not there is a legacy that is left. That legacy may be one like Enoch where it was said of him that he walked with the Lord. I want that to be said of me. Or, that legacy might be one of David, who, because of his sin with Bathsheba, the sword never left his home. Yes, he was a man after God's own heart, but sin has consequences. He lived and died with those consequences and it affected many generations after him, Israel and Judah didn't fall in one day, it took many generations. That was the legacy that was left. Our nation isn't where it's at today because of what people are doing today, those affects will be felt by future generations; no what we see today is because of the legacy that was left by the previous generation. I want my legacy to be that I loved the Lord, my sons saw that I loved the Lord and by loving the Lord with all my heart, by being a man after His own heart they knew I loved them. By knowing the Creator's Word and applying it in my life I will become that man, there is no other way. That's leaving a legacy.

Join me on this journey, wrestle with God and His word, I promise (and He promises) it will not leave you unchanged.

How many ropes do you hold?

I have had several situations come up over the last few months where folks tend to take on more than what is they should be responsible for. Trust me I know as I was very guilty of this. I thought I would share this story that I read from the book Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scazzero. I highly recommend this book as it deals more about your own Christian health as opposed to the Church itself. This is a direct excerpt from the book:

Rabbi Edwin Friedman tells the story of a man who had given much thought to what he wanted from life. After trying many things, succeeding at some and failing at others, he finally decided what he wanted.

One day the opportunity came for him to experience exactly the way of living that he had dreamed about. But the opportunity would be available only for a short time. It would not wait, and it would not come again.

Eager to take advantage of this open pathway, the man started on his journey. With each step, he moved faster and faster. Each time he thought about his goal, his heart beat quicker; and with each vision of what lay ahead, he found renewed vigor.

As he hurried along, he came to a bridge that crossed through the middle of a town. The bridge spanned high above a dangerous river.

After starting across the bridge, he noticed someone coming the opposite direction. The stranger seemed to be coming toward him to greet him. A the stranger grew closer, the man could discern that they didn’t know each other, but yet they looked amazingly similar. They were even dressed alike. The only difference was that the stranger had a rope wrapped many times around his waist. If stretched out, the rope would reach a length of perhaps thirty feet.

The stranger began to unwrap the rope as he walked. Just as the two men were about to meet, the stranger said, “Pardon me, would you be so kind as to hold the end of the rope for me?”
The man agreed without a thought, reached out, and took it.

“Thank you,” said the stranger. He then added, “Two hands now, and remember, hold tight.” At that point, the stranger jumped off the bridge.

The man on the bridge abruptly felt a strong pull from the now-extended rope. He automatically held tight and was almost dragged over the side of the bridge.

“What are you trying to do?” he shouted to the stranger below.

“Just hold tight,” said the stranger.

This is ridiculous, the man thought. He began trying to haul the other man in. Yet it was just beyond his strength to bring the other back to safety.

Again he yelled over the edge, “Why did you do this?”

“Remember,” said the other, “if you let go, I will be lost.”

“But I cannot pull you up,” the man cried.

“I am your responsibility,” said the other.

“I did not ask for it,” the man said.

“If you let go, I am lost,” repeated the stranger.

The man began to look around for help. No one was within sight.

He began to think about his predicament. Here he was eagerly pursuing a unique opportunity, and now he was being sidetracked for who knows how long.

Maybe I can tie the rope somewhere, he thought. He examined the bridge carefully, but there was no way to get rid of his new found burden.

So he again yelled over the edge, “What do you want?”

“Just your help,” came the answer.

“How can I help? I cannot pull you in, and there is no place to tie the rope while I find someone else who could help you.”

“Just keep hanging on,” replied the dangling man. “That will be enough.”

Fearing that his arms could not hold out much longer, he tied the rope around his waist.
“Why did you do this?” he asked again. “Don’t you see who you have done? What possible purpose could you have in mind?”

“Just remember,” said the other, “my life is in your hands.”

Now the man was perplexed. He reasoned within himself, If I let go, all my life I will know that I let this other man die. If I stay, I risk losing my momentum toward my own long-sought-after salvation. Either way this will haunt me forever.

As time went by, still no one came. The man became keenly aware that it was almost too late to resume his journey. If he didn’t leave immediately, he wouldn’t arrive in time.

Finally, he devised a plan. “Listen,” he explained to the man hanging below, “I think I know how to save you.” He mapped out the idea. The stranger could climb back up by wrapping the rope around him. Loop by loop, the rope would become shorter.

But the dangling man had no interest in the idea.

“I don’t think I can hang on much longer,” warned the man on the bridge.

“You must try,” appealed the stranger. “If you fail, I die.”

Suddenly a new idea struck the man on the bridge. It was different and even alien to his normal way of thinking. “I want you to listen carefully,” he said, “because I mean what I am about to say.”

The dangling man indicated that he was listening.

“I will not accept the position of choice for your life, only for my own; I hereby give back the position of choice for your own life to you.”

“What do you mean?” the other asked, afraid.

“I mean, simply, it’s up to you. You decide which way this ends. I will become the counterweight. You do the pulling and bring yourself up. I will even tug some from here.”
He unwound the rope from around his waist and braced himself to be a counterweight. He was ready to help as soon as the dangling man began to act.

“You cannot mean what you say,” the other shrieked. “You would not be so selfish. I am your responsibility. What could be so important that you would let someone die? Do not do this to me.”

After a long pause, the man on the bridge uttered slowly, “I accept your choice.” In voicing those words, he freed his hands and continued his journey over the bridge.

Again I highly encourage you to pick up that book to get a good context of what this story relates to. Would you let go of the rope?

Moved In

We have officially been at 10,050 ft now for a little over a week and absolutely love it in our new home. It has been an adjustment. We have grieved the loss of the familiar but are excited about the new adventures that lie before us. We really didn't have any issues acclimating to the altitude, God's grace I guess, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous! I think one of the biggest misconceptions about the mountains is that it is cold. While the temps are lower, the proximity to the sun, the amount of sunshine and the dry air really make it pleasant, heck I was out in jeans and a t-shirt in the morning while it was about 25. As I write this there is snow on the ground outside, probably about 50 degrees and a majority of the windows are open just to keep the house cool.

Yes I did mention snow, it snowed yesterday here. It probably dropped 2-3 inches, but most of it has melted away. On the top Mount Elbert and Mount Massive the storm yesterday probably dropped 2-3 ft! They look absolutely beautiful against the blue sky. The snow did come a bit early this year, or so I'm told, and we are expecting another 3 inches tomorrow. It will all melt off by Monday. One of the misconceptions that we have, or so we've been told, is that even though the snow around here piles up we don't get it in a few big snow storms, rather we get all of the snow over many, many little snows usually 4-8in at a time. The temps don't allow the snow to melt. The roads are very well maintained, the sun usually melts the snow off the pavement very quickly, or the snow simply evaporates. It's kind of weird. All that said, we love the snow and the cooler temps.

Another aspect of living up here that we are adjusting to is how quiet it is and how dark it gets. We are only a mile from the Leadville main street (Harrison Ave), but we don't live in the city limits and at night you can actually see the cloud of stars. (I will try and get a pic of this at some point.) The boys and I walked the perimeter of our property (we have 11 acres) at night and turned off the lights. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face! It was kind of eerie but when you looked up and saw the stars... WOW!

The boys are loving it, they have so much room! They are eagerly awaiting the migration of the elk down from the mountains and the other animals to show up. On the property we have seen the evidence of wapiti (elk), mulies (mule deer), fox, bear, coyotes, and possibly mountain lion, although it's hard to tell the difference between the scat of mountain lions and coyotes. We have seen the tracks, but they looked pretty old.

The Lord has been so faithful to us. We did attend services at the Community Church of Leadville and have already made some great friends. The boys have spent a couple of days over at their houses which was such a help while our movers were here delivering all of our stuff! Folks have been extremely friendly, we look forward to forging those new relationships.

So far so good, our first week has been filled with joy and with tears, all in all good. We miss our old friends and family, and look forward to the new. Our first week of this journey is over, now onto the second!

All of the pics below are taken from our back deck.

Sunset over Massive and Elbert:


Mount Elbert (Tallest Peak in the Rocky Mountains):


Mount Massive (Second tallest peak in the Rocky Mountains):

Go West Young Man

"...Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country." - popularized by Horace Greeley


I am not so young anymore, but I feel it and my sons are young!

As you can probably tell from earlier posts Shannon and I have long had a dream of moving to Colorado, and I don't mean to Denver or other areas in the front range, but to a place where the mountains touch the sky, the elk and bear still run wild and the snow falls deep! We have spent the last three years praying about moving to Colorado, at first it was simply because we loved the scenery and the weather; however over those three years the Lord revealed to us exactly what was truly in our hearts.

God's favor was upon me when I had three sons, each of my sons has their own personality and tastes but they are all boy. They love to run, wrestle, explore, and be dangerous. As I have grown older and watched my boys get bigger I began to realize that all my dreams, anything that I wanted to accomplish was trumped by what legacy I would leave in my sons. Whatever in life I would do, whether be someone famous, make a lot of money, or just be the ordinary person that somehow makes their way through life succumbing to the culture all of those things would eventually be forgotten. The one thing that would not be forgotten is the legacy that I leave with my sons. That starts out with loving my wife. (That could be a whole other post in and of itself) It also starts with being actively involved in my sons' lives. Now I can do those things regardless of where I live. So much of what we pass to our children though is through how we live, there is the saying that "much more is caught than taught" and that is the truth.

What the Lord has so carefully revealed to us about ourselves is that we must go west so that we can learn to live again, out of the safety of the familiar, out on our own if you will. We are blazing a new trail that will have repercussions for many generations on my family, on my sons, on their, children, and on their children's children. You get my point. Living out there where we can all explore together, live in the unfamiliar together, my boys will get a chance to "catch" how to live amongst the challenges, amongst those mountains that call a young man to reach the top, the white water rivers that dare us to ride them if you can and after all that to sit quietly in the solitude of it all and pray together. Well one might say that those challenges exist wherever you live, they do; however it is a call to my heart that only the Lord truly understands. Some people are awe inspired by the majesty of a thunderstorm, some by the intricacies of a flower, I am awe inspired by the mountains. Watch that scene at the beginning of A River Runs Through It where the two young brothers are running in the mountains, some folks will through their cynicism and own hurting heart will trash it, but those that admit their brokenness and seek the awesomeness of God will be stirred. I was.

I don't expect anyone to truly understand the fullness of our move, read Wild At Heart by John Eldredge to catch a glimpse. We are truly heading on another great adventure, it won't be an easy one by any means. This moving journey so far has been filled with ups and downs, but the Lord constantly reminds me, Matt, "Don't miss the Journey". I am trying not to.

Exactly two weeks from today our house will be packed up and we will be on our way out west to settle in Leadville, CO. It is about 100 miles west of Denver nestled between the Sawatch Range and the Mosquito Range. On average it receives about 150 inches of snow each winter, has an average summer high of 71 degrees and averages 310 days of sunshine a year. Leadville sits at 10,200 feet above sea level.

We are very excited, albeit right now it is very surreal, we are also nervous and scared. It is very different from everything that we are familiar with. The Lord will see us through it. Don't miss the journey.

A promise

This morning as I prayed to the Lord He spoke to me a promise. I was specifically praying about Colorado, my new job that is to be made available in July and my family. I knelt on the floor of our living room. The blinds in the kitchen were open. The cloudy sky was breaking apart and then the golden sun shone on me. As I prayed the Lord stopped me, spoke to me. Matt as sure as the sun rises each day I will fulfill your dream. I will move you to Colorado. Matt you have to honor me, honor me with your life, your thoughts, your body, sin no more, be a changed man. Rid yourself of the anger and the selfishness. Honor me and I will honor you. Use Colorado and what I give you there for my glory, open your home, lead your family. - December 1, 2010

A time for everything

It's pretty ironic that I read the book of Ecclesiates while coming home from my trip to Denver this week. I am not sure if you have ever read Ecclesiates but it basically starts out with that everything is meaningless, or as the NKJV would put it, it's all vain. King Solomon with all his riches, experiences, fame, etc. came to the conclusion that it's all meaningless. As he continued on he realized that without God everything is truly meaningless, a chasing after the wind, for: "Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals. For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other." (Eccl 3:18-19) You see today we had to put Kody our cat down, very, very hard.

We had Kody for 12 years, Shannon surprised me with him about 5 months after we were married. So while on the one hand we realize that he is just a pet, on the other we are faced with the realization that we live after the fall and that this is the path we all must travel both men and animals. Earlier in Eccl. chapter 3 King Solomon goes into the Time for Everything, a time to be born and a time to die... a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. So while we mourn, mourn the passing of a family pet, mourn the passing of time, mourn the fact that we all must pass away; we must remember that it is only for a time. Solomon also writes in Eccl. 7:1 "A good name is bettern than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of one's birth...". Better is the day of death than that of birth, that was written for the believer in Christ, the day of death will have us standing before the Lord of all creation. So while now is our time to weep and mourn, our weeping will turn to lauging and our mourning to dancing.

So long Kodiak Bear

My Position

Ok, so it has been awhile since I have blogged. I am sitting here in an airport in Omaha 6 months into my new job. Wow! What a change in life, I went from driving to and from work everyday to flying around the country and in different places from one week to another, meeting lots of different people and I am really getting a different perspective on life. I really do like the change, I don't like being away from my beautiful wife and my crazy boys. The new job is a different pace than what I am used to, I used to be focused on projects that would take weeks and even months to complete now there is something different almost everyday, based upon what customer meetings I have. With all the craziness it can be easy to lose one's self because in this fast-paced position and this side of the IT industry there is so much focus on money and things. I admit there are times where I felt very overwhelmed and conflicted because in order to get ahead you have to "make a name for yourself". Well according to the scriptures we are to "decrease so that the Lord may increase" and we are to "die to ourselves" so this message conflicts with the very being of who I am. My bride and I were talking a couple of days ago about these struggles and while I was on my way up here to Omaha she sent me this scripture:

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." Phillippians 2:3

So I was very clearly reminded of my position which is that I am a child of the living God and that I am a sinner just like everyone else and that the Lord, the Lord alone will be my champion (Psalm 11). So I will do all that I know to do and do it as if I am doing it unto the Lord and not be of a carnal mind (Colossians 3). Easier said than done, but I will keep the hands to the plow. Now I am ready to get home! Can't wait to see you honey!