Matt W Cook

Settling. Goofing off. Case in point:

A nice Pakistani lady was talking to Ruth while we were all at the park today. After looking at me she turned to Ruth and said, “Wow, you have a white husband and you’re dressed like this?” It threw Ruth for a loop just for a moment. But she remembered this was a common sentiment in Pakistan. Since Ruth is ‘high-status’ she ought to dress like it, the logic goes.

Ruth rejects this. She refuses to dress or act a certain way just because her social class seems to call for it. This turns some people off, initially. But it also makes her true relationships deeper. You see, her adornment is the inner beauty of her personality and her life in Jesus. That’s what’s most attractive. So when she refuses to conform to arbitrary conventions about dress code, she is rocking the boat where it needs to be rocked. Rock on.

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This is second-hand unless you’re reading it at http://www.theilliteratescribe.com

Christian Horizons is a really neat organization. Check them out.

They hired me a little while ago. Last week they said that I would be starting at a house soon. Soon is not nearly as soon as I’d like, though. I’ve been living here in Thorncliffe for more than a week…and I guess I’m unemployed. I know they’ll call eventually (probably). But even then there is the nagging question: what if I don’t get enough hours? What if they don’t really need me? What if I can’t do this thing that I’ve set out to do? Crash and Burn. Prove all the nay-sayers right. Screw the pooch.

And the scary thing is, failure, as far as I can see, is actually possible. I have a wife and two kids. No job=no rent / food. What if I can’t make ends meet? It’s possible.

I caught myself trying to come up with get-rich schemes. Well, not get-rich, more like get-decently paid. And right around the time I started toying with the idea of dancing on the street for quarters I remembered something someone very wise once said.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Then all these things will be added to you

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Jesus just told us not to worry about food, drink, clothes, rent, Internet, phone. Because the secret is seeking Christ above all. Running after his righteousness. His kingdom. And if we run after it, we can be confident that he will take care of the details.

I’m going to keep waiting for the call from Christian Horizons. I’m going to call them a few times every day until I hear form them. I’m not going to turn away money that comes my way. But I refuse to chase it. I refuse to live for it. Instead of trembling by the phone and staying up at night wondering if August’s rent cheque will bounce, I’m going to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. If I’m still living here next month, you’ll know that it worked.

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This is second-hand unless you’re reading it at http://www.theilliteratescribe.com

Every society generates an unspoken list of priorities. It’s not really designed by anyone. It’s just the general consensus of the population. It’s probably the best way to understand a people. I’ve been trying to make a list of the priorities of our Canadian people group. Here’s a rough list:
– Safety. Death is the ultimate evil. Anything that reduces the risk of death or injury is good.
– Entertainment. Being bored or under-stimulated is almost as bad as death.
– Ease. Convenience as an end in itself, not as a means to save time.
– Independence. Each individual ought to be able to function as an island. This is valued both as it tends toward life-building experiences and as it protects our choices from outside interference.
– Freedom. The ability to choose our own paths without arbitrary interference.
– Tolerance. The embracing of all manners of living as completely as possible.

This started me thinking about what the priority list of the Christian sub-culture might look like. This seemed more difficult because most of them would be the same in some sub-cultures, while in others they might be completely different. I decided to go with the sub-culture I knew best. Fundamentalist.
– Biblical authority. If it is not of the Bible it is bad. This spreads to all levels of life. Even some that many would consider irrelevant.
– Separation. The church is separate from the world. As such the things of the world are evil and practices of the world are suspect.
– Tradition. The way we have done it is good and change is resisted unless for very good reason.
– Solemnity. Quiet, deep worship. Flippancy is considered very bad.

And, of course, all this started me thinking about what a list would look like for a group of people who followed Jesus. This one was hard, because it required me to try to push past the way I ordered my life to see the way I should order my life.
– Love. Love to God and love to man. Nothing higher than this. Nothing. Not safety, not money, not freedom. Love above all.
– Hatred. Seems strange, eh? But hatred of sin, I think, is something high on the list. Hatred of hypocrisy. Of death. Of pain and injustice. Of philosophies that cause these things.
– Holiness. The emulating of the life and love of Christ. The faithful outworking of everything he pointed to. Joy. Discipline. Service. Purity.

I can’t think of any more. Can you?

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This is second-hand unless you’re reading it at http://www.theilliteratescribe.com

How long have I been here? How long have I waited to get here? Suddenly I remember the lost, familiar feeling I had in Pakistan.

It’s not that this place is actually like Pakistan. It’s not, really. Even the people are different, if you look closely. In my area of Pakistan there was a homogeneous feel. Most people were Sindhi. Some were tribal or Punjabi. That was about it. Here there is a metropolitan of South Asian people groups. Not just Pakistani and Afghani and Persian. But deeper cultural differences. Pashto, Gujrati, Sindhi, Punjabi, Mohajir, Dari. The cultural climate is different. TPK is not Pakistan.
So it’s not a similarity of people or landscape that makes me feel the same way. It’s, I think, a familiarity of expectation.

You know what it’s like achieving something you’ve been pressing after, right? You’re sure that everything will turn upside down once you get it.

But things don’t really turn over as much as you’d think they should. I’m still me. I still wake up in the morning with a horrible taste in my mouth. What has changed? Not much.

TPK isn’t really the holy grail of life. It’s a place. A neat place, yes. One of the most interesting places I’ve ever been to. But it’s only a place. I think I was expecting TPK to change me in some way that another area could not.

But places don’t change us. Or, they rarely do. People change us. Ideas change us. But places don’t. I seek for a radical change in my life that will, in turn, elicit a radical change in the lives of whatever community I’m living in. But the radical change in my own life must first come from either myself or something higher than myself.

I was up at night troubled with the expectations I have in this new place. Expectations about what I can do here. About what can happen here. About what I ought to feel and accomplish here. And so I forget that this is just a place. A place filled with beautiful people who are hurt and broken.

So I let go of expectations. I live the way I preach: not as a missionary or a man with a project, but as a simple lover of Jesus who loves his neighbors. Boo ya.

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This is second-hand unless you’re reading it at http://www.theilliteratescribe.com

For the past two months I think I’ve been pretty consistent with the blog. A post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I was feeling like a normal blogger. Like I had slain the beast that devours most blogs before they are a month old. It was a good feeling. And then I missed Monday and Wednesday.

Sorry about that.

In my defense, I only got Internet at my NEW HOUSE last night.

New house, new house. The first time we’ve lived in our own place in two years. Want a tour?

And here are a few slick action shots:

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This is second-hand unless you’re reading it at http://www.theilliteratescribe.com

I’m busy.

We move to Toronto on Sunday. Starting a new job. Living on our own for the first time in two years. Very busy. Don’t feel like I have time to read, write and work as much as I’d like to. I’m hoping things will be different in TPK (that’s Thorncliffe Park, not Toilet Paper Kingdom).

So my wordcount is low. I’ve finished reading about 2 books since I’ve been in Canada, and none of my projects (save this blog) are looking any closer to completion than they were three weeks ago. Very, very busy. With what? I’m not too sure.

And I’ve taken on a hobby. Wanna see it?
T-Shirts. I make stuff out of T-Shirts. It’s a great hobby. It requires your fingers and eyes, not much more. So it’s easy to multi-task. When I make stuff from T-Shirts I almost feel like I’m not actually that busy. And once I’ve made something I feel energized and ready to do some ‘real’ work.

So if any of you have any old T-Shirts you don’t want, send them my way and I’ll make something amazing out of them.

And that’s all I have to say to you this Friday morning. I would have made a deep, thought-provoking post, but I’m just too busy. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to turn some second-hand clothing into amazing works of art. See ya Monday.

Peace.

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This is second-hand unless you’re reading it at http://www.theilliteratescribe.com

I don’t usually do this. Usually, come early Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning I am not blogging. Even though that’s when my blogs are published.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been pretty consistent with three posts a week for about a month now. It’s part of my regiment of discipline and my desire to never become…irrelevant. Did you know most blogs and most twitter accounts sit inactive, like cyber-space zombies? I think that’s because most of them were irrelevant to begin with. Just a bunch of guys talking about what they did that way in stale, common prose. Not really offering anything of value to the world.

I want to offer something. And I was doing pretty good at it, I thought. At least it had potential. So much potential that my blogs were all being posted a good week after they were written. Not only was I not struggling against a due date, I was ahead of the game.

And then this week started. Things are getting hectic. I’m preaching, moving to Toronto, trying a handful of other projects. So I’m typing this in real-time, and desperately hoping that it’ll be the last time.

But I’m going to be true to my resolve. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are blog days. If you stumble on this blog on one of those days and there’s nothing new, you have the right to kick my ass (or butt, if you don’t want to take it out on my donkey). Just give me until noon.

And in the future, I promise to make these posts more relevant and fun and all that crap that blogs are supposed to be.

Love ya.

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This is second-hand unless you’re reading it at http://www.theilliteratescribe.com

I bet you’ve been itching all weekend to know how my anniversary went. Because, of course, you have no life of your own to get on with and you’re perpetually yearning for news on mine.

Well, I guess not. But I bet you like pretty pictures. So here’s a rundown of how my weekend anniversary part-eh went.

First we cruised over to the Science Centre, where Ben and Melissa were waiting for us (surprise!).
The Science Centre was neat…not nearly as mind-blowing as it was when I was twelve, but I was with people I loved, so it was cool nonetheless.

After bidding farewell to Ben and Mel, we went down to the Gladstone Hotel, the oldest running hotel in Toronto. Each room was specially designed by a different artist. We stayed in the Red Room (sounds too close to Redrum for my tastes…)

And the entire evening was a riot. Karaoke, Ethiopian coffee, good food, and a wonderful wife. Yay for happy!

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This is second-hand unless you’re reading it at http://www.theilliteratescribe.com

Do you know what day it is? It’s June 19th. That means anniversary time for the Cooks.

Right now, as you’re reading this, I’m in Toronto. Ruth is taking me to the Science Centre and I’m taking her to a slick hotel. We’ll probably have some Ethiopian food and listen to some Jazz at a club down the road in the evening. Things are looking good. And they’ve been looking good for a long time.

I’m not really a romantic type. I usually roll my eyes during chick-flicks and Bollywood romances. Most love songs make me nauseous. So bear that in mind when considering what I’m about to say.

I love my wife.

I am more in love with my wife than I was when we were first married. And I mean that in the most complete way possible. I mean that I am more passionately, purely, intellectually, emotionally, and every other-ly way possible, in love with her now than I have ever been.

So I have messages for two groups of people today. One is for all those people who warned me about how crappy marriage and married life is. For all those movies and sitcoms that portray marriage as a drudgery that seems only a step or two above prison. For those people whose best advice for married people is little more than ‘you shouldn’t have done it.’ For those people, here is my message: You’re all idiots.

Seriously, you’re dumb. You’ve never experienced marriage the way it ought to be. And I don’t think you mean well, either, because you could at least pretend to support people when they’re getting married, instead of filling their heads with nasty, pessimistic expectations. Yep, you’re all dumb.

And to those of you who are married, or getting married, or hope to be married, I have something to say. Marriage, regardless of what anyone says or what your experience with it is, is great. Don’t think so? Trust me, it is. If your marriage isn’t going well the only solution is love and forgiveness. Love and forgiveness are cure-alls for marital ills. And Ruth and I love and forgive ALL THE TIME. Therefore, we are happy. Burstingly, ridiculously, annoy-people-on-mondays happy.

So throw away your marriage books, forget 3, 7 or 100 steps to a perfect marriage. Just love and forgive. And maybe, if you’re luck and if God allows, you will be able to love your wife almost as much as I love mine.

Ruth, you continue to rock my face off. Keep rocking.

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This is second-hand unless you’re reading it at http://www.theilliteratescribe.com

I had it all planned out. I was going to get home, eat with my family, work for a few hours on the billion projects I’ve got going on, and then hang with my family again until it was time for bed. Seemed like a good plan. But it didn’t work.

Good friends showed up.

Good friends always keep me up at night. When I am faced with a choice between duty and good friends I think I always pick good friends. I don’t think anything of staying up past midnight for a third night in a row the morning before work if good friends are the cause.

Here’s the thing: work will always come and go. But the benefit I get from spending all my non-working hours with good friends is nearly incalculable. I feel really sad when I hear people say that they have few real friends. But I wonder, at the same time, if they were willing to sacrifice a bit of duty and work for people, would they start getting friends? If they valued friends and relationships more than work and ‘oughtness’ do you think the friends would come? I’ve caused a lot of work for myself this week because of time spent with friends. And even though I’m very tired about it right now, I don’t regret it in the least.

So thanks, good friends, for showing up and disrupting my schedule. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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This is second-hand unless you’re reading it at http://www.theilliteratescribe.com