Matt W Cook

I repent, I repent of my pursuit of America’s dream

I repent, I repent of living like I deserve anything

My house house, my fence, my kids and my wife,

In our suburb we’re safe and white,

I am wrong and of these things I repent…

If I only realized that this dream and others like it are crap compared to what God offers me. It’s like gorging myself on stale popcorn so I have lost my taste for the elegant, expensive feast going on in the next room. A fast from the ‘food’ this world offers is important. Whatever I feed will grow, be it my flesh or my spirit…

ANNOUNCEMENT!

So, a few months ago, Matt the Cook was promoted to Matt the Husband. As it turns out, God has seen fit to promote me yet again! That’s right! In about eight or nine months I’ll step up to the position of Matt the Father! Yay!! Pray for us!

Dad out.

Sometimes I believe all the lies so I can do the things I should despise.

And every day I am swayed by whatever is on my mind…

Lies…I believe them because they seem so right. They seem so harmless and pure and fun. But they’ll leave me empty and angry. Thank God it doesn’t depend on my works or my faith…His grace.

I’m shifting sand.

Hey kids, Cook here…

Wiki…

check out The Wikipedia! I’ve been taken in by the great and powerful wiki. Check out the article on the Marwari, the people in the picture are related to me…somehow. What a neat concept for a knowledge base! If you know something, put it up! If you don’t know something, read up! Cool beans.

Announcement!

Actually, I’m not telling you here, maybe I’ll call you’ll soon…

Once again I give my apologies for the late posting, I never realized how busy real life is! I always thought that after getting married I’d have tons of free time. WRONG! All my teachers were telling the truth! College was EASY! (But less fun for sure). Good things are often the most difficult, yes? Yes!

wiki wiki

So, there’s this guy. This guy has a name. This guy also has a couple of rare and very important MP3’s that another guy wants. But this guy won’t give until he sees the following picture:

From left to right we’ve got Matt the Cook (me), Andy Mack, Phil Regamey, and Tyler Heasman. We were all part of the “Gentleman’s Quarters”, a.k.a., GQ. Yep, us boys were all room-mates together in year 2 at Bible college. All good, good buddies. This is a nice picture, yes? Now, bring on the music!

I realize that it’s been a while since I’ve done a decent post. I promise I’ll do one soon…soon.

The Cook

PS – Ender’s Game=Wicked Cool!

Surveys? Who writes surveys?

The Soundtrack to Your Life Survey

Make a soundtrack for your life, matching songs with the following:

Opening song: School of Hard Knocks – POD

Waking up: Like a Child – Jars of Clay

First date: We are the Champions – Queen

First kiss: Song 2 – Blur

Falling in love: Braveheart Theme – Enya

Heartbreak: We Ain’t Gonna Take it – Twisted Sister (Don’t know if this one applies anymore though…)

Driving fast: Greased Lightening – Grease Soundtrack

Getting ready to go out: Soni Soni – Mohabbatein (C’mon, you knew there’d be at least ONE Hindi song here)

Partying with friends: Unbelievable – Thousand Foot Krutch

Dancing at a club: Yeh Ladka Hai Allah – (or two…)

Walking alone in the rain: Downhere – Calmer of the Storm

Missing someone: Time in a Bottle – Jim Croche

Playing in the ocean: Free Ride – Audio Adrenaline

Summer vacation: Irish Music – Boondock Saints (Good song!)

Fighting with someone: Eye of the Tiger – Survivor

Acting goofy with friends: Fhqwhgads – Strong Bad

Thinking back: If I Stand – Rich Mullins

Feeling depressed: I repent – Derek Webb

Christmas time: Carol of the Bells

Falling asleep: Song for Ireland – The Corrs

Closing song: Man of His Word – Bob Carlisle

There we go, another shameless survey post. This one’s pretty neat though, yes? Yes!

Over and out.

Note to self: Don’t let cat play on the computer anymore…

So I slept with a gun last night…

You see, we’re trying to quell this habit of Caedmon’s of jumping and scratching while we’re trying to sleep. So I keep a watergun by the bed to enforce some executive judgment on the little critter when he tries to stop us from getting the sleep we need. Last night was a little better than the one before. The cat now has a fear of our little orange gun…excellent.

My car is beginning to get back on it’s feet. The computer is being replaced as we speak, hopefully that will solve some of my problems. It’ll be weird owning a normal car.

There is a canoe trip scheduled next week, Ruth and I are planning on going. I’m not too sure where it is, but it’ll be a riot for sure. I feel like I haven’t’ canoed for ages…

Now, as my allergies overtake me, I’ll sign off, see you all soon!

Cook

Meooooooow…

meow meow…..purrrrr

*sniff* purrr

mew.

Say hello to my little friend!

So, the rumors are true, Matt the Cook now owns a cat; a kitten to be more accurate. Say hello to our new friend Caedmon. Cute, eh? Historically, I’ve always been a dog person, but the risk of a dog barking throughout the night in our little apartment building is just a bit too high. Besides, Ruth loves the thing.

For some reason the cat likes to crawl into the underneath of the chair in our living room – makes for a good picture though!

Funny story time!

Usually Ruth and I set our alarm clock for 6:30 – even though we rarely get out of bed before 7:00. Since we got this cat, I have not heard the alarm at all. When the cat wakes up (6:00) he takes it upon himself to wake up the rest of the family. So every morning at 6:00 we can expect a little bundle of fur, teeth and claws to be bouncing up and down on us and trying to get into the covers to nibble on our toes or something. This works out pretty good, actually. Unless, of course, he did the same thing the previous night until about 11:30 when we kicked him out (last night).

All in all, I think he’s been a good investment. He makes for a lot of fun and interaction. My allergies aren’t even bothering me!

In other news, I’ve been thinking about anointing my car with motor oil for a while. It’s been very ill. I think that I was never meant to own a normal car. It’s getting a brain transplant soon (new computer). Hopefully that will solve some of my problems.

Anywho, see you on the other side!

(other side? Of what?)

Matt the Cook

What must a man possess who possesses the Possessor of all things? – Savanarola

Ruth and I watched Braveheart the other night. There’s a man with focus, eh? A man gripped by one thing and one thing only. Unrelenting, to the point where people questioned his very sanity. This could be transmitted over to our Christian lives I’m sure. A single purpose, a sole reason to be. For Wallace, it was freedom from foreign oppression, for the Christian?…

Kinda funny, I seem to see spiritual parallels in a lot of Gibson’s films – Signs, The Passion (duh), Lethal Weapon (actually, not likely).

One more spiritual object lesson:

Ruth and I both enjoy Indian incense. I noticed that the cheap kind is very pretty looking and lasts for quite some time, but the smell’s rarely pleasant and it always messes up our sinuses. The expensive stuff, on the other hand, burns out quickly and looks rather rugged and course. Yet it smells wonderful and has yet to trouble our heads at all. The good stuff may not look all that nice or last long, but it’s good. The poor stuff may look nice and hang around seemingly for ever, but it’s quite bad. I guess we could translate that into spiritual terms in the words of Jim Elliot – “I ask not for a long life, but a full one.”

I’m in the midst of preparing for a sermon this Sunday. I’m trying to take to heart the psalmist’s words in Psalm 127 – Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. Too often my plans are made and then I consult God on it. It should be the other way around. I don’t decide on a subject to preach and then ask for help; I ask what I should preach on and then seek help.

It’s a litte late (Ruth is already in bed) but I’m not tired at all. I’ve been like this the last few days. At night I’m full of energy. I feel like I should stay up and get things done. Maybe I’ll read and write for a while before bed. This is when my mind is most agile and focused, I feel like I can do so much right now. I wish that would transfer to the morning. It’s kinda funny – I’m really a night person at heart, and Ruth does good in the morning. Sleep is annoying, yes? Yes.

Some want to live within the sound

Of Church or Chapel bell;

I want to run a rescue shop

Within a yard of hell.

C. T. Studd (1860-1931)

Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. – Acts 14:22

I’m a silly dude. Silly and a little dumb sometimes.

I want something very great. This thing that I want has been sought after by many people throughout the centuries. In fact, this thing that I want is the most valuable thing that there ever could be. I want godliness. Every Christian wants this. Every Christian, in some measure, chases after this. We want it because godliness is what allows us to see and experience more of God – the greatest treasure. The reason that I’m silly and a little dumb is not because I chase godliness, but because I think it’ll be easy to get.

What does it mean that we’ll enter the kingdom through many tribulations? It means it’s gonna be a rough go! Nothing really good was ever really easy to get. I’m not going to get godly by sitting around asking for it. I’ve gotta get off my butt and get it. Christ says that if there’s something in the way, cut it off. I’ll have to give up things and take on difficult things if I want to get godly, yes? Yes!

Those are my thoughts as of right now.

In other news, AndyMack, MattyMack and I will be visiting our friends Caedmon’s Call on September 26th in the USA. Road trip and Concert, Rock On!

Grace to ya’ll and Peace,

The Cook