Matt W Cook

I’ve heard good people say, “There’s nothing I can do, it’s half a world away!”…

…Maybe you’ve got money,

Maybe you’ve got time

Maybe you’ve got the living Well that ain’t ever running dry.

In C.S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian there is a scene where the four children and a Dwarf are trying to find King Caspian’s base. They end up getting totally lost. Aslan appears to Lucy (the youngest) at night and tells her to follow him when he appears the next day. She asks if the others will be able to see him too, he says no. “But what if they won’t listen to me?” she asks. He replies, “It doesn’t matter, you follow me!”

Sure enough, the next morning Aslan appears to Lucy and she tries to convince the others to follow her as she follows him. Only one of the other children believe her, but all are forced to follow because she threatens to go off on her own. The whole trip the older children are criticizing her and saying she’s being very bad and arrogant throughout the whole thing. Slowly the other children begin to see Aslan, starting with the one who believed Lucy and ending with those who made fun of her the most. Aslan led them right where they needed to go.

Good parallel. Not that we’re ever above the advice and guidance of those around us, but it stands true that if we are absolutely convinced of the will of God in a situation, we have no choice but to go forward and do it. Lucy faced a whole lot of crap from people who were older, wiser and more respected than her, but they just couldn’t see what she saw. In the same way, anyone who really tries to follow the will of God will likely find him/herself being opposed by the very people who should be helping. In the end, the will of God is the best place to be, regardless of who is opposed to it, because He’s the one with the authority and the power.

“All authority has been given to Me…”

Ruth and I will be traveling to Missisauga and Hawksville soon for some presentations on the mission to Pakistan, I’m really excited about it. Please pray for us!

Cook out

PS – Jordy and Jenny! YAY!!! You da man JW!

millions of dates, dates for me, millions of dates, dates for free…

I like dates…dried dates…mmmm!

Our Paki-partner Hilsy is sitting with us for the weekend. We went out to a beauty Indian food-place last night…yummy! We are all getting super-excited about getting over to Pakistan soon. It seems to real these last few days. It used to be a very-distant future, but now it’s just in a few months…how wonderful!

-|-ANNOUNCEMENT UPDATE!-|-

Believe it or not, Ruth found my CD! Yay! It was in the glove compartement in a different CD case. So congradulations to Ruth for winning all those candies I stole from my bro. However, since you’re pregnant I don’t think you should eat them. In fact, I’ll be giving them to your next of kin…me!

I love hindi music. We’re all listening to a hindi CD of the Psalms. It’s great! I love hearing God’s praises in another language, it always seems to add a trans-cultural effect to the worship.

Shawn and Hayley Cuthill and their parents were here a while ago. It’s so encouraging to talk to them for a few hours. It’s great to hear from like-minded people and chat about world missions. I really can’t wait to get out there and start the work! It’s so great to think that God is leading me, Ruth, Hillary, Ben and Todd, Shawn and Hayley and everyone else in His great plan. Whether we go or stay, it’s good to know that God’s in control of us all. Good things…

Cook out!

I am your father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former room-mate…

It is done. Ruth has seen the last installment of the Star Wars saga. The circle is now complete! I feel closer to her than ever before! Not only did she watch them all with me over the span of these last few months, she also liked them! Joy! We are now anxiously anticipating Episode III, hopefully arriving in May.

-|-IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!-|-

Something absolutely dreadful has happened! I don’t know how it happened…but it did! Someone has stolen my copy of Share the Well! Anyone with information leading to the return of this CD will be rewarded with a dozen of those little Coffee Crisp chocolate bars I stole from my brother’s halloween sack.

Ruth and I were at the doctor’s office a little while ago (which is a good place to visit if you are pregnant). Ruth was in there with the nurse and the nurse decided to try a little experiment. She hooked Ruth up to her little listening machine to see if she could hear (how do you see if you can hear…?) the baby’s heart-beat. She didn’t expect to find it (she was only 11 weeks in at the time) so I didn’t get called it. BUT, lo and behold there’s a tiny little lub-dub coming out of the speaker! Ruthie was giddy when she came out of there! It’s confirmed now, the baby has a heart! JOY!

So, Ruth and I have a few things on the go right now. I’ve received a package from MSC Canada all about joining up with them. I’m super-excited about it all! I’m also hoping to hear from Frontiers pretty soon. Things are moving nicely, please pray for us.

Jedi Knight Matt, signing off!

Hey kids, Cook here…

So, I’ve been asked for the full lyrics to the Jenny Farza song, here they are!

Mere zindagi kay malik tumhain mera shukaria

My life’s ruler, to you my thanks

Tum nay mujhay banaya, tumhain mera…

You have created me, to you my…

There it is, keep on rocking in the Hindi world!

Neat things have been happening in Cookland recently. I’ve just received my Pakistan Origin Card. This little plastic thingy grants me visaless access to Pakistan whenever I want, how cool! I can’t wait until we get to customs in Pakistan and they ask me “Why are you coming to Pakistan”, and I’ll whip out my card and say “I wanna!” … Actually, I probably won’t do that. Something about a security guard with an AK-47 just intimidates me.

It’s been a really good last few days, I’ve found myself quite a bit more encouraged than usual. Piper did a real neat thing on Isaiah 41:10. Go read it…now!

Okay, did you read it? Good. He broke up the passage into five pillars of fearlessness. We need not fear because God says:

1 – I am with you

2 – I am your God

3 – I will strengthen you

4 – I will help you

5 – I will uphold you

I like that, that came at a really good time for me…

I’ve been introducting Star Wars to my dear ruthie over the last month or so. I started on The Phantom Menace and went on from there. We just finished The Empire Strikes Back a few nights ago. It was the best one yet. Ruth found out for the first time that Vader was really Anakin (although throughout Attack of the Clones she said she figured he’d become a bad-guy). It was a wonderful experience, at first Ruth was convinced Vader was tricking Luke, alas, it was not so.

Alright, enough rambling, I’ll talk to you guys later, be good everyone!

Cook out

Mere zindagi kay malik tum hain mera shukaria…

Left his seamless robe behind

Woke up in a stable crying

Lived and died and rose again

Savior for a guilty land

It’s done! The Cooks now have their very own copy of Share the Well! Everyone needs to go out and buy this albumn!

I love track 4 – it’s called Jenny Farza and it’s Hindi accapella. If you translate her words, she says something to the effect of “My life’s ruler, I give you my thanks. You made me.” It’s really quite beautiful!

That’s all, time for a nice, sweet, weekend!

The Cook

A Post for Gurr

This post is for Justin Gurr, you’ll understand why…

Changing the Climate

C’mon, it’s funny!

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   [(symbol=? l 'red) (draw-solid-disk

                       (make-posn X-BULBS Y-RED) BULB-RADIUS

                       'red)]

   [(symbol=? l 'yellow) (draw-solid-disk

                          (make-posn X-BULBS Y-YELLOW) BULB-RADIUS

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   [(symbol=? l 'green) (draw-solid-disk

                         (make-posn X-BULBS Y-GREEN) BULB-RADIUS

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So, Dave and Aubrey asked me to learn how to program. Yep, Matt the Cook, who became Matt the Husband, who will soon be Matt the Father, is now training to become Matt the Programmer. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll enter the circle of those Computer-Jedi known as Developers. I’ve been truckin’ it through a neat-o online textbook and using a programming language called Scheme. It’s a good deal of fun and a lot of work! I’ve managed to create a host of tiny, semi-useless programs and I’m learning the whole way through. The guys who wrote this textbook that I’m going through believe that everyone should be taught how to program in school. At first one would think “Why, oh why would anyone want to learn that in school unless they wanted to do it as a career?” They (and Aubrey) made a very important point: Learning to program makes you smarter. It’s like a rigorous exercise for your brain! This is forcing me to use my head in ways that I really haven’t before. Even though I’ll likely not use the specific things I learn about programming in later life, I’ll still have gained from the experience of learning it. So, on we go with the programming!

So, Caedmon’s Call‘s new CD Share the Well just came out yesterday. Like every faithful fan Ruth and I kicked it over to the nearest Christian Bookstore to get our copy of this much-anticipated release. To our dismay, the shipment had not arrived at that store, or the next two closest ones. So I expect we’ll try again today. My only sadness is that I’d wager that the nefarious AndyMack has not only purchased his own copy, but he’s probably also learned all the songs by heart on the guitar or something like that. Actually I’m not sad about that, I just like to complain when I don’t get my way.

Some people are a little concerned with the fact that Ruth and I still plan on going to Pakistan when our child is only a month old. Anyway, Sub kuch ho sak-ee dey.

Cook out.

Temagami – Native word for “deep water by the shore”

Land of the silver birch,

Home of the beaver…

(…Or squeaver, if you happen to be canoeing with the Cook clan.)

The last day of September, twelve brave adventurers left modern suburbia for a chance to tackle Mother Nature. There were three separate clans that united in this goal. The first, the enigmatic Clan de Laliberte, which included the mighty chief Mike and his two young minions Chad and Sarah. Next there was the resourceful Clan Wiley, which had Krazy Kevin leading one Clint and one George. Lastly, there was the mighty Clan Cook. Headed by the great The Dave, sub-headed by Matt and Steve (who brought his counter-part, Stephanie), with two small minions Mikey and Rob taking up the rear.

What a trip! We all arrived at the Lake Temagami landing at about 1:00am Friday morning. I slept in the back of the pick-up truck with Mikey – a little cold! We woke up at the crack of dawn and tossed our lake-worthy vessels into the water and pushed off! What a great day it was! We battled a head-wind most of the way down, at one point we stopped to stretch our legs. The Dave exited his canoe and held it steady while Robbie tried to climb out. The whole time The Dave was saying, “Robert, do not fall in, the worst thing you can do on a canoe trip is get your feet wet!” At this point, The Dave slipped on a rock and drenched his right foot.

It rained early the next morning, so I woke up to a wet head and wet feet. My bro Steve, however, found himself sleeping in a full puddle! Times like this make me think I might need a new tent! That day we tackled a beautiful 1.3km portage. Wonderful scenery, but steep hills! By the time we got to the campsite that night, the wind had really picked up. So much that right after Steve and I set up our tent, we turned around to see it flying into the bush 50 feet away! We picked it up out of the trees, noted the now broken tent poles and tried to put it back, this time with tent pegs. Lo and behold, we turn around and again, the stupid thing is flying off into the woods! We grabbed it, rebuked it sternly, nailed it down and put some rocks in it. At this point, the wind stopped blowing.

The next day was the last, big trip out of the lake system. We took on three portages – 130m, 415m and 435m. Once we got past the last one we ran into some headwind the likes of which have not been seen since the time of the parting of the Red Sea! We had two-three foot waves crashing down on top of us. I had no idea how cold October could be until that time. We finally made it back to the landing, tired, wet and cold. Everyone changed into dry clothes that they had either stored in thier backpacks in water-proof bags, or in the van. Unfortunately, as Matt opened his lovely water-proof bag that had his nice, dry jeans, he noticed one horribe feature: the bag was open. It was a very long, cold and wet drive home.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip! I’ll try to find a nice map so I can show you the route. Good times had by all!

Cook out!

you know how people have a list of things they want to do before they die? I’ve crossed off like, four of them this summer!

So, how did the road-trip go? In the words of the east-coasters “Oh my crazy it was great!” We drove down to NY, had a wonderful time the whole way down, commenting on American customs and driving habits. We arrived at the concert in plenty of time and found a row of seats right up near the front, durn near perfect! We saw these fine people:



Play an AMAZING show! I can’t think of enough describing words at this point. Even though a few technical things were a bit screwy, they did a killer job! At this point of the story, I’d be satisfied with saying goodnight and driving home, having been to such a wonderful event. But, as providence would have it, the best was yet to come.

As Cliff finished his beautiful encore (acoustic version of “‘Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus”), I thought outloud “What are the odds of them coming back out and giving us a chance to talk to them?” The reply was “Not good”. Suddenly, we noticed band members coming out to take down their own stuff! All of a sudden a phrase popped in my head – “You’ll regret the cool things you didn’t do more than the stupid things you did do.” With that we went to the stage, dodged the security guards a bit and we all got a chance to talk with Cliff Young, the leader figure of Caedmon’s Call. At this point of the story, I’d be satisfied with saying goodnight and driving home, having been to such a wonderful event and meeting a wonderful man. But, as providence would have it, the best was yet to come.

Andy Mack then approached Cliff as I was finishing my talk and said the words that chanced the night: “Hey Cliff, could we get a Canadian road-trip picture with you?” To which Cliff responded, “You’re all from Canada? You want the rest of the band? Follow me!” It took a few seconds for the five of us to realize what had just happened, but once we figured it out we followed Cliff to the back room where the rest of the band was hanging out. So, we all got to hang with Caedmon’s Call for about ten minutes! Check out the picture:

Woo hoo! So let’s see, from left to right starting on the bottom row: Garett / percussion, Todd, Me, Luke (Road-trippers) top row: Josh / keyboard and organ, Danielle / vocals, AndyMack, MattyMack (More Road-trippers), Jeff / bass, Andrew / lead guitars, vocals, and Cliff / rhythm guitar and vocals.

Totally wicked-cool! We chatted, and it turns out that they’re real people! Cool beans!

That’s the road-trip in a nut-shell. I highly recommend this band to anyone who hasen’t hear of them. They kick more butt than a Jet-Li action flick.

So, I’m off to the great, white north of Temagami later on today. It’s gonna be great, a weekend canoe trip in October. Brr, what are we, crazy? On we go! Talk to ya’ll later!

The Cook

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,

The fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

Are the children of one’s youth.

Blessed is the man

Who fills his quiver with them!

Ps. 127

Beautiful, eh? What warrior would like to be without arrows in a battle? I get increasingly tired when I hear people criticize our plans on having children right away. I think we North American Christians sometimes look at children the wrong way. They are not a burden! They are a gift (at least, that’s what the Bible says). They are not something to be avoided as a hindrance, but received as a gift from God. The first half of this psalm that I left unquoted explains how man’s actions are totally futile unless it is the LORD who ultimately wants it done. No amount of birth control or fertility drugs can change God’s plan, can it?

Don’t think that I’m a fatalist and think that you shouldn’t wear seat-belts or anything. I’m not even trying to convince you of my belief and convictions on birth control, I just wish people would stop looking at this subject with such a secular mindset. I have a very good friend who has been blessed with seven children. He and his wife wouldn’t have it any other way, yet he is criticized by many people for being ‘irresponsible’, etc. People seem to feel sorry for him because he has so many children. That seems really silly to me. If children are really a blessing from God, then this man is blessed a whole lot more than most!

So, if a day comes when Ruth and I make it to seven or eight kids, please don’t criticize us or feel sorry for us. Consider us blessed! They’re a blessing and a reward, yes? I realize that I’ve never had kids before and I don’t really know what it’s like, but that doesn’t matter! What God says is what matters. So wear whatever seat-belts and other things that you wear, but don’t think us stupid for not doing the same.

In other news, my cat is dumb. Yes my dear little Caedmon has been getting progressively dumber as the days go by. We are seriously thinking about getting rid of the animal. So, if anyone out there in bloggerdom wants a semi-crazy cat, gimmie a call! He’s yours!

And no, if my kids are crazy I will not get rid of them too.

Mashallah!