"The Way I See It"

I have started going to Starbucks over the last few months. I know that is different because I do not drink hot drinks I get them and let them get luck warm then I drink them. Starbucks puts something on their cups called "The Way I See It." The reason they have this on their cups is found at: http://www.starbucks.com/retail/thewayiseeit_default.asp

Here is the reason Starbucks puts this on the cup: "Sparking conversation In the tradition of coffee houses everywhere, Starbucks has always supported a good, healthy discussion. To get people talking, “The Way I See It” is a collection of thoughts, opinions and expressions provided by notable figures that now appear on our widely shared cups."

This past week I got Starbucks twice well I was at school. On my cup "The Way I See It" said this:

The Way I See It #196

The greatest leader is a servant. Don’t be a boss. Be a real leader, a servant leader. A servant leader is a winner. Even when he loses everything, even when he loses his life, a servant leader wins it all.

-- Pat Williams Senior vice president of the Orlando Magic.

Reading this quote really got me thinking. I started thinking about the greatest servant leader very to walk on the world. It made me think of Jesus who is known as the greatest servant leader. It says in the Bible:

"You know that those who are regarded as rulers of
the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high
officials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to
become great among you must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
(Mark 10:42-45)

Think back to quote from Starbucks it said "Even when he loses everything, even when he loses his life, a servant leader wins it all." Jesus lost/gave His life for many yet He won. Think about that He was the greatest servant leader, He gave up things to come to earth to live a sinless life and then he gave it up by dying on a cross so I can have a relationship with God. He severed up His life so I might have life.

Thanks
Howden Matt Howden

"Signs"

I know it has been a few weeks since my last thought. The last one I wrote was the day before I left to Guatemala I have returned. I am going to get back to writing my thoughts each week. I was going to write a few weeks ago but the last few Saturdays I have been busy with things. Like hanging out with friends, a school "mock missions boot camp." Yesterday I was going to write but I was to tried to think and I was so tried I was falling a sleep at 3 p.m. So my new day to write is Sundays.

This is a thought I have been thinking about for a few weeks now. I was going to have lunch with a friend of mine, Brad is his name. We were meeting the first Saturday I was back from Guatemala. We were meeting in Brantford at a restaurant called Montana's . I thought I know where it is, I do not need to ask Brad how to get there. I was driving along on the highway and I saw a sign that told me to get off the highway at a different exit then I thought but I said to myself I know where I am going and this exit is to early. I drove to where I thought it was and I was wrong it was not there. I called Brad and told him I do not know where it is he told me where to go to get there. When I got there I said to Brad I saw a sign telling me to get off at this exit . If I would have followed the sign I would have found it faster and I would not have got lost.


I thought to myself what if I would have followed the sign how much easier it would have been to find it. Now I am going to start to follow more sign. It makes me think of the song by the Five Man Electrical band called "signs" The one line in the song goes:

Sign, sign everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

The second thought I had was that Jesus is like a road sign. He said thins like I only do what the Father (God) does. Much like a road sign points us in the right way to go to get some where Jesus point us to God the Father. We can choose to follow Him and see what happens, or we can do what I did and say I know how to get there and I am not going to follow the signs.

I am making Jesus just a road sign. He is so much more then that He is God in the flesh, He is the Son of God. But He points us to God! and I think that is sweet!

Thanks
Howden Matt Howden

"The night before I leave"

Well tonight is the night before I leave for my missions trip. I am going to Guatemala. I am sitting here in a hotel. Because of the snow storm coming to Hamilton on Wednesday. I can not believe that the day before I leave all this snow comes. I think it is crazy that we are getting up to 50 cm of snow in Hamilton.

Well tomorrow at 12 pm I leave. I am flying for the first time. I hope everything works go and we leave on time.

When I get to Guatemala I am going to be working on the computer lab for this school to get the last 15 computers up and running and creating accounts for each student that is at the school right. The rest of the team will be doing different things. So of them will be building a wall.

I can not wait to get there and do that what we are going to do. But I can not also wait to come back and show everyday the pictures I have. I am going to take about 2000 pictures, I hope and I will show each one to everyone that wants to see them.

Well I am going to miss everyone at Rainstorm and CLA.
Rainstorm keep up with everything we are doing and have a great two weeks well I am gone.
And Know that I will miss you guys when I am gone, but I will be back soon with pictures for you.

Thanks
Howden Matt Howden

My trip to Much Music

The first week of January I did a class for school. I was called popular and media. I really liked the class. It has been one of the best classes I have taken at school ever. We watch movies and music videos. We also listened to music. For one of the classes we went to Much music and got to interview two of the VJ Tim and Matt. That was fun. We also got the chance to talk to one of the producers. This guy was in 40s and he said that there are 4 or 5 guys in there 40s that decide what music videos get played. They also tell the VJ what to wear. One of the VJ said that they joke again with him about eating extra slices of pizza. It makes you think you always hear that about girls and the image they need to have on TV and now it is happening with guys too. I think it is weird that 4 or 5 guys in there 40s decide what is "in" or "out" in the youth culture. In October we attend an event called "Acquire the Fire" and one of the speakers said it was guys his age making the chooses for MTV and I thought that was different till, I went to much and saw it and heard it for real.

Think about that some of these guys are your parents age and they tell you what type of music to like, what band is cool, what clothes are in.

I would like to hear you comments about that!
How do you feel that some guys you parents age tell you what is cool for you?

Thanks
Howden Matt Howden

"The Week that Changed My Life"

I do not know what to write about my thoughts are all over the place right now. I have started school this past week. I am getting back to waking up at 5 am it is not fun. This I have just finished reading two books that have really made me think. They are "Engaging the soul of youth culture" and "Understanding theology and popular culture." I had to read them for a class I did for school last week. The class was called popular culture and media. It was a great class I learned a lot. We also made a trip down to Much Music. That was fun we talked to two VJ Matt and Tim. This book have made me think about the culture that we live and how much media influence us. For the class we went out on the street to interview people about the media. We talked a lady at Starbucks from Columbia. She told us that the youth from where she is from want to be like the youth they see on TV here in North America and it is wrecking the Columbian culture.
That really makes you think of how big of an influence we have on the rest of world.

What do you guys think do you have that big of an influence on the rest of the world?
Does the media have a big influence on people? How?
What is your favorite song or band, movie, and TV show?

Thanks
Howden Matt Howden

"Rewind and Fast Forward of 2006"

I have a couple of things before I start my blog. One is I am sorry for those of you came on last week looking for a new thought by me. Again I am sorry I was busy with Christmas and the power went off, at my house for a bit 2 hours. Second is I am changing the mean of lol which means laugh out loud to lots of laughs. I want to change this because it would be funny and also because no one laughs out loud when they lol on msn or yahoo or whatever you use.

As we are coming up to the new year. Tomorrow night is New Years Eve in case you did not know, or just forgot.

When we come to this time of year, we look back over the year that was, the things we did, the fun we had, the lol we had. This year has been an awesome year for me. I did a lot I do not even know were to start. I finished another year of school. I saw changes in my own life. I saw God keep doing things in my life, and I saw myself grow in different areas.
I saw a lot of things happen at Rainstorm at the start of 2006, we started a road trip. Not a real road trip this was just the wording we use to talk about what we were doing. We saw people join us on this trip. We saw people leave on their own road trip of life. It has been a great year. We saw young people start relationships with God. We saw young people keep growing in their relationship with God. We saw young people get baptized which was sweet. It was awesome to play a part of this. (There is so much to write here but I do not want to have to long of a blog)

We have add something new to the road trip this year. We added "Share Moments. Share Life" I talked about it in my last thought.

Now I have some questions to get you thinking about your year:

What will you remember from 2006?
What was your best moment of 2006?
What was the worst moment of 2006?
What did God do for you in 2006?
What did He teach you in 2006?
What will you 2007 like look for you?
What things will you do?
What things do you have planed to do?

I can not wait to see what 2007 will look like. I am starting 2007 off with a bang. I am going to Guatemala in February. I fly out on the 14th and return on the 26th. This is a missions trip. This is my first missions trip and also my first time in a plane.

Thanks
Howden Matt Howden

"Moments that define our lives"

This is a talk I did last night at Rainstorm. It had to do with moments that define our lives. I have had a few moments this year that has help to define my life. We talk about about two stories in the Bible that talk about define moments for the People of God. These two stories are found in Exodus 14:1-18 and Joshua 3:13-4:7; 21-24. These two stories talk about the People of God, crossing over bodies of water on dry ground. These were moments that defined their lives. We take a few these of out those stories. God does moments in peoples lives to show His Glory, God is about moving us from moment to moment and He does not want us to get "stuck in a moment." This is a song by U2 and the line says "You've got stuck in a moment
And now you can't get out of it"
God wants us to remember the moments we have with Him and when He does stuff in our lives. In the second story we read He told the people to take 12 stones out of the Jordan river to set up a permanent memorial. He wanted the people to be able to remember what He did for them. I loved to parts in read in this story yesterday. The First is:"Select twelve men from the people, a man from each tribe, and tell them, 'From right here, the middle of the Jordan where the feet of the priests are standing firm, take twelve stones. Carry them across with you and set them down in the place where you camp tonight.'" (Joshua 4:2-3 MSG) He wanted them to set the stones up where they camped that night, He did not say take them with you and set up each time. It wanted them to keep going and get ready for the next thing He was going to do, but He did want them to remember it. Some times when we have a moment we just stop and want to stay at that moment and never move past that moment. We can remember it but do not get stuck in the moment.
The second is: "In the days to come, when your children ask their fathers, 'What are these stones doing here?' tell your children this: 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry ground.'
"Yes, GOD, your God, dried up the Jordan's waters for you until you had crossed, just as GOD, your God, did at the Red Sea, which had dried up before us until we had crossed. This was so that everybody on earth would recognize how strong GOD's rescuing hand is and so that you would hold GOD in solemn reverence always."
He also wanted the stones to be set up so the next generation would know what He did for His people. I think that is so awesome. We do not go around setting up stones like this anymore it might be a bit different to see that. But we take pictures or make videos of the moments we have. Then we can share moments with people. Kodak has a line it is "Share Moments. Share Life."

In January 2006, at Rainstorm we start a road trip to see young people start relationships with God or get back to a relationship with God. We saw this happen. In 2007 we are going to keep going on the road trip and we are adding "Share Moments. Share Life" This idea came out of something that was said by one of the young people that started a relationship with God in October. We were sitting in the office on Friday after Acquire the Fire and she said I wish I had camera to take a picture to remember this day or something like that I do not remember it word for word.
What have been "moments that have defined your life? This year or past year?
Have you handle on to that moment that you ended up missing other moments?
In another blog I will talk about those moments from 2006, that happened at Rainstorm and in my personal life.
We have seen God to some great things this year at Rainstorm, and we know we can remember the moments and talk about with other young people so they know what God has done in the group, but we know that God is moving us to another moment in 2007. The first talk I am giving in January 2007 is going to be entitled "Why can't things be like they were before?"
Let your comments about "moments that have defined your life"

"For Kids Only"

Today I was part of an event. Know as "For Kids Only", I was on the team that helped plan this event. My role was to bring the elves and also get the elves. I was able to get the best group of elves ever. They did a great job. What was this event you ask? Let me tell you. It was an event put on by a few churches in the Dundas area. It was done at St. Paul's a church in Dundas. We had children come in from the Salvation army. These kids were between the ages of 5 to 12. They were going to pick out Christmas gifts for their mom or dad, or both. It was a long day for me on my feet, and I also had Rainstorm the night before and we had a coffee house. So I am tried, but it was worth it. To see this kids come out of the gift store and walk over to where their parent or parents, and see the look on both the kids face and the parents face. I did not know what to say sometimes. I would like to say a big huge thanks to all the elves you came out help. When doing this event today I was drawn to a verse in the Bible. The first is found in Matthew 19:13-14 "One day children were brought to Jesus in the hope that he would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus intervened: "Let the children alone, don't prevent them from coming to me. God's kingdom is made up of people like these."" (MSG)
Remember that each one of those kids we helped today that God's kingdom is made of people like these children.
For some of these kids you made their Christmas by helping them pick of a gift for their parent(s). And you have played a part that down the road can help them start a relationship with God. But they will remember how nice the elves were to them and helped them with their Christmas as kids to give good gifts to their parent(s). You also meant the needs of people and Acts talks about that the sold what they had and meant the needs of people, so their was no needy among them. I just want to say thanks for all your hard work with the kids today. There is nothing great then meeting the need of someone who can not repay you. What will you do this Christmas to meet the needs of someone?
Christ came and gave us the best gift His life and we can repay for what He did.

Here is a picture of the elves.


Thanks
Howden Matt Howden

"Freedom Speakers"

I would like to say thanks for taking the time to come to read my thoughts. I hope you get something out of them as you read them.
Well this Friday, at Rainstorm Youth Ministry I talked about sharing your story. We then gave the chance for someone to come up and share his story. This guy has been coming out for four months now. He had been in a relationship Christ for about four months. This Friday was his last week with us. The family that he lives with moving to B.C. first they are going to do some traveling down in the U.S.A. (that is not the reason for the picture, I will explain later) It has been a great honour to get to know this family, and they youth. They will be missed.
Before we had him come up and share his story. I just talked a bit about sharing your story. There was this verse in the Bible I came across as I reading someone else's blog this week. She had Psalms 107 down at the bottom of her blog. So I looked the verse up and I used verse 2. It says:

"All of you set free by God, tell the world!
Tell how he freed you from oppression" (Ps. 107:2 MSG)

When I read that this week I was like that is awesome we need to share that God has set us free, and we need to tell the world this. So the U.S.A has freedom fries and they have freedom fighters, we can be known as freedom speakers. People that go around telling the world that God has freedom them from different things and the relationship we have with Him. I want to be known as a freedom speaker what about you?

We have to say goodbye to this family this week. And this Sunday we are going to be baptising three from the family 2 girls and one guy. Not only we will be baptising these ones but also two more (one guy and one girl). It has been great getting to know this youth and young adults and seeing some of them start a relationship with God in the past few months, and seeing some of the continue with the relationship they have with Him. It is great to see these youth and young adults doing this, it is a honour to know these young people and to have been a part of this it have been awesome. So this Sunday I will be getting in a hot tub (much like this one)
and hear about their relationship with God and then I will get to dunk of the guys. I found out today it will be awesome, because the guys I am dunking, started coming out to Rainstorm when he was invited to Undertow, which is a faith-club I lead at a local high school in Dundas. He was then invited out to a event at Rainstorm a coffee house we did at the end of June. It started coming out on a week to week after that. He also attend Ignite our young adults small group. He then left and went to Ottawa to attend a school their. So we have not seen him since he left. We have talked to him on msn. It will be sweet to see him again. It is awesome to see when people start a relationship with God and you talk to them about it. After this guy left he sent a card to the church, the card was read by the pastor on Sunday morning during his talk. The guy said my name and the impact on had on his journey towards starting this relationship with God, and how me and another lead helped him with stuff about God. When I heard this I started crying. He talked about the impact Rainstorm had on his journey too. So this Friday at Rainstorm we celebrated that he is coming home to do this, and the other people that entered into a relationship with God the past few months. It is great to see when young people do this, and we at Rainstorm can fulfill our mission statement: To produce young people of passion - pursuing Christ!

Maybe you have read this and you say to yourself I have not started a relationship with God yet, that's cool each person is on a journey. I want you to know that if you have question feel free to email me and ask away.
If you are in a relationship with God but you it has broken down somewhere I would like to get together with you and talk about it, you can also email me.

Sorry for the blog being so long, I know the last time have been short. I want to try to keep them short so I am sorry. But I think you know why it is so long.

Thanks
Howden Matt Howden

"Rain Gutters"

I did not know what to blog about. So I thought about it for a bit. I came to the idea that I would blog about something I did today. I helped my dad clean the rain gutters out today. Well I held the ladder when he went up and cleaned them. I thought as he was up their cleaning them, that our lives can be the like the rain gutters. Once every few months we clean the crap out of them, so that the rain will follow out. We need to let God come in to our lives and begin to start cleaning the crap out in our lives, but much like the rain gutters do not clean themselves. We as people need to say I think it is time to clean the gutters. We need to say it time to let God to come in a clean the crap out of life. So that He can follow out of me so when people push my buttons the grace of God follows out not the overflow of my own self. This is hard because we need to say to God, come in a search my life and begin to clean the crap out. I did this a few weeks ago and He has started to clean the crap up, and when I started to see what He was clean up in my life I was like no. Why are you clean that out? I also thought if this is what it takes to get closer to God, then I want this crap cleaned up. So God can follow out of me much like the rain follows out of the gutters once they have been cleaned and do not have the crap to block it. I am not saying I will be perfect once this crap is cleaned up, there will be more to work on after.
Questions: What is the crap in your life that God needs to begin to up? When He starts to do this will you have a problem with what He is cleaning up? If so how will you deal with it?