The Power of Words

Words are powerful things. Growing up as a kid there was a thing we use to say "stick and stones my break my bones, but names (words) will not hurt me."

I have been thinking about that when putting together my talk at Rainstorm entitled "The Power of Words." And I thought I would like to be hit with sticks or stones then have someone say something about me or call me a name. The Bible says that words can "torment and crush" people; also "the words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts."

In grade 2 I had a teacher write on my report card that I talked to much in class. (I know to some of you that seems abit weird because I do not talk that much), the words of the teacher we something powerful to me. I wish the teacher did not say that about me, it affect my whole life because I let the words do it. Maybe she could have hit me with a ruler and it would not have been as bad.

However words can be used in different ways too first they can by used for good. The Bible says: "Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees.";"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.";"How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" So we know words can be used to build people up. But it can be used to bring people down too and the Bible talks about this side of words too, it says: "They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows."; "His speech is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more
soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords."; "The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful..." What we that words can build up or bring down it is up to us, what we use our words too do. We can build people up or bring them down. I want to be known as someone who uses my words to build someone up. But there are days and times during a day, when I do not do this but it something I am working on.

When words are said to people it can make people do some different things. In my story in grade2. I stopped talking in school as much, I thought it you think I talk to much in class I am not going to talk anymore. I made the wrong decision about that one. The Bible talks about what some people do when they hear words. For some reason a lot of people tear their robes and put on sackcloth. That means about weird to me. But we do the same thing we just do not tear our robes we tear the inside of ourselves, I did this to my self when I decisioned not to talk anymore in school.

The Bible also challenges us about the words that come out of ours mouths. It says: Let my words and my thoughts be pleasing to you, LORD, because you are my mighty rock and my protector. Are the words we use and say pleasing to God?
My dear friends, with our tongues we speak both praises and curses. We praise our Lord and Father, and we curse people who were created to be like God, and this isn't right. Can clean water and dirty water both flow from the same spring? Can a fig tree produce olives or a grapevine produce figs? Does fresh water come from a well full of salt water?
This asks us about the words that come out of our mouth. In one min we can say nice things about God and then turn to our friends and put them down. We are the words that come out of your mouth when you talk to your friends? Build up or bring down?

Remember I am still working on this too. Some days I can build people and praise God too. And some days I am praising God and bring people down. But I would like to get to a place in my life where my words are building people up and praising God. I hope you guys can help me with this.

Thanks
Howden Matt Howden

A Change in Life

Today's blog is about something new in my families life. Today we got a newer car. Our other car's motor died a couple weekends ago. So we went out and bought a newer car. We ended up with a 2004 Chrysler Concorde LXI, it is like the one in the picture but it is not the same colour. But it looks the same.

When I drove this car today it started my thinking for my blog for today. Because of this car people are going to look at me differently because it is a bigger car then we had before and it has leather seats. I think people will look at me when I drive this car, but it will be o.k. It will be fun to drive this car to school next week. There is going to be more room for the guys that drive to school with me. And there will be more room when I drive some of the youth around from Rainstorm. (This time I will try to make sure it is cleaner when you get in o.k. Katie)

Now back to the point about people looking at me differently. I think when we get new things in our lives, people in our lives notice them and sometimes they say something and sometimes they do not. This also happened to me with my new glasses. It is awesome when people notice something different in our lives and they say something about it.

The Bible talks about when we get in a relationship with God though Jesus that we are new creations. When we start spending time with God we start to change and our lives start to become different and we do different things. People start to see the change and they might say something and some might not say anything, but they will see the differences in you.

So much like how my parents looked around to find a new car and then had to wait for it. We need to check out this God thing that can make a cahnge in our lives, and it will take some time to see the diffence He can make in our lives, but it could be worth it in the end.

Just like my parents asked questions about the car they wanted and we did research about the car and test drove it a couple of times, before we said yes this is the one. We need to do this with God.
What are the questions you need to ask about God, Jesus, the church or live?
Before you say yes this is what I want in my life.
If you have question about any of this stuff you can email me at mattsmusic15@hotmail.com or you can come and check out Rainstorm Youth Ministry on Friday nights at 8 p.m. I will take questions there too. We also talk about live and how God goes with it.
And I will try my best to answer them.

Thanks
Howden Matt Howden

"The Power of the Tongue"

Today, as I thought about my blog and what I would post, I thought and thought. And came to this idea as I was driving around in my sister's car. That I would post the talk I did at Rainstorm the night before, if it was a good talk and if the people enjoyed it and thought it was good. So this is the start of that. There with be weeks when I do not do the talk at Rainstorm and the blog will be about something different then. Hope you guys like that idea.

So to start it off we are going to look at the tongue and the Power it can have.

First to those of you would did not come to Rainstorm
I opened the talk off with a clip from Seinfeld season 2 the Heart Attack. Elaine dates a doctor she met at the hospital. He shows off his knowledge of tongues by holding Elaine's tongue and pointing the different parts of it. Next I came back and read something about the tongue and here it is: The tongue is the large bundle of skeletal (I changed to very thin because I could not say this word and it means the same) muscles on the floor of the mouth that manipulates food for chewing and swallowing. It is one of the organs of taste. Much of the surface of the tongue is covered in taste buds. The tongue assists in forming the sounds of speech. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels to help it be moved.

We moved to look at what the Bible says about the tongue. And yes the Bible does talk about the tongue. Here are are the verses we looked at:
...my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. Psalms 45:1
Your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor... Psalms 52:2
...men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. Psalms 57:4
They sharpen their tongues like swords... Psalms 64:3
hey make their tongues as sharp as a serpent's... Psalms 140:3
Their tongue is a deadly arrow... Jeremiah 9:8
Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body... James 3:5

The Bible talks pretty hard about the tongue. I hope people do not talk about your tongue the same. As something like a sword that can cut people; or like a razor that can cut, or can be shot like deadly arrows. Let's hope people do not say that about you. But it also does give good pictures of what the tongue can do.

Now we are going to look what it does and how people use it. And we turned to the Bible to see what it says. Here are the list of verses we found:
My tongue will speak of your righteousness and of your praises all day long. Psalms 35:28
The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. Proverbs 15:4
As a north wind brings rain, so a sly tongue brings angry looks. Proverbs 25:23
...So come, let's attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says." Jeremiah 18:18

People can use the tongue to praise God and speak his righteousness. It can also be used to bring healing or to crush people. It can get angry looks. It can be used to attack people. It is up to you how you will use your tongue.

Finally we are going to look at the challenge that Bible gives us about the tongue. Here are the list of verses we looked at:
...but a man of understanding holds his tongue. Proverbs 11:12
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. James 1:26
These verses ask us to hold our tongue which can be hard. But we can do more when we hold our tongue.
He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. Proverbs 21:23
We need to be people that guard our mouth and our tongue and it will keep us from trouble.
but no man can tame the tongue... James 3:8
We can not tame the tongue but we can choose what we are going to let come out of it.

One last challenge is found in Proverbs 18:21 it says: The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. The tongue can bring life of death. You need to choose which one you will let come out of your tongue. I want to be known as someone who uses his tongue to bring life and not death.

I hope this blog challenges you to think about your own tongue and the way you use it. In two weeks the blog with be about the power of words and what they can do. We would love you see you at Rainstorm one night to add to the talks we have. You can also add to this by leaving a comment.

Thanks
Howden Matt Howden

"Snap, crackle and pop"

Today's blog is about Rice Krispies and they sounds they make. This blog I just started thinking about today. I hope if it is not good that you will forgive me. I think it will be hard to follow up my last few blogs but I am going to try with this one. This one is a bit different Enjoy.

"Rice Krispies (called Rice Bubbles in Australia) is a brand of breakfast cereal that has been produced by Kellogg's since 1928. They are made of a rice mixture which is shaped into the form of rice kernels and toasted. These kernels bubble and rise in a manner which forms very thin walls. When the cereal is exposed to milk or juices, these walls tend to collapse suddenly, creating the famous "Snap, crackle and pop" sounds. This is in contrast to puffed rice, which was introduced in 1904." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_Krispies)

"Krispies are marketed with the phrase "Snap, crackle, pop", which is supposed to be the sound made when milk is poured over them. The elfin characters of Snap, Crackle and Pop appear on most Rice Krispies boxes. In the United States and Canada, opinion varies concerning Crackle's occupation, but Snap is always portrayed as a baker and Pop as a soldier. To demonstrate the marketing penetration of this brand and contrast it with American political ignorance, pollster Kellyanne Conway reported in 2002 that while most Americans could name the three elves, they could not name any three of the nine sitting Supreme Court Justices. Considering the age group involved, this may have been due to the very famous commercial aired in the 1960s using the music from the tenor aria in Pagliacci with the words "No More Rice Krispies" or the fact that the same jingle was used for decades its other commercials." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_Krispies)

I would like to talk about the sounds the Rice Krispies make when you add milk to them they make snap, crackle and pop sounds. And if you have ever eaten Rice Krispies, they make the sounds when you chew them too.

Now if someone came up to you and said I like Rice Krispies. But I would like to take away the pop sound or maybe the crackle or maybe the snap, each person might want to take away a different sound they make. And you might think they are crazy the sounds is what makes Rice Krispies, you can not take away the Snap, Crackle and Pop, they would not be the same. And then what would be the point of them. And we would be missing out of something that has been around for a long.

The same can be said about God. Some people want to remove something that God has or does and limit Him much like how they want to limit the Rice Krispies, and the snap, crackle, and pop. People want to take away the love that He gives, some the forgiveness that He offers, still others the relationship we can enter into with Him, and some want to take away that Jesus was His Son and just say that he was just a man that lived, some might say if he lived.

Finally, just like taking away the sounds from the Rice Krispies would not make the cereal the same. When removing these things about God He would not be the same. But what is great, He is does offer us things like: forgiveness, relationship, love and so much more and all we need to do is ask Him for these things, and He gives them to us.

Thanks
Howden Matt Howden

Let me have one bad blog please!!!!!