God is great, and I ain't...

I have a good friend named Matt Auten. Other than my wife and kids, he is probably my most favorite person to eat pizza with. We went to college together, but since 1993 we've lived 3000 miles apart. I've had four daughters in that time frame. He has married and had two sons. (That's Amy and the boys with Matt above...) I'm a pastor. He's a finish carpenter and a great musician. He's been nice enough to fly out and visit a few times, and whenever I'm back down south I make sure to go to My Father's Pizza with him. I keep telling him to move to the Great White North (which is Great and North, but not really very White) but he stubbornly refuses. For such a good friend he can be quiet mule-headed at times. We both hate talking on the phone so the bulk of our conversation is via email.

What amazes me is that even though life and our experiences have us so far removed from one another, our spiritual journeys are at times almost identical. Well..maybe the journeys aren't the same, but we sure end up in some of the same places. Matt has a way with words (you should read some of his lyrics to his songs), so often he puts what I am thinking so clear it's as if I'd said it myself. One example of this came in his last email. I liked the words so much I just had to share them here...

The Incarnation and the Cross are the only parts of Christianity that 'keep' me a Christian (by the Holy Spirit). There is nothing else for me these days. It's just Creator and Createe and the reconciliation between the two in Christ for His glory. That's it. I live on it like it's food. Most everything else in life is some misunderstood shade of grey, and getting greyer. But God is great, and I ain't.

It's really pretty simple. Thanks Matt, for reminding me (once again) of what I already knew...