MEN AT THEIR BEST | 3.4.2008

Hello Friends!

It’s been a while since I dropped you a line, so………

After taking some time off from the road (a year to be exact) I am chomping at the bit to get back to doing what I feel God has gifted me to do. I am grateful for this past year which has given me some time to recharge, and spend more Sundays with my family. I have deeply loved my time of being a worship pastor, and have come to realize that I’m doing essentially the same things when I travel.just in different places! Encouraging His people, mentoring others, and leading them to worship our Maker. I hope that one of those places is near you soon!

My family is wonderful…Ethan is 11, getting HUGE, and becoming a really fine little drummer! Emily is 9 and is very gifted at the piano. She has the best attitude of just about anyone I know. Ella is 4 and is a TRIP! An Karrie...Wow! We are doing more & more music together as a family, including a wonderful family camp in Pennsylvania for the the second time this summer. In the meantime, let me share a cool story....

A couple of weeks ago I took Emily, my 9 yr old, to a "Daddy/Daughter" dance. It was our first time, so neither of us knew quite what to expect. What an incredible event this turned out to be. There were hundreds of daughters, from little girls to young ladies, and their dads, having a great time. We had a DJ (the legendary Ronnie Kaye) and did the YMCA, the Hokey Pokey, the Chicken Dance, some Hip Hop dance that was groovy, and lots of other fun dances. I got to show off my Ballroom Dancing prowess to my daughter. She was mildly impressed. She thinks I dance like Bill Cosby. Dads and Daughters were dressed up and having a good, wholesome time together. Fathers were being gentlemen, holding the doors for, and seating their daughters like little ladies. Smiles of pride and love were on everyone’s faces.

Back to the point... Somewhere around the end of "Butterfly Kisses", I looked around the room through my tears and it hit me... "I'm in a room full of men at their best!" There was not a man in the room with dry eyes during that dang song. These are men who are striving to be good fathers! I would wager that most are also striving to be godly Fathers, judging from their actions. These are men who stepped up to the plate and are spending their most precious commodity.... TIME... on something important....the lives of their daughters. These men are setting the precedent by which these young ladies future mates will have to follow. From what I saw, the bar was set pretty high. These young ladies were valued and respected. The world needs more of that!

Just like in the movie "Gameplan"...the "power of the father" is SO important. It gets downplayed, overlooked, and just plain goofed up oftentimes, but may we always remember how important fathers are to our world. (yes Mothers too, obviously...that’s another story for another day!). Yes, the obvious parallel of our Heavenly Father comes into play here!

So often it seems we see “men behaving badly”. There was even a stupid sitcom about it. Therefore, I am glad to report that a couple of weeks ago…. I was in a roomful of “Men at Their Best”!

See ya down the road!
Grace & Peace
Matt

crossing boundaries/building bridges
www.matthewblagg.com