The Matt Walsh Blog

Matt Walsh is a Christian.  He speaks truth in a world full of lies.  Often, he will receive death threats and very harsh comments and emails because he writes about God, truth, and righteousness.  His blog posts always seem to leave me saying, "wow, that is exactly what I would say if I knew how to say it". Recently, he wrote about trusting in the Lord.  A reader of his asked him how he overcomes fear when he watches all that is going on in the world around him.  The following is part of his answer.  I thought it was so poignant and spot on.  It is what I would say if I were gifted with his talent for communicating my thoughts.  So, I copied it here.  The other half of the post, the part that I didn't copy because of the length, was about prayer.  But, I am picking up here...

So let me tell you the thought that comforts and motivates me, and I think it addresses both the trust and the fear:
I must trust God that He put us here, in this place, in this country, at this time for a reason.
Sometimes, in my weaker moments, I’m tempted to look at all of the things you listed — the hatred, the death, the evil, the lies, the ignorance — and think that God drew up the blueprints for the human race back before the beginning of time, evenly distributed a healthy dose of just, virtuous, and righteous souls throughout every period of history, and then got to our civilization and realized that He did His math wrong and used up all of the good and intelligent people on the previous eras. Then He didn’t feel like going back and reworking everything so He just figured that He’d pack all of the weak, selfish, imbeciles into our spot on the timeline.
You know, it’s sort of like when you have a big bag of mixed nuts and you eat all of the good stuff — walnuts, almonds, cashews — in the first couple of days, until there’s nothing but peanuts left.
We are the cosmic equivalent of a picked-over bag of nuts. We are the peanuts. Or, in another snack analogy, the purple Jolly Ranchers. The rejects.
At least, that’s what I think when I’m feeling especially sorry for myself.
However, the truth couldn’t be further from this.
The truth is that God knew what challenges we would face before we faced them. He knew where our society would be before we were born into it. He knew of the despair, violence, and misery before we felt it.
He knew that our time would call for warriors, and so He sent us.
He sent us — you and me and everyone. He sent us here, now, today, because we have work to do. We have a mission to complete, a purpose to fulfill.
I know you wish you were like those people who don’t seem to care or notice while the whole world burns around them — sometimes I desire the same for myself — but we can’t wish for coma when we are so awake. We can’t wish for blindness when we can see. These oblivious people need our help, and our first job now is to grab them by the shoulders and shake them until they open their eyes.
I think this is the answer to our fear as well. We can only be afraid of this world if we think we were born into it by accident; if we look at the challenges of our vocation like a man who forged his resume in order to get a job as a heart surgeon, and is now staring at an open chest cavity without the slightest notion of how to discern a left ventricle from a pulmonary vein (those are both in the heart, I think, or maybe they’re parts of a car engine).
The point is that we belong here. God selected us back before the Earth, the Sun, the stars, before everything, and earmarked us for this time, this reality, this battle.
Do you ever think about that? I do. I imagine God whispering to me when I was still in the womb and saying, “Matt, I brought you here to save the world.” And that isn’t to say that I believe myself to be a prophet. In fact, I recognize that I am one of the weaker and dumber men walking on the planet today. But I believe that God whispers those words to everyone. (This is, it should be mentioned, one of the many reasons why abortion is such a terrible, ungodly atrocity.)
Only Jesus can save, of course, but He has delegated an enormous amount of power and responsibility to us. We have the capacity to spread truth and bring souls to Him. We are armed with abilities beyond our comprehension, and our actions, our words, or thoughts, will reverberate through the cosmos in ways that we cannot possibly understand. A distant star in a remote galaxy could explode tomorrow, destroy a hundred planets and alter the fate of a thousand solar systems, and still that would not be as significant or devastating as one sinful choice that we make.
But, on the same token, a star could form and burn so bright that it brings daylight to a hundred planets and sends a beam of light across 400 trillion miles of emptiness right into our eyeballs here on Earth, and still that would not be as beautiful, impactful, and illuminating as one virtuous or righteous choice of ours.
I think that fear always stems from hopelessness. But what reason do we have to be hopeless when we were made to serve such a magnificent purpose, and designed to live finally, once our time is done here, in the Promised Land?
I know you question whether you ought to bring children into this world, but I hope that doesn’t stop you. This culture wants us to become so beaten and broken that we abandon the loving, sacrificial, and procreative facets of our humanity. Don’t let them do that to you. Have kids and raise them with hope and equip them with the armor of truth. They will suffer, just as you have, but they will also live, and love, and win many battles for Christ.
Sometimes I look at my own kids and with dread I think to myself, “you have no idea what this world will do to you.” But then I realize that I should be looking at the world and with joy saying to it, “you have no idea what my children will do for you.”
And so I haven’t answered your question, it would seem. I’ve only offered a paltry response to a question that you didn’t ask.
Still, I hope you find some value in it. And I hope that it gives you at least a faint bit of encouragement in the middle of all the chaos that seems to only get worse with each passing day.
If in your journey you ever figure out a better answer, please write to me immediately and let me know.
Thanks for reading,
Matt

Read more at http://themattwalshblog.com/2014/08/20/the-world-is-a-horrible-place-and-youre-in-it-for-a-reason/#qewVUEblYl9aHo2P.99

Birthday Boy

 

Joshua wanted a tank cake this year.  He is still very interested in anything that has to do with the military.  He loves hearing historical war accounts and playing with his soldiers.  And so, it didn't surprise me that he wanted a tank cake.

 

We had a swim party and I made the kids do a boot camp prior to swimming. 

 

He had a great time and so did his cousins.

 

Joshua is a responsible and caring boy.  He is doing well at flag football, and his confidence has improved since last season because he is probably the best one on his team this time around.  The other day, at practice, he told me that they call him The King because no one gets past him without their flag getting pulled.  He looked like a peacock strutting around.

 

Joshua is smart.  His primary teachers are always telling me about how well he knows his scriptures.  But, even though he knows all of the answers, he still fidgets about.

 

He has got a lot of energy and is constantly jumping on our indoor trampoline.  Constantly!  I love how much he loves to move around.  He's a great big brother and he tries to do what is right.  He reminds me every Monday that we need to do Family Home Evening.  I love you, Joshua!

Photo Shoot

 

This little lady came home from school and requested a photo shoot.  She practiced her ballet moves and wanted them captured.

 

She was having far too good a time posing for the camera.

 

She wasn't particularly happy when her brothers wanted in on the action.  Here is Joshua being serious.

 

And, now he is goofy... this is all too familiar.

 

Here, you can see her displeasure.  She got mad and ran away, and so I took some pictures of Luke.  Sometimes, when Mercedes get's mad, she runs to her bedroom and puts herself to bed.  I think that's what she did here.

 

Poor Hannah, she missed out on all of the action.

Little Luke

 

I love this kid of mine.  He's independent and spicy.  He makes me laugh with the way he says blue balloon.

 

He is sweet and sensitive, but has a loud cry.  He loves his blue cup, blue plate, and blue underwear, and when any one of those items is being washed, there is a price to pay...

 

Even when he is mad at me, he wants to snuggle.  He may turn his head away, or divert his eyes, but he will still want me to hold his hand or stroke his cheek.

 

He loves to help me.  He makes me load up his arms full of grocery bags until he can barely walk, and come back for more after he carries those into the house.

 

"...though I may seem presumptuous, never, never, never go away.  My heart beats so unruly, because I love you truly.  Honest, Lukey, I do!"

Happenings

 

This little lady is adorable and funny.  She loves ICE!  She loves saying the word ice to let me know when she wants it.  It's a common occurrence at our house to see her carrying around her cup of ice.  She just loves it so much.  She also gives "head butts" for kisses.  It's funny. 

 

This is a picture that Mercedes drew of our family.  She really loves giving the girls really, really long hair over the shoulder.  For a while, the boys all got this look, too, because she said she didn't know how to draw boy hair, so she gives them girl hair.  This was the first drawing I found in which the boys kind of were given a spiky hair cut look.

 

Our landscaping is FINALLY in!!  I should have taken a better picture, but it is too hot outside to be out there long.  You get the idea. 

 

Joshua and Mercedes have been enjoying school.  Mercedes comes home pretty exhausted and emotional.  Joshua says he is really liking the swings at recess (which is a first for him-- it took him forever to learn how to pump himself).  He is still waiting for a tooth to get loose.  He feels like he is the only kid he knows who hasn't lost a tooth.  He, Mercedes, and Luke have become pretty good friends.  Although, it does take them forever for them to fall asleep at night, I do enjoy hearing them play and talk until they do actually fall asleep.  Jon Mark and I always want our children to share rooms.  It just makes sense for our family.