beyond me

the philosopher and the scientist will admit that there is much they do not know; but that is quite another thing from admitting that there is something which they can never know, which indeed they have no technique for discovering. To admit that there is One who lies beyond us, who exists outside all of our categories, who will not be dismissed with a name, who will not appear before the bar of our reason, nor submit to our curious inquiries: this requires a great deal of humility, more than most of us possess, so we save face by thinking God down to our level, or at least down to where we can manage him. Yet how he eludes us - aw tozer

I don't so much admit I have no clue what's going on. It's not attractive nor a quality of a "good leader" to be clueless. I find Him often outside the category of logical or rational.

My wrestling lately has been with Ephesians 2.
The fact the He lay outside my faculty, my control - yeesh, talk about uncomfortable. "I'm male, hear me roar," has been more like "hear me whimper" as of late. Ephesians 2 always wins and I don't have it all figured out and that makes me feel panicked given all the implications it carries with it. You mean getting a degree, working hard, making "right" choices won't do it - won't lay out the red carpet.
But then it set's in, the truth of Ephesians 2. The release of pressure from having to do it all. From having to save the day, from being the epicenter of the story. Not having all the answers, I can be messy, what a relief.

I like our group of people around Perimeter bc by and large we're not all that "put together." Some of us seem it at first, but have a cup of coffee with us and you find that we are just as messy as you, as everyone really.

Eddie's
Don't forget Evan and Garrett's show at Eddie's attic. See the CAL for more details.

FREE STUFF!!!

Hey Everyone!
The Gathering has used its....
"Our People are broke..." excuse...
And has gotten anyone who is interested a free ticket to Express your Faith.

If you are interested post here and one of the staff will call you with info...

Please Sign up, we are pushing this hard because we believe it really is a helpful seminar on sharing your faith.

what is the gathering all about?

for those of you who are wondering what the gathering is all about, i thought i'd post this for your reading pleasure:

Our vision (i.e., if we could close our eyes and dream about what we'd love to become, this is what we would see)- to become a missional- community of transformed worshipers

Our mission (i.e., why we are occupying space on God's green earth)- to engage the emerging generation of atlanta with the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ

Our values (i.e., this is 'coffee shop' language that we use to communicate HOW we intend to accomplish our mission)-
to enjoy CONNECTION with God
COMMUNITY with one another
while being CONTAGIOUS to those who don't know Christ
and being COMMITED to making disciples

We think this is what God is calling us to do as the gathering. Hopefully, these are very similar to God's call on your life personally. We want the gathering to be a catalytic spring-board that helps you to live out the implications of the gospel in your life.
One thing I'm currently wrestling with is what it means for us as a community to step out in faith together. I'm pretty sure of what it means for me to live by faith as an individual, but the idea of a community risking itself for the great end of furthering God's glory is a little trickier to figure out.
Will you join me in thinking through the implications of our mission statement for your life individually and our community corporately?

many blessings, matt

grieving one who loves us

Ephesians 4. 30 has always been a verse that has both fascinated me and disturbed me all at the same time. Are you familiar with it? It says this: 'And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.' What does that mean? How can you grieve the Holy Spirit?
I love the Holy Spirit and am so thankful that I've been sealed with the Spirit and filled with the Spirit and empowered in the Spirit. But, with that being said, I have to admit that I often feel sorry for the Holy Spirit. He lives in my sinful heart and yet, He is Holy. That couldn't be easy. If you don't like where you live, how would you like to be Him! It would have to be something like 'dirty jobs' on the discovery channel only infinitely worse.
But what does it mean to grieve Him? Why doesn't it say 'and do not tick the Holy Spirit off..' heck, a threat like that might get more immediate results! I hope that doesn't come across as irreverent... it wasn't meant in that way, I'm just thinking out loud, so to speak.
As I've thought about it, perhaps this is the reason, the one I've been meditating on today:
To grieve something... especially to grieve something deeply is a by-product of loving something passionately. I think the Holy Spirit grieves our sin because He loves us deeply.
If one of my children went into a rebellious stage and in spite of my instruction and my love and my care turned into an off-the-charts prodigal I would be mad, for sure, but more than that my prevailing emotion would be grief. I would weep and lament more than I yelled.
Grief seems to be a far deeper emotion.
The fact that my life could cause genuine pain to God the Holy Spirit causes me to begin to re-think what I so often tolerate in my heart. Anger, pride, malice, lust, defensiveness, selfishness, self-promotion.... all of these aspects of my sin grieve the one who lives in my heart. They grieve Him deeply because he loves me passionately. He weeps over my sin even when my eyes are dry. That is the sort of love that pierces the heart, that makes me reconsider, that causes me to grieve as well.
May we learn to live in the Holy Spirits power and joy and rest in the security of His seal upon us.