Did you ever get a feeling, have a strong inclination or hear a voice urging you to choose a certain path and discover something unexpected? There always comes a time in life when you find yourself at a fork in the road. Do you go down the road less traveled or the one which has been paved?

I have always have chosen the road less traveled, partly because I thrive in adversity and have a pioneering spirit. I have found in my life, life can be a series of thousands upon thousands of forks in the road. When you strip life down to its core, it’s all about making one choice after another. Add up all your choices and there’s your life. Life IS a fork in the road.

While covering the Death of Pope John Paul II in Rome, something happened to me. Something Big. Sitting on the plane as we returned after the Papal Conclave, God put a call on my life to use my talents to help the Kingdom. I really didn’t know what that looked like, nor how to go about making something like that happen; my life to that point was spent in Broadcast News and sitting in a pew on Sunday Mornings. God had a plan. Dana and I took the road less traveled when an opportunity from a church in rural Oklahoma called. That move was the hardest move we ever had to make, but it taught us so many things.

Three years a go my family joined Lawton First, a church birthed out of the great depression. It was a time of great excitement and change. I’ve spent the last few years helping the re shape it’s brand, develop a social media strategy to continue the conversation between Sundays, and most importantly develop a strong culture of storytelling. Those achievements pale in comparison to what God has done in the last three years and is continuing to do in our congregation and city.

Today with bittersweet emotions we let our Lawton First family know I would be stepping down from my role as the Director of Communications. It was a decision that we did not come to lightly, but a decision backed by God.

And after much conversation, prayer and fasting, I am excited to announce that I will be joining the team at Fellowship Technologies / Fellowship One in Irving, TX where I’ll be working as the Creative Director in the Marketing Department. I’m thrilled to be joining the team and working with my great friends there. Additionally, I have begun to work on a book with prospects it will be released next year, as well I plan on continuing to help the Church through speaking, consulting, and freelancing through Good World Creative.

While we venture down this new road, I know the next few weeks will be sentimental as we leave some of our closest friends, but we are very excited to see how God is going to use us in the future of sharing the story of Fellowship One and the Church.

‘Thou shalt not’ is soon forgotten, but ‘Once upon a time’ lasts forever. -Philip Pullman

For as long as I can remember, I have always been enamored with the power of a well told story. And family provides the network of the deepest and most important stories of society.

To know my family, is more than just stopping by at Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Fourth of July. To say we are a family steeped in tradition always seems to puzzle people. We are a large mid-atlantic, blue blood family — a true American family; where family and putting others first is always top priority. Stories are the creative conversion of life itself; they are the currency of human contact and the currency of our family is story. Not the “Once Upon A Time” kind of stories, but real stories of our family.

Like most families we have our share of stories, the holidays seem to stick out the most in ours. There is something “Rockwellesque” about the holidays – something vivid and affectionate about Advent in our family. While many would look at our family and say we’re idealistic or sentimental, I would say our family is a true portrait of American life. During Christmas there is always a slight anticipation and yet a hesitation, of who will tell the first story, as the whole family stands in the kitchen while Mom and Grandma baste the turkey and my Uncle Jack sneaks a piece of the moist skin off the festive bird.

One action always seems to set off a chain of events that roll our lives out in story for the hours to come. Recounting fond memories of badly made mash potatoes, the time we all went shrimping and nearly got eaten by alligators, and the time a crab chased me around the house. These are far from tall tales, you know the fish that got away, but these where true stories told in a way that absorbed everyone into the story. The great orchestrator, my Grandfather. He knew what drew someone to a story, what inspired them, and always wove in a clever twist. We have a saying in our family, “when DB Spatz talks we all listen.”

The twist in this story, is our family’s love for the Advent Season. A time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. A time we cherish so much. Advent in it’s purest form means “coming.” In life we celebrate four magnificent seasons and this past year we celebrated the advent of winter with the passing of my Grandmother on December 17th during the last week of Advent and my Granddad who slipped into eternity on November 28th starting the first week of Advent. And today is a sad day in our family as we lay to rest a wonderful man, my Granddad, Donald Bernell Spatz who was 87. A man who in many ways was my other father and someone I saw everyday from birth until I moved from Pennsylvania. He was a man of great honor who made an incredible impact, but I will always remember his stories, his snicker when he would laugh, and of course his big hugs when I would leave. I got one of those hugs the day before he passed and along with a slight whisper in my ear that he loved me… and how proud he was of me.

Advent for my family, now has more meaning in our family’s story. They say a human life is a story told by God. If that is true, and I believe it is, than my Grandfather lived a wonderful story for his country and for his family. He will be missed, but we’ll have his gift of story for many years to come.

You can learn more about Donald Bernell Spatz – HERE

We’re only eight days into the new year and I’ve been feeling at times I’ve been impatient on what God has in store for my family and I.  I seem to think, I’m much older than I really am or that I really need to get this or that.  Blame it on hyper-capitalism, but the other day I came across an interview with Conan O’Brien and comedian Louis C. K. and during the interview Louis C.K. said, “Everything is amazing and nobody is happy. We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it’s wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots.” The interview really resonated with me…

Maybe it’s where I’m at personally right now. Whwn I look at the last twelve-months, the last two and a half years and the road from broadcast to ministry; I feel stressed.  Why?  First off all, it is all a blur.  Secondly the majority of the time was spent waiting, waiting for the right opportunity, waiting till we could financially wean ourselves off my broadcast salary to finally move and then only have to wait again.  I was in a hurry, in a hurry to go and concur, in a hurry to move on to the next best thing.  I think about what God was trying to tell me during those times/experiences.  Be patient? Maybe.  Be humble?  Most definitely.  I believe God was showing me through circumstances, situations, and others that if I slowdown and smell the flowers, everything will be fine in his timing.

Where are you going with this Matt?  I can relate to what Louis C.K. was talking about; maybe not the idiot part though.  In the last two decades, I’ve become more and more plugged into technology and my career.  I remember, when I met my wife I use to draw on napkins and journal in a moleskin.  I was reading a book or two a month.  Now, I’m married to my laptop, iphone, and all my other digital/electrical devices.  These devices have some much power and yet can cause us to get into so much trouble.  For instance, right now, my son is a sleep on the sofa next to me.  Peacefully a sleep.  And here I sit writing a blog post, checking my twitter a half dozen times, and sending a few text messages to work out my next speaking engagement.  All I want to be doing right now is watching him sleep!  It’s amazing!  To have all of this at ones fingertips to communicate and create at times and places when it would not have dreamed possible. It is amazing how quickly we are sucked in.

On Sunday, January 10th, I will be shutting off all my devices once again, to LISTEN, and spend time being intentional about what is to come over the next year.  During this time I want to focus on Faith, Family and Fitness.  Most importantly listening to what God has in store for me and my family in this new year and would I encourage you to join in with me.

I was traveling back east for Christmas and to attend my Grandmothers Funeral last week, when I Tweeted the above message.  Yes it’s from a line in “Love Actually” as I was kindly reminded; furthermore adds more weight that everything has already been said.  Any way, LOVE became a central part in our Christmas this year, not like it was missing or void before but just seemed like it was more present than ever.  I believe it was Grandma.  So the last few days I have been thinking a lot about the four letter word, LOVE.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the concept of true… LOVE is what we search for all our lives.  Yet… LOVE is one of the most misunderstood concepts of all.  What people really want more than anything else is to be loved unconditionally; to be accepted for who we are, and still be loved.  Sometimes we will do some crazy things, in the name of LOVE. See civilizations have risen and fallen based on LOVE.  And… LOVE, is actually the choice one makes to put someone’s wishes, desires and needs above our own.  And in the world today, so many of us confuse the word LOVE with the meaning of the word which is to want or desire.  What do you think?  Have we lost the meaning or changed the meaning of LOVE?  Are we better or worse off for it?

So when my friend @loswhit (Carlos Whittaker) point out what happened during his video shoot for his EPK; it made me think about how a simple gesture or song can make a difference in someone’s life.  Here is a cut of the behind the scenes of what happened during the shoot… it has to be one of the coolest things i’ve seen in a while… so moving

Today was a sad day in our family as we laid to rest a wonderful woman, my Grandma, Emma Louise Spatz who was 88. In many ways she was my other mother, my Moms best friend and someone I saw everyday from birth until I moved from Pennsylvania.

Born May 7, 1921, in Jersey Shore, Pa. she was the daughter of the late Raymond W. and Maude (Devine) Zettle. She married Edward M. King, Jr., who passed away in 1960 and then remarried Donald B. Spatz, to whom she was married 47 years.

She was a beautiful person inside and out as my mother constantly said. Her greatest quality was her inner strength. She was quiet, little lady and people may not have been aware of the wisdom and strength she possessed. I could tell you about her accomplishments, but her true rewards and treasures where her family; 6 children which turn into 12 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. She loved them with every ounce of her being and the world is better for it. The greatest gift she gave to us all was love.

While this time has been hard, I’m reminded that our loved ones really never die… they just go beyond our earthly sight into that land where there is no night; and this poem really helps us understand they are waiting for us.

When I Must Leave You

When I must leave you
For a little while,
Please do not grieve
And shed wild tears
And hug your sorrow to you
Through the years,
But start out bravely
With a smile.

And for my sake
And in my name,
Live on and do
All the things the same.

Feed not your loneliness
On empty days,
But fill each waking hour
In useful ways.

Reach out your hand in comfort
And in cheer,
And I, in turn, will comfort you
And hold you near.
And never, never
Be afraid to die,
For I am waiting for you
In the sky.

- Helen Steiner Rice -

May God grant you the light in Christmas, which is faith;
the warmth of Christmas, which is love;
the radiance of Christmas, which is purity;
the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice;
the belief in Christmas, which is truth;
the all of Christmas, which is Christ.