Matthew's Blog

The Next Step In My Life

2011-06-01T23:23:00.001-05:00

"Deep in our hearts, we all want to find and fulfill a purpose bigger than ourselves. Only such a larger purpose can inspire us to heights we know we could never reach on our own. For each of us the real purpose is personal and passionate: to know what we are here to do and why."

From the book "The Call" by Os Guinness

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About a year ago I began thinking about doing something different with my life. Waiting around for a computer job to open up wasn't going anywhere. Although Fareway has been good to me and I feel like I'm able to make a difference there, I've felt that the job just wasn't for me. So, I began a journey to find out who I was and what I wanted to do with my life. I wandered through a forest in Minnesota for a few days, took on new challenges, strived to become a better person, went through trials, and talked to a lot of people. During this journey God has been working on me. He's showed me what my strengths are and the gifts that He's given to me. He's also showed me areas I need to work on. Through this whole process I still never really felt any sort of direction.

The past few months I have started to feel the sense that maybe I just need to take a step and see where a path leads me. I've been thinking about going back to school for almost a year, but didn't feel a passion for computers, at least not the networking side of things. It just didn't feel like a fit. So I never looked into it and put the thought on the back burner.

My past few sermons have been over some interesting topics and I really felt this passion for learning more about God, the Bible and stuff like that. Some people even have asked me if I thought about going into ministry or bible college and for quite some time I had said no. Over time my opinion has changed a little bit. I'm not sure if I want to go into ministry, but I think it's time for me to take a chance and go try out a bible college.

I'm not sure exactly where I'm going to go, but I know I'm going this Fall. I've already been accepted to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City and waiting to hear the decisions from two other colleges. I'll be going two years and will be able to get my bachelor's degree for either a general ministry or biblical studies.

I think it would be good for me personally and spiritually. I'm going to see what else is out there. To maybe figure out what God has for me. I don't know what I want to do, but I want to give God a chance to help me figure that out. I do know that I want to find a job where I feel like I fit and where I feel a sense of fulfillment. Some people say that job doesn't exist. Well, maybe it doesn't exist completely, but I want to find one that is close to perfect.

I'm just asking for your prayers. Pray that I'm able to have a clear decision when it comes time. Pray that I'm able to adjust well to this major step in my life. Pray that I'm able to find some direction for my life. Pray for my parents, that they'll be able to survive without me. Just kidding. They'll be fine. I know they support me and they'll miss me, but they'll be ok.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and thanks for your support.

You Want Me To Do What???

2009-06-10T01:05:00.001-05:00

I started reading through Hosea last week and read about Hosea and Gomer. Hosea was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. God told Hosea to take Gomer as his wife and that she would be unfaithful to him. Seems crazy, but Hosea did what God told him to do. I put myself in that situation and I don't know what I would do. When God tells me to do something that seems a little bit crazy and illogical, I have to ask Him if He's sure I'm suppose to do it. And then of course I'll give my excuses like 'That's out of my comfort zone' or 'I'm not sure how to approach the situation.' Sometimes I'll run the opposite direction like Jonah did. But here's Hosea, he goes out and does it. He took a step of faith not knowing what God's plan was. I want to be able to step up to the plate and have God use me how He wants to.

The past 2 years I've grown a lot and on several occasions, stepped out of my comfort zone and did what I felt God leading me to do. Things like going on a youth trip, talking to someone I didn't know sitting by themselves and getting to know some of my co-workers more personally. I've even done some things that seemed crazy to me, and way out of my comfort zone, that God told me to do. Prime example: I volunteered to help out Middle School Youth For Christ this past school year. That wasn't the craziest part though... The crazy part was when I thought about dropping out, God told me to keep helping out, and I stayed.

What's something you've done that's out of your comfort zone that God told you to do?

Going Through the Dark

2009-02-02T23:28:00.001-06:00

On the way back from a Super Bowl Party I went to that was a hour and a half away. I left about 10pm and I noticed it was really dark. The moon was less than half full, the highway had very little traffic and there were few street lights. The highway I drove on has a lot of curves and exits and so it made me nervous to drive on not knowing if the road kept going straight or if it curved. I turned on my brights as much as I could. Most of the time I was forced to keep looking down at where my normal headlights were able to reach so I could watch the lines.

Not knowing what was up ahead, made me really nervous. I then realized that it was kind of like what I am dealing with in my life. I don't know what's coming up. I don't know if I'm going to continue working at my job or will I find a new job and have to move. I don't know if I can make Summer plans or if I'll be working. As I was driving I remembered a verse I've heard mentioned a couple times this past week. In Isaiah 41:13 it says:

"For I am the LORD, your God,
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you."

Even if I can't see where my life is going, I know that God is with me. He's holding my hand every step of the way. How awesome is that?

Water Bills

2009-01-05T23:32:00.002-06:00

Water Bills
Courtesy of MountianWings.com

I do the water and sewer billing for a small city in Washington State. Customers complained about our postcard-sized bills - which they said looked too much like junk mail. So we decided to start sending full-sized bills in envelopes. The month before the switch, I had a note printed on the cards, announcing the change.

Two days later, I heard someone yelling at our receptionist, "Is this some kind of joke?" When the customer threw his bill upon the desk, I saw his point. The note was,

"Coming soon! New Larger Bills!"

Burn Out Bright

2009-01-04T00:15:00.000-06:00

This is a title from a Switchfoot song. Here's the chorus.

If we've only got one try
If we've only got one life
If time was never on our side
Then before I die
I want to burn out bright

We only have one shot at life. We all have ambitions. Those ambitions give us a burning feeling inside of us. Before I leave this earth, I want to burn out bright.