God is good...

God has been so good to our team here in Peru so far. We´ve had so many great opportunities to minister to people, and the people here are so amazing. Our first few nights we led a service at a local church here in Lima, and the people loved us. I spoke on the importance of spending time with God, and reading His word. the pastor really like that I challenged the church, and they gave us really cool hats. All of the Peruvians call me Superman, or supermatteo...it´s really funny because I´m so much bigger than everyone here.

We went door to door last night, and about 7 people came to christ, and our team healed a young boy named eduardo who was very sick ,and was on his way to the hospital. God is showing us just how powerful he can be, and it´s awesome!....I have to go now, but I´ll update again soon.

-Matteo-

A message from Peru...

Despite popular belief, I am still alive, and I am having an excellent time here in peru. We are living at communidad de fey church here in Lima, and so far everything has gone very smoothly. We found out around 3 o-clock yestersay afternoon that we were speaking and leading worship at a small church at 7 last night, so that was interesting. We are going back tonight, and I am speaking on how to read your Bible, and the importance of spending time with God. I´m excited to have the opportunity to speak, btu I´m a little nervous. I don´t have much time to write right now, but I´ll try to update again later...
-Matt-

Working For the Weekend...or maybe a little more...

Work, every normal person does it. Work is an unavoidable experience that helps us earn money, reputation, and character. I really enjoy having a job. I function better with a consistent schedule. I would rather come home soaked in sweat and absolutely exhausted than sit in my chair all day watching Mind numbing Television. Unfortunately, tomorrow is my last day of work this summer. However, I won't be sitting in my chair. I'll be at my other job in Peru. We are comanded in Matthew 28:19 to, "Go and make disciples of all nations..." Last time I checked...Peru is a nation. So, I am going there with a team of about 10 people from my school. I will be gone for a month, and I will not be updating my blog until I get back (unless I find some internet and time..though I doubt I will have much of the latter). I will be sure to have plenty to talk about when I get back...so for all 3-4 of my readers...farewell until my return.
-Matt-

"From the Inside" by Spoken

"From the Inside" by Spoken:

If I could tell you what this heart is feeling/This would be a whole lot easier/Could you tell me what my heart is feeling/Would you make this easier?/My life is in your hands, my life is yours/Take this man and cleanse me from the inside/For a moment could I see your face?/Teach me how to love you the way that you love me/I will wait for you/And I surrender, I surrender all that I am/All my pride and anger/All of me, this heart is yours/To you I surrender, I surrender all that I am/Take my life, use it for your glory/To you, to you, I surrender all that I am/All my pride and anger/All of me, this heart is yours.

Some would say that bands who scream can't write meaningful lyrics...this would be my response to those people.

-Matt-

Where I've Been Lately...

"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4 NASB).

This has been my theme verse this week. The past week or so, I have been facing some serious trials. I wont get specific, but basically, Satan has been feeding me lies, and has been causing me to doubt myself and others. It has been as though I've had a weight on my shoulders for the past week or two, and it was wearing me down to the point where I was on the brink of making some very poor decisions. However, God is very good. He came through when I needed Him the most. On Tuesday night I was at maybe the lowest point I've been at for some time. I was bitter about things for no reason, my family was treating me like I'm a moron, and I felt really sick. I skipped work on Wednesday because I was still sick from the night before, but skipping work didn't make me feel any better. I was still worrying about things, and was skeptical about others. I was forming bogus ideas about people in my head that I knew weren't true, and was extremely stressed out. It wasn't until I got home from work on Thursday afternoon that I realized how badly I needed to spend some time with God. So, I grabbed my running shoes, and went out the door. I argued with God for close to 3 miles before I nearly collapsed of exhaustion; now that I look back on it, that was a stupid thing to do on a 96 degree day, but it was worth it. In that moment of exhaustion I felt lighter, stronger, and more energetic than I had felt in a week. I felt the presence of God flowing through me again, and realized how stupid I had been for trying to live life on my own. No matter how physically or mentally strong I may be; I am hardly anything compared to God...So from now on I'm letting Him make the decisions.

-Matt-

Who am I to you?

Today I was thinking, and I had an extraordinary thought (or at least it intrigued me). So I've decided to write about it because, I believe it's easier to figure things out when I can see them on paper, or a computer screen in this case. It may seem like a common place issue, but today I was talking to a good friend of mine over dinner (you know who you are). We were talking about different people that we know/knew/thought we knew, and I started wondering what people say about me when they talk about me, or if they even talk about me at all. I honestly have no clue what people think of me, and for the longest time I really haven't cared. Or maybe I just pretended to not care. I can't imagine what people would have to say about me; especially with as much as I've changed in the past year. I suppose a large group of people would still say that I'm a jerk, and that I treated them like crap because I did, and for that I apologize. Another group may say that I'm nothing more than an arrogant jock; which was true at one point in time. On the other hand, there may be people that see me as a role-model, or as a loyal friend because, at times, I think I was that as well. Then there are the people who've known me over the past year that I hope would say, "Wow, you've changed a lot, and I can see God in you." That above all else is what I want people to talk about when they talk about who I am. I can't change who I was in the past, and I wouldn't want too. My past has made me into who I am today. It has shown me the importance of having complete faith in Jesus, and how good He is. I guess what I realized today is that while I'm sitting with my friends talking about people I know. I need to be careful because, they talk about me to, and I have no right to judge people becuase I am no better than they are. In fact, I may actually be worse. So, to conclude this jumbled thought of mine I'd like to say this: Let's be careful in the way we talk about other people; especially when we call some of them our friends. We have no right to judge. The final say is up to God. Lets just love one another as we love ourselves because, I don't often here myself or anybody else rag on themselves the way most of us rag on our friends.

-Matt-