Life Update

Well, I figure it's about time for a simple post about life.

I am sitting in my host home (aka The Vatican. The people I am staying with are the Popes...get it?) watching some World Cup soccer and just thinking about how great life is right now.

I have been working with the Hillcrest Youth Group since late March and it has been a tremendous blessing. It is such an awesome experience to be able to teach, worship, and simply hang out with such a great bunch of kids.

I am about to leave this Sunday for two trips back-to-back. I will be going with a Middle School group of about 20 up to Camp Champion at LCU this coming week. On Friday morning I will be picked up in Lubbock by a High School group heading to Colorado for Trek. I am going to be one tired youth intern when we return on July 2nd. Luckily things will slow down a little after that, but it will also be July! July? That's so close to the end of the summer. The other interns will have their last day on August 11 (Happy Birthday to me, right?). This summer is flying by.

God has been teaching me a lot of things about youth ministry, relationships, and myself. I have developed a greater passion for teaching and learned a lot more about how to have a little fun instead of diving too deep too quickly (a fault of mine).

Well, I really need to finish packing for this crazy two-week adventure.

Until next time, may God gently remind you that you will always be learning. May your heart be open to the possibility of change. May you continuously be amazed by the hearts of those around you as you catch glimpses of Christ through their lives.

Blessings,
Matt

Tumbleweed

Here's another Facebook double dip for your enjoyment:

I will not simply be a tumbleweed.

Can you name the plants that become tumbleweeds? You nerds who can just be quiet for now. Now, think about this sad fact of the existence of tumbleweeds. They remain completely unknown and irrelevant until they die and then they are regarded as having value and interest.

I am not talking about making a name for myself.

I am not talking about being the best or the brightest.

I am talking about living.

When I think back on my activities this past week, month, or year I feel that I spent the majority of my time dead. Doing nothing except waiting for the day that I dry up and begin my bounding, rolling journey as a ghost town attraction and occasional Abilene entertainment. In short, waiting to be a tumbleweed.

Don’t get me wrong. Being a tumbleweed is the inevitable end. We are destined to reach that state of rolling excitement, detached from the earth and thrust into a new life so full of energy and change. I look forward to it.

But…

Every tumbleweed was a plant once. Every plant was created for a reason. The tumbling demise of these plants, while much greater than life in the ground, is not the reason.

And so I will live today as a plant. I will make the most of this day. I will grow and I will stand.

Eventually I will tumble from this earth. Until then, there’s much to do.