It's Matt. Today was pretty awesome and inspiring. I've only been in ministry all but a couple weeks so far and I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to do things. Thankfully I have a great group of teens who are teaching me probably more than I'm teaching them and a church family that is very patient and forgiving of me not quite knowing what I'm doing just yet.
Today really helped me get some perspective and prepare my heart for what might be in store and I'm excited to tell you about it, but first I want to take you back to last Sunday. It was a long day for me. After service I got the chance to go out to lunch with a guy named Pat who is kind of in the same boat as I am. He too just graduated college and is in the process of starting out on his own and while he's already engaged unlike me, we had a lot in common and it was nice to be able to just sit down with someone my own age and chat awhile at Applebees. When I got back to the church I decided to just hang around town since I'm still looking for an apartment closer by and didn't want to drive a half hour back home knowing I would have to come back in an hour. I went to Caribou Coffee to get a campfire mocha and made some phone calls to my younger brother and sister.
Then I headed back to the church because we were gathering to go to an event called Winterjam that is a big concert put on by the band Newsong. We loaded up some cars and headed downtown and I got to spend the short drive chatting with Alex, who is pretty much the only young man in the youth group right now and it was great just talking with him.
At the concert we all had a great time and I realized that I'm starting to feel old at 24 because the music was too loud to me and I wished I could hide further from the speakers. What is happening to me! I don't usually care for the band Newsong because they just aren't the style I've come to like really but this time I started paying attention to their lyrics and there was a song they did about you called The Same God that celebrated how faithful you are to us and how you'll never lead us in to something without staying there to see us through it. I'll be honest, this transition from being a student is tough for me right now with trying to pay bills and get my feet under me while figuring out how to serve the kingdom by leading my teens and I probably needed to hear that song as much as any of the other 10,000 people there that night. Thank you for sticking with me and not giving me more than I can handle with you working through me. I'm reminded of my own shortcomings pretty regularly but you've always worked through the weak and unlikely and I'm just fortunate that you're willing to work in me and let me be a part of something much bigger than myself.
But let me get to today before I get too long winded (although you know me well enough by now to understand that brevity is not one of my gifts). Today was awesome as I said! I stayed up way too late last night but by 10am I was on the road heading to Mount Vernon, OH. It's about a two hour drive and one I'm obviously pretty familiar with having gone to school there for a year. Still it felt like it took forever with how tired I was and I was just savoring that iced coffee I picked up before I left.
When I got in to town I drove past the university and while there were obviously reasons I transferred out of it after a year, I couldn't help but think back and feel like that year was a part of your plan for me in an odd way. I learned a lot and even though I felt I needed to leave to attend Southern Nazarene University all the way out in Oklahoma City, I'm glad I'm back where I grew up.
I stopped by one of the churches to pick up Pastor Tom who was my youth pastor from the time I started going to church in 6th grade until right before I graduated high school. We went out for lunch and it was nice to just speak to a humble man of You (that's funny). When I think back to my youth group experience I honestly felt it was run flawlessly, but Tom is as humble as they come and was quick to admit things that he's growing in. I think the most important lesson I took away from today is that I don't need to be a perfect pastor or even a perfect Christian in the sense of having no flaws. We're all unique and there are things I'm good at but also things I struggle with and talking to Tom made me realize that you'll work with the willing to accomplish your work and demonstrate how awesome a God you are.
Thank you for being there with me through all these crazy adventures that we seem to get in to. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Until Then,
Matt
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