Good morning! Sorry I haven’t wrote anything recently. As most of you know, I got engaged at the end of October to my beautiful Rose! We went up to Pittsburgh for a Steelers game and I proposed right at the edge of the water with the city behind us at dusk. One of the top highlights of my life, that’s for sure! So, as you can imagine, we’ve been crazy busy planning the wedding and also spending some much needed family time. Again, sorry for such a long delay. But, May 19th will be here before we know it! But, I’m glad I’m getting back to writing and hopefully I’ll be able to do it more often now. Enough chit chat, let’s get to business…

Galatians 2:19- “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20- I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” I was reading this passage this morning and it stood out a lot to me because of what Paul is talking about, is something that we don’t abide by specifically in my generation. It just seems to me that my generation (18-30) just doesn’t understand it or more disappointing- don’t care. Read verse 20 again. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” I mean, it can’t get much clearer than that. And let me set you straight on something real quick- living for Christ, isn’t something to take lightly. We all mess up. We all sin. We’re nothing near perfect. But, I’m so tired of seeing my peers and people I know claim that they know bible, they pray, they do everything right! But, as far as the Bible that I’m reading, many people just don’t understand or they don’t care of what it’s saying. Don’t believe me? Check facebook or twitter. You’ll find out real quick, who’s real and who’s not. Christians condescending others, gossiping, foul mouths, talking down the church, I could go on and on. It’s like some of us just don’t “get it”. I know it’s hard to stick to the straight and narrow, I’m not perfect either. Far from it. But, if you’re cracking open the bible and reading what’s in it, you’ll soon find out that the foundation of Christ, of the church, of this life that we live- is love. After you read this, I encourage you to read 1 Corinthians 13. I’m not posting it on here because I want you to get alone, sit down with the Word, and read it for yourself.

It’s a hard thing to deliver because you get in the line of judging and loving others. Before I close this out, I do want to say that I write this with sincerity and with love. In no way do I want to slam someone or make them feel like I’m judging. I’ll be the first to say, I’m a sinner. But, let me say this in the most loving way I can- it’s not your life to live. Stop the theatrics. Stop the trash talk. Be quiet and show the love that died for us and makes us new everyday. It’s by grace that we’re here now. Embrace it.

-Matt

As I’m getting ready for my trip to Pittsburgh, I keep thinking about the Steelers game I’m going to. I’ve been a fan for years and this will be my first trip to the Steel City. I was looking on the internet the other day about information on Heinz Field. Eventually, I found a picture taken from our section, even down to our row! I thought to myself, ‘wow, we’re going to have a great view.’ Then, I thought about how the position that I’m sitting in is going to be so different from the perspective of the cameras on television. Then, that got me really thinking. You know when your watching a game of football, your teams playing, it’s 3rd and long, 9 seconds to go and your quaterback gets sacked? Then you scream at the tv, wondering why didn’t he throw the ball. It’s so aggravating right? I always think, if he could just see what I see.

Here’s what I’m getting at. Imagine our lives are like a football game. And you’re the quaterback (or whatever your heart desires). So, you’re in the game, trying to read the defense, calling audibles, trying to get down the field against all opposition. That’s like life right? You’re doing your best to stay ahead of the game despite all that’s coming at you. Spouse issues, kids misbehaving, car problems, job issues, I could go on forever. And you know what, sometimes you’re going to get sacked. You may get laid off. Your cars transmission just went out. Your spouse may have decided to leave you. Whatever it is, it’s inevitable to miss. But, think about it, when you’re watching a football game at home, you can see everything. What the defense is doing, when the quaterback is scrambling out of the pocket you know who’s behind him, you know where everyone on the team is. When we’re playing this ‘game of life’ we don’t get that perception. We’re down there in the game, scrambling, trying to get down the field. There’s no way we could know at all times what’s going to come at us. But, God has our perception from the television. He can see the whole field, knows what the defense is doing, and what’s coming after you to sack you. He knows when things go bad. We think when something bad happens to us, that God just disappears. It doesn’t work that way. He’s always there. He was there in the beginning and He’ll be there until the end. Actually, He’s already been to the end. But, you’ve got to learn to pick your close friends and spiritual leaders wisely as well. Those are going to be your offensive line and they’re going to protect you as best as they can. Ask them to pray for you. Ask them to give you wisdom on decisions. Proverbs 2:4 says to seek wisdom like a hidden treasure. This is what church is for. Find your team and trust God. You’re eventually going to get sacked. Just have the right teammates to pull you up and dust you off for the next play. It’s your decision at the end of the day, win or lose, to give Him praise.

-Matt

Many people I know go to church regularly. I have a lot of friends and loved ones around me that claim to be Christians. I would even say that most of them were actually raised in church most of their lives, such as I was. I don’t have any type of crazy, awesome testimony where I was cracked out, homeless, a drunk and my life got turned around when I met Jesus, and it’s mostly the same for my friends. I love hearing those incredible stories because of how powerful and life changing they are, but I feel like the lives that my friends and I have lived can often be the most dangerous. I can’t even remember my life before church. I was seven years old when my mom started taking me and ever since, I’ve been worshipping God every Sunday. And you know what? That can get old sometimes. Yes, I said it. Sometimes my flesh can get so sick and tired of loving God and striving towards seeking His face. I’m sure a lot of you feel the same way when you’re really honest with yourself. We get up every Sunday morning or whenever your service is, and we get stuck in the motions. Smile. Shake hands. Sing. Raise hands. Listen to the preacher. Smile again. And then leave unchanged, unmoved, and honestly, bored with your spiritual life. We’ve become so spoiled by churches with cafes in them, talented musicians, and fancy stage lighting. Not saying those are bad things, because they’re most definitely not, but even good things can cause us to drift off of the straight and narrow. Hebrews 12 says to cast away every weight and sin. Not just every sin. Take Facebook for example, it’s not so bad. But, how many times do you check it a day. Is it more times than you checking out the Word? This is just an example, I don’t think God is keeping a record of how many times you check your news feed. But, my point is that we can get so easily distracted and bored. It takes some serious spiritual discipline to be still and be with God in todays society. But, those are the moments when God sets the captive free. Stop waiting for this radical service on Sunday to move you. God doesn’t want to wait on Sunday. Jesus wants to walk with you right now. I mean, if knowing that the Creator, the one who holds the line between death and life, our Saviour, lives inside of you and me doesn’t get you on your knees, I don’t know what will. We have to stop waiting on those chills from an incredible worship song or a feel-good sermon from the pulpit to break our fleshly chains. It’s like we tell God on Sunday, “Ok I’m here! I worshipped you today, I stayed for the altar service, I threw a couple of bucks in the offering plate, now do something for me!” And then we get disappointed when we leave because we’re unmoved. But, in reality, we haven’t even whispered a prayer through the week. We haven’t thought about what God is doing in our lives. And we definitely haven’t given Him any thanks for anything.

Even in the midnight hour, He’s there for us. Why are we waiting for Sunday?

-Matt

Hey everybody. Sorry I haven’t blogged recently. It’s been a busy weekend, preparing and planning for a trip to Pittsburgh to see the Steelers play in a few weeks. It can’t come soon enough!

I’m blogging from my phone so I’m not sure where that picture is going to end up, but what you’re looking at is hail damage. That’s what I look for everyday on my job. When I see that, I see money. It’s great for the homeowner as well because they get a free roof! (Minus your deductible!) So, obviously this particular persons roof is damaged, blimished, not in perfect shape, whatever you want to call it. What happens when we see that, is we get in contact with the customers insurance and they come out to inspect it. Once they see the damage, we negotiate a price and we’re good to go. I like to think of my job as the way we should live our lives. Just like the hail and wind, life can come at you out of nowhere. It could be something as simple as a flat tire or it could be something as serious as a close one passing on. We have no control over these things. Sometimes we blame God for the reasons we have bad days when that’s not the case at all. It’s stupid to think that God is out to get us. Just like in my last post, God is good. So, that means what? He’s loving and He is for us. I’m not saying He doesn’t discipline us, because He does. That’s very clear in the bible. But, we put the blame on him too often. So, you’ve got all these things going wrong around you and you have no control over it. And let’s even say this storm of life tears your house almost to the ground. The initial reaction is to panic and freak out when you just remembered….wait a second, I’ve got insurance. All you have to do is call them. They’ll come out and you’ll get your house in better condition than before. (Some of you have already caught on to where I’m going with this, I’m sure.) All you have to do is call on Jesus and He will build you up. Just like the insurance company, when you call, he comes into your life and fixes the damage that’s been done. If you call. The insurance won’t come out if you don’t call. So, whenever you’re at your end and you’re broken, you’ve got to make the first move. God wants to be your hero. He wants to love you like a father loves his children. So, I recommend checking your “roof”. Inspect your soul and find the damage that’s been done. Past relationships, family fights, marriage problems, whatever it is, its not so much destroyed that God can’t fix it. He made us out of the dirt we walk on, so don’t belittle His power.

-Matt

Ok, after a 3 and a half drive from Tennessee, I’m exhausted. But, I’ve finally figured out the html problem I was having with the header. Thank God! I guess now I can start advertising for the blog since I have it mostly finished for the time being. If anyone has any advice for what I could do differently or whatever, please let me know. Like I said, I’m new to this thing and I’m learning as I go. So as I’m watching Big Blue Madness, I’m going to attempt to post something worth reading. It kinda goes with my last post…

I’ll be honest, I’ve been aggravated today. Like, I’m talking full out grouch mode. Its been one of those days where everything just falls apart. Even at this very moment I can’t shake it. I won’t get too much into it but a lot of it has to do with the place I work. For those who don’t know me, I drive to Tennessee through the business week and sell new roofs to people who have storm damage. I’ll be the first to tell you that insurance work is a pain. Not only are you dealing with ridiculous customers, but you also deal with insurance adjusters that act like they have urine soaked cheerios for breakfast everyday. So it can get stressful sometimes. But, I know that I’m not the only one that has these types of days. Matter of fact, I know a couple of people that seem to have these days everyday…Regardless, we’ve got to stay the course. Sometimes I feel like I’m “beating a dead horse”, but I really do feel like thats an anthem for my life. Every time I slip and fall, I keep telling myself, “stay the course, stick to your guns, focus…” And I want to share with you guys what helps me do that.

Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina is an incredible pastor. If you have any type of smart phone, I highly recommend downloading the Elevation Church app, plugging it in to the car, and listening to this guy preach. He brings such a refreshing perspective to living a christian life. His first book is called Sun Stand Still and I also recommend it. (that’s my advertisement for the day.) I read through this book recently and one of the biggest things that jumped out at me is a simple little point we’ve known our whole lives but yet we act like we don’t know. In the chapter “The Simplest Systematic Theology Ever”, he tells a story about how he was in middle school one day and he mistakenly bumps into the school bully. To cut the story short this big ugly dude has him pinned up against the wall about to beat his face in. So, he looks around for help and he sees his friend. His friend is no help at all and says to him, “Don’t look at me, man.” (What an awesome friend, right?) So, he’s still looking desperately for some help and just in time, a teacher comes in to save the day and all is good. The point of the story is about his friend, the bully, and his teacher. I’m sure his friend wanted to help him. But, lets be honest, who would go up against the school bully? You know, the guy that has a beard in eighth grade? So, his friend had good intentions, but had no power. On the other hand, the bully had all the power, but obviously no good intentions. The teacher on the other hand had all good intentions and even greater power than the bully. I’m sure you’re wondering what I’m getting at. Let me let you in on Pastor Stevens secret. “The Simplest Systematic Theology Ever” is this… God is good. God is great. That’s it. It simply means if God is good, he has all the good intentions. (See Jeremiah 29:11) And if God is great, he has all the power. (See everything in existence.) We’ve got to come to realize that God has great things for us because He’s good and he can do it because He’s great. I mean, He’s more than just a buddy or somebody to give our lives laundry list to. He’s an all powerful, loving God. And that’s what keeps me going. If He’s strong enough to create the universe and create me from the dirt that I stand on, He’s strong enough to get me through the day. Simply because He loves me. What an incredible God!

I’m off to relax and enjoy the rest of my night. Good night!

-Matt

Ok, so this whole blogging thing is tougher than I thought! The past few days I’ve been searching through WordPress for a good theme, changing it through html and CSS, and working a full time job all at the same time. But I’m getting closer to the end before I release it to the public. I’m lost at the moment on how to place the header images closer together and I need to do some other html garbage, but other than that, I should be ready to roll very soon!

Anywho, in between working on my blog and measuring roofs I’ve read through Jonah. We all know this story. You know, the dude who basically got vomitted out of a fish? And man, do I love this short book! What an incredible story of God being patient with His creation. God had a will for Jonah. He told him flat out, “Go to Ninevah!” And what did Jonah do? He tried to play hide and seek with God. Everytime I read this story I’m like, how dumb can you be? God is all knowing. He’s the Alpha and Omega, the Creator, the Finisher. You can’t run from God. But yet, we try it all the time. Maybe not physically. But we make excuses for not tithing. We make excuses for not praying. We make excuses for not reading the Word. I could go on and on. I mean, I don’t want to sound old fashioned or anything, but doesn’t God deserve more than excuses? You may not be called to preach in front of millions. You may not be called to lead a worship band. But you are called to have a relationship with Jesus. It’s not His will for your life for you to be perfect. God had a simple task for Jonah and he blew it. But what’s so awesome about God is that He’s patient. He knows we’re going to blow it. And for that, you may get stuck in a scary place for awhile. Hebrews 12 talks about how God disciplines us like a father disciplines his son. That’s why Jonah ended up in the belly of a fish! But, He disciplines us because He loves us! He knows it’s for our good. So, strive for His will. No, it’s not an easy road to take, but with Gods love and grace, He perfects our imperfectness!

-Matt

Hey everyone! I decided to take a dive into this blogging outbreak and see what comes out of it. It’s my first time owning a website so be patient! I’m learning as I go!

I wanted to create something more than just a blog. I’m hoping to create something that when someone needs a push or a hand that this can be a place that they can run to. Hence the blog name, MyStrengthMyRefuge. In no shape or fashion am I a pastor or a leader. But I do believe that the moment that we accept Jesus Christ into our lives, that we sign up for a full time ministry position for spreading the gospel. So the way I see it, I’m just doing my duty as a broken, imperfect, 22 year old man trying to seek Gods perfect face! Let me say it again to make it clear- I’m imperfect. I make mistakes. Please don’t take this blog as an attempt to make me look holy or self righteous in any way. I’m just simply a tool that God uses to build His Kingdom.

That’s all I really have for today. I just wanted to start this thing and see how God uses me to minister to you. Even if its one person, its all worth it! So I encourage you to comment and let me know what you think! Be blessed!

“God is our strength and a refuge, an ever-present help in trouble.”
Psalm 46:1

-Matt