Sundays

As I've moved up to Jacksonville, two key decisions lay in front of me (that is if you do not include everything to do with school, job, etc. :]). What campus ministry should I attend? (and) What church should I get involved with? Both are very hard decisions.

On the topic of campus ministries, I am looking for one that is open, accepting, nice, and one that will meet a few guidelines (among which include sound doctrine and a discipleship program). I have so far only visited one group: Access218. I kind of already feel apart of this group for multiple reasons. I went to the Community Night on Wednesday and it was good. Not quite what I was hoping for/would have liked. But it's still a great group. I am definitely going to be attending the A218 again though. I also am going to check out BCM, InterVarsity, Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru), and maybe a few others. So if you think of it, I'd love prayer for a decision in this area!

Probably the harder of the two decisions is finding a church. It'll be hard and that's not because there are only a few churches...no Jax is full of churches! There are so many; it's just finding the "right" one. So I have had the oppurtunity to check out CrossRoads. It is a United Methodist Church and the home church of A218. After attending it for two weeks I have made observations (well really after the first week I had formed opinions). It is definitely more charismatic than Circle and is on a whole quite different. That does not mean I don't like it. When I'm looking for a church the foremost thing will be the teaching. If it is not sound than I will not be able to respect the leadership and thus should not become a member (because my end goal in finding a church will be someday becoming a member). After attending CrossRoads for two weeks here are a few of my observations: the worship is not my style and I have a few objections with the teaching. Though I know people there are now and want to at least get to know them better!

In my guidelines for finding a church some of you might be like, "Well it's not all about the worship style?" or "Maybe people just didn't see you, etc.?" And I can be ok with not fulfilling the two first things in a church :) However, if the teaching is not sound than I will not be able to respect that church's authority.

With that said, I am going to continue on my search for a church!

I'd appreciate much prayer in this area because I want to find the church that God wants me at...not that certain church that meets my needs, but that church that God has chosen a seat in for Matthew to fill to fulfill His will!

UNF Bookstore

So today I began my work at the UNF Bookstore. It was quite crazy. I was more or less thrown into the heat of things (for those of you who do not know the first weeks of class are insane. no joke.) Because I had received no formal training, I was scared and quite oblivious to what was going on...if only you could have experienced it. No, I do not actually wish that upon you :). I began as a greeter. Ok, not too bad. Then someone above me comes over and says that I'll be walking around the textbooks and offering help where needed. Ohh...not so cool. Turns out though I had a ton of questions it was not too bad. From there I manned a table, might have walked the floor some more, and then was returning books.

But that was only my 10:30am-1:00pm shift.
(No to mention I had a 1:40-4:20pm class after)

Next shift: 5:00-10:00pm (oh ya...)

So I report back to the bookstore at 5 to Leah (who is the very, very nice Customer Service Manager). Alright, she hands me off to Gina (who is very nice as well). She tells me to help the Textbook Info desk. Phone rings. Ack! One of my least favorite things to do...nobody is their. Whew! Telephone rings again. Dag! I answer it and am able to help the lady on the other end (with assistance from someone else at the desk). After that I did a number of different things. It was crazy and intense. But I guess I have to give it my all if I want to hold this job :/

College life

I'm sorry I haven't written in a while.

Just two things for now. One, I had my first real college class today: General Chemistry I. It was not so bad. Only an hour and fifteen minutes and most of the time was taken going over the syllabus and such. It'll be a challenging class, but good. Secondly, just a huge praise: I got a job at the UNF Bookstore! I start tomorrow at 10:30am as a door greeter. Praise the Lord! It's great and the lady who hired me, Leah, is so nice. I am indeed blessed. So, after a Pre-calculus class I'll head back to my dorm drop off my things and head over to the Student Union to begin the second job of my life!

...

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted!

Well I do not think I'll write much now, but maybe later. Life's crazy now. College in less than a week. I still have so much packing to do! I've (of course :]!) started, but have a long way to go.

I have been able to "meet" my new roommate through e-mail and facebook. He's nice and I think we'll at least get along. Please pray that God will use me to shine in his life because I do not think he's a Christian.

Hopefully once I get settled in next week and classes start and everything I'll write more. It'll probably be more than a week because the first week of classes and such is going to be hectic.

Well, that's all for tonight.

Good night.