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.

Day 6....home, peach shake, and Giant's

(From Thursday)

Today Natalie and I decided to stay in instead of going into DC or out anywhere. This morning I took Laura to the Metro and headed over to Panera to do some reading and to do some stuff on my computer. For the past three days I have been able to go to Starbucks or Panera to read my Bible and another book. It's good to set some time away in the early morning to do this. After I returned home, I took Bailey for a walk. Natalie woke up and got ready and we headed over to Chick-fil-a for free small chicken biscuits (apparently each say this week at a certain Chick-fil-a they are giving out certain free breakfast items) It was good :); plus, I bought this Peach Milkshake which was not bad. I had been told it was really sweet. Yes, it was sweet but not too sweet.

Later we just hung around the house. We did some cleaning: I cleaned some of the counters in the kitchen. I wanted to some cleaning for Mike and Laura; I mean we have been living in their house, eating their food, etc. so this was a way of giving something back :) Later in the afternoon Natalie and I drove to Giant's for some food for dinner (I took directions this time! I had taken directions for Chick-fil-a earlier was well. After that touring northern VA incident, I thought it good to have directions :)).

We came home from Giant's and a little later Natalie and I made dinner. We made a bacon and chicken cheese sauce to put on the pasta we cooked. Then for a vegetable I threw together some different veggies from Mike and Laura' freezer. I put broccoli, spinach, and cauliflower together with some cheese(of course!)

Later on I picked Laura up from the Metro station and we headed home to dig into our cheesy dinner.  It turned our to be ok.  The sauce was not as tasty as I would have liked.  However, we had brownies later on which were good.  After dinner Laura, Natalie, and I headed over to the community pool for a swim.  We only went into the pool for a little while.  After 8pm Laura headed to Ronald Reagan Airport to pick Mike up from his trip to LA.  We had the brownies when they returned. 

Day 5....DC and Donald's

(From Wednesday)

Natalie and I went into DC again for more museum bouncing. Yes, well, honestly that meant only two museums :P. This really is not a bad quota for a day though. I mean the Smithsonian museums are chalk full of displays, so two in a day is not bad, if not even too much. But our method of museum viewing was not as intensive as some. For example, we did not stop at all the displays in each museum and did not read every board and plaque with information on it.

We got into DC via the Metro and headed on over to the National Museum of American History. This museum basically captures any and everything from the establishment of the US as a nation all the way up to pop culture today in our great nation. It was fairly extensive, though it let me down. Back some years ago my family and I visited DC, and I think we came to this same museum. This last time though they did not have a display they had last time (unless I just missed it). It was a Star Trek phaser! (Geek? Yes! Awesome? Heck ya!) But not this time around, no phaser to be found. Though I must say that I did not search the whole museum, so I might have overlooked it :/ I went into the pop culture section and you would think it would have been there....nope. So ya, a disappointment, but we saw some other cool and crazy displays.

The thing is museums are full of so much rich knowledge and facts, yet they are very overwhelming with their extensive data and media displays. It would take at least a day or two to soak everything up from just one museum, though after a day I probably would have got bored of that museum. :/

After the American History Museum, Natalie and I traversed up and down DC roads to locate some nourishment. We finally found a McDonald's to fulfill our hunger. After devouring fries, a chicken sandwich, some chicken nuggets, and a Bacon Ranch salad, Natalie and I, with Strawberry shake and soft drink in hand, respectively, found our way to museum #2.

The second museum we went to is the National Air and Space Museum. (Yes, from my above comment you can imagine that this is probably my favorite museum.) The Air and Space Museum is full of planes, rockets, capsules, and crazy technology, which is cool! Let me tell you what. It was crazy, though, that there was a line coming out of the building to get in, it was free, but quite unusual for a museum to be so busy. But we got in fine and were able to see some cool things: a replica of Sputnik 1, different space capsules, multiple rockets, etc. :)

After that we took the Metro to the station near home and then drove home.

Later, I went back to the Metro station to pick Laura up and then went home to eat dinner. After we played mini golf near their house :) Laura won. :/ :)

Tomorrow Natalie and I are just going to stay home and hangout their.

Day 4...relative rescue

(From Tuesday)

6:35am....wake up and take a shower.

6:55am....take Mike and Laura to the Metro station.

This morning Mike was leaving for LA, but he just had to go to the Metro so the day started like any other.  I drove Mike and Laura to the Dunn Loring Metro station so that Natalie and I could have the truck for the day :).  I proceeded to Starbucks after depositing them at the station.  I grabbed a strawberry-banana smoothie and did some reading. It was good to just spend time doing that.  The smoothie was nothing amazing; I would definitely recommend the chocolate banana smoothie if you were going to buy a vivanno from Starbucks.  

I drove home and had some breakfast, watched some tv, and decided what to do for the day.  Well, I was thinking about going to a park of some sort, so I googled to see what I could find.  Natalie and I ended up visiting the Manassas National Battlefield Park.  This was, of course, after missing a turn on the beginning of the trip and having to turn around to get back on track.  Then we wanted to grab some lunch to take to the park.   So we explored our options and eventually found a Firehouse Subs, which is what we had wanted.  With lunch in hand we traversed back to the park and parked at the Visitor's Center.  I bought my pass and Natalie was free(!)  We drove (it's a big, big park) to a picnic area and gobbled down our subs.

After a filling lunch, we headed back over to the Visitor's Center where we began a one mile tour/walk with information along the way about the First Battle of Manassas.  There was some interesting information and lots of cannons (it was a battle after all).

Well by the time we left, it was about 3 o'clock.  This would have been fine.  I mean it should have only took us 30 minutes to get home.  We did need to stop by a supermarket, but that should not take too long.  After I would pick up Laura from the Metro station sometime after 4 o'clock.  This was the hypothetical situation and probably the best way to accomplish this.  Well, turns out that's all it was: hypothetical.  

We left the park in the right direction, though I was uncertain.  So, after turning around and turning around again (because I was originally correct) we headed towards home.  Everything would have been fine if we just went home.  However, we were going to a Super Giant (VA supermarket) for some food for dinner.  I did not remember where any of the Giants were so I went on a wild goose chase.  This took Natalie and I on a tour of norther VA (ok, that's a but of an exaggeration).  So, we finally found one that I had been too before.  Ok, that was not too bad.  The worst part was me trying to get home.  That's when we began our long drive to no where.  So, after much reluctance I contacted Laura for help(!)  After talking with her, one of her co-workers, and a friend, Natalie and I were finally able to get home (relative rescue!).

We picked Laura up from a Metro station and headed to McDonald's to pick up some dinner.  We did this because we did not want to take the time to make lasagna and Laura had a Bible Study to go to, so we went for some "fast" food.

Tomorrow Natalie and I are heading into DC again.

Day 3....day in DC, way too many people

(From Monday)

10:46am - Wake up.

12:17pm - Leave home for Metro.

12:45pm(ish) - Enter Metro and get off at Federal Triangle station.

Well, I ended up waking later so we (Natalie and I) did not get into DC until after noon.  We walked up to the Metro station and took the train to the Federal Triangle station.  Our goal for the day was to visit two of the Smithsonian Museums: the National Museum of Natural History and Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture.  Mission accomplished.  

We first went to the natural history museum.  There were a ton of animals from all over the world.  No, they were not real, but they were replicas or something.  There were live bugs, butterflies, etc. though.  There were some normal looking ones and ones you might be like, "That looks like a combo of two animals!"

After exploring the plethora of replicas, skeletons, and interesting nature-related facts, we checked out the Atrium Cafe.  It was an ok cafe.  They had soup, pizza, wraps, sandwiches, burgers, etc.  You know your basic cafeteria food, but they were all crazily priced.  Natalie and I got a total of two drinks, a slice of pizza, a beef wrap, and fries and it was about $26.  Insane!

From the natural history museum we went to an art museum.  We only went for a little while and checked out parts of a few exhibits.  There were some interesting pieces of art, especially in the folk art area.

Once we had perused some different pictures and portraits we headed towards the National Mall and eventually found a Starbucks :)  After we purchased our drinks, Natalie and I headed to the Mall and found some shade to sit in.  After 4pm some time, Natalie and I returned to the Federal Triangle station to head home.  We got back with only a little trouble and joined Mike and Laura outside the Dunn Loring station.

That evening we played Settlers (again).

Day 2....Count your blessings, count them...

Two (deer) by one (deer) by two (deer) by one (turtle) by one (prairie dog...thing) by one (deer) by one (deer).

Second day here in VA.  This morning we went to Mike and Laura's church, Covenant Life Church (Josh Harris is a pastor there, yes, the author :), ya I've mentioned this before).  It is a really great church.  It was interesting today they had two baptisms during the service.  Yes, in the sanctuary there is a small pool!  It was different, but good.

After church we drove over to a state park in Maryland (that's where Covenant Life is) to play some disc golf.  The course is made up of three loops of nine holes.  We only did two of the loops :) (27 holes is a lot!)  If you've never gone disc golfing, you should.  Today I did not do so well, but it was good exercise and a chance to try out a new course.

After disc golf we came home for some lunch and watching golf (ya, I know you're like, "Golf?  That's boring!").  It can be boring, but it's easier to like it when you're going for someone.  We watched that for a while, well some of us, and I got a few z's on the couch.  When I awoke we played Settlers (mentioned in previous post).  After we went to Olive Garden for dinner!  It was pretty good :)  We came home and Mike and Laura went to bed not long after; they have to wake up early!  Now watching some tv and on the computer.

Going into DC tomorrow with Natalie.

P.S. Oh, by the way, the beginning reference about counting your blessings and the animals refers to the wildlife we saw while disc golfing.  We first saw two deer.  Then another deer.  Thirdly, we saw a buck and a doe run/jump across a creek.  While searching for a missing disc, I located a turtle.   We think it might have been a snapping turtle, not sure.  Then we saw this prairie dog animal as we left the park.  As we were driving out some of us saw two more deer.  I missed them :( :/.

Day 1....crazy day

(From Saturday)

8:20....."Get out of the shower!   We got to go!" (not direct quote from family, but how they were probably feeling :P)

9:30.....bags checked in.

12:00........got into Dulles International Airport.

*times are estimated

Well that was the beginning of my day.  Natalie and I were off to visit and spend time with my brother and sister-in-love, Mike and Laura.  The day it not get off to a great start.  Turns out that my baggage, due to our late check in (because of me :/) did not make it on our flight.  After getting into DC, we had to go back to the airport to pick it up :( later that day.  Thankfully after we figured this out, Mike and Laura were close and picked us up pretty quickly from the airport.  We drove home and were greeted by Bailey (Mike and Laura's huge chocolate lab). Our afternoon then consisted of hanging out, eating, and playing a game called Settlers (interesting game :) ).  

Well, since it is the 4th of July we had to grill.  Mike had burgers and dogs.  But his burgers were not your everyday burgers.  They were stuffed with mozzarella cheese.  (your mouth is probably watering now :P)  The recipe was more or less a take off from a burger made on the Food Network's show "The Next Food Network Star".  They were good burgers (he did make some plain with cheese on top :)  and they were good as well).  We also had baked beans, pasta salad, and s'mores!

After dinner we headed out.  This is the time we picked up my luggage.  After calling AirTran twice during the day, we went back to Dulles and thank the Lord(!) my bag was there.  Whew, what a relief!  After, we headed to the Metro system.  From there, we boarded the Metro to go into DC.  We went to the National Mall where we watched fireworks with Laura's boss, Marissa,  and her husband, Rob, as well as two of their friends, Molly and Carlos.  It was really nice that Marissa had saved us some area on the Mall, because there were a ton of people!   It was crazy, but quite aweosme to be able to watch a fireworks show in DC between the Capitol and the Washington Monument!   We were on the Mall for awhile before the fire show so we played cards and talked.  At 9:20ish the fireworks started.  It was just amazing to be where we were.  The fireworks show came from behind the Washington monument!

On the way home it was crazy.  We took the Metro out of DC and the crowd was crazy.  Not even joking!  It was insane.  Oh, and on the way back to Mike and Laura's house I did a, yes just me :/, chinese fire drill!  Oh yes!  Haha...

What a day!

Because I can...

...new layout :]

We're going to miss you Mae Mae!

I just wanted to take this blog to dedicate to Megan! We're going to miss you so much. You will have an amazing time this summer though: seeing relatives, being on the farm ;), and just spending time in another place.

While it is only "See you later!" it seems like "Goodbye". We've had great times together and will have more to come, but for now we will have to be ok with only Facebook, texting, and the million other media options out there to communicate.

I hope you have an amazing time this summer! Keep your eyes out for God, Megan, and you will see Him! Enjoy the time on the farm :P and out in nature. Have a great time at Bible School and learn a lot!

See you later Megan!

P.S. Of course, this doesn't mean we will let you off the hook in August Megan. Prepare for 48 hours of being awake and lots of caffeine!

it's just that crazy...

...yes, I'm 19 now. I cannot believe it. This should not be happening, but it is. So, yep I'm really old now.

good morning...no...almost good afternoon!

Hi all.

Well, I have not written in a while, so I thought I'd post a short little thing here. I woke up and got out of bed after 11:00am today!?! It's crazy. I am usually up earlier than that. I mean I like my sleep, but I feel like I've lost part of my day when I do not get up until anytime after 10:00am or so :] So anyway, ya...I'm sure it can't have anything to do with the fact that I stay up to 2:00am :P.

So.....ya......that's all for now. I'm going to try and post more during the summer...so if I don't you can yell at me or get on my back about it :]

Happy Tuesday y'all!

Verses for now: "Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart;
when he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart;"
-Proverbs 26:24-25

College.

Well, by the time I'm done writing this it will be Friday, May 15, and I'm not ready to graduate.  At all. :[  It's sad and too bad.  

For 18 years I have seen people graduate and move on.  My friends and brothers have gotten on stage and received their diplomas.  I just never really thought I would be up there.  I mean I knew it was coming, but it never seemed like it would come.  I do not feel ready to move on.  I should not be allowed to.  There is still so much I should know before I go off to college, or that's how I feel anyway.  I would not mind re-doing (or just spending more time in) my highschool years.  Some of you are probably like, "You're crazy!  I have waited for this day since I began highschool!"  And that's great for ya.  I just am not there.  I wish I would have taken more advantage of my highschool years, but I just did not.  I wish I had spent more time building relationships and not worry about unimportant things.

So yes, this is where I'm at.  It's crazy.  Graduations is tomorrow and well I cannot go back and relive these past 18 years.  I would just like to enjoy it and realize that, yes, I have come this far and it's time to move on.  I cannot always stay in my comfortable spot.  I need to be put in situations that will cause me to grow closer to Christ.

By the way, sorry I have not posted in a while :/

God's love.

Tonight at youth group we were learning about God's Kingdom. Specifically, Josh talked about the "Kingdom of Love." It is very late, but I thought I would write something between Precalc and English homework :/.

It is amazing to think of God's love. God gives us the same love He shows Jesus. He loves us unconditionally.

- Loving God means loving people.
- Our love for others must start with (loving) God!
- The love of God makes us secure.

I've struggled with God's love for me honestly. But if we can let it pervade every part of ourselves and our lives I cannot imagine how we would be a light for God to a lightless and loveless generation.

We must remember we cannot truly love on our own. We can only do it through God. After all, "we love Him, because He first loved us!"

I just want to leave you with two questions:
- How can you live from this point on in God's love?
- How is God's love affecting the way you live? (Is it?)

"Bringing Heaven's realities to earth is the most radically redemptive God-saturated existence possible for mankind." - Jamie Harris

college.......hmmm.....

Sorry, I have not posted recently.

Life's been fairly crazy. I visited the University of North Florida this past Tuesday. It is a very nice school. I like the campus. It is well kept and some of the buildings have a contemporary look which I really like. Compared to the University of West Florida, which I visited with my dad a week or two ago, UNF's campus is much nicer. I did not think UWF really kept their campus as nice. I do however like the staff and such at UWF better than UNF. They were just more nice and personable than those at UNF. I do however have friends at UNF and it would be nice to have a connection up there. I visited the campus ministry that Haylee and Kelsey are apart of, ACCESS218, and was not bad. Kelsey actually spoke (she is on staff at ACCESS) and it was cool. I'm still debating on where to go and still dreading it. But, the decision does need to be made soon. I'm just not sure. The people at ACCESS were nice and I got to know some new people. I was able to hang out with Haylee earlier and meet some of her friends, which was pretty cool. It is nice to have a familiar face.

Since I have last written, my dad, brother and I joined Planet Fitness and I have gone only two times. But it is a pretty good place :)

I am done with Circle classes. It's crazy. I will not take another Circle class for the rest of my life. Wow.....Yep.

I still have Precalc, English IV, Personal Fitness, and Theology to finish though. It's weird how high school is coming to a close. Crazy....

I'm nobody....how about you?

"I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us--don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know. How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!"

Most people have probably (well maybe) heard this poem before. I have felt this way a lot recently and in the past in differing degrees. I have not necessarily felt it in a conscious way, but in more of an unconscious way. I have struggled with friendships a lot. (I would just like to say right now I am not looking for sympathy here. I am just wanting to put to words a little of what's been going on in my life. :) )

From as far as I can remember, I have not been a very social person. I am not one who is outgoing and makes friends very easily. But, I think if I may say so, I am known to be quite a friendly person. So, why do I am not outgoing and have lots of close friends? This could be for many reasons. As I have given it thought, I guess I have drawn this conclusion. You cannot be close friends with people if you never allow them to get close to you. I put a smile on for people and I try to be nice....not that I am not, but sometimes I do not feel like it.

Alright well it's late.....I'm going to finish my thoughts in another installment or two.

James Eli Harris......

.....Welcome to earth :)! It is so exciting that yesterday (03/03/09) my youth pastor and his wife (a.k.a. Josh and Kim Harris) had their first child, James Eli Harris. I believe everything went well and that they are probably home now. It is very awesome anytime that a new life is born, because God has given that child life. For the gift of life is a thing that many people take for granted. Praise the Lord that he is a life born and not one of the many children who get aborted and never leave their mother's womb!

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth..." Psalm 139:13-15

p.s. It was also Megan Schwoch's birthday yesterday! So she got an awesome present of a baby she knows being born on her "birth"-day.

four square.......

I did not have anything to say currently and I have not posted in a while.   So let me entice you  with an entertaining and intense game that you should play when you get the chance.  That game is four square.   It is a long forgotten game perhaps, as you do not  see many play it nowadays.  But we have (kind of) brought it back at youth group.  After Thrive  for the past two Mondays, some  of us have played four square.  Let me tell you it can be quite a fun game.  But I must warn you it can be very addicting.  Once you  start, you may never  stop...............

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..............................

..........okay.......just kidding..........you can stop.......

....................but who would want to...............when it's so addicting!!

p.s. The four square picture is not of us :)  It's juste a random one I found online.