Story Behind The Photo: Matt

If you asked a 15-year-old me what he thought he would be doing when he graduated he would’ve answered something normal like going to college to play baseball and get a degree in kinesiology. However, that is not at all what I was doing when I graduated high school as you can see in this picture. I know they say a picture says a thousand words but I have a thousand more to say to do justice for what's happening in this photo. Now let me properly set the scene here. The first thing you need to know as a reader is that contrary to the plethora of American flags that are on my shorts I am in fact not in the USA. I was on the beautiful island of Tierra Bomba in Colombia, which would mark the first time flying for me and leaving the southeast of the United States. Long story short I lived in a constant state of culture shock. The second thing you need to know is that at this time I despised public speaking with a passion at this moment in time, so combining public speaking with teaching children how to discern the voice of God was quite a tall task to live up to.

Before I dive deeper into what God was teaching me at this time let me elaborate on my opening statement. When I was fifteen my plans were to play college baseball and study to become a physical therapist. Those dreams quickly dissipated once I had a cold water-to-the-face reality check with a career-ending shoulder surgery two weeks after my sixteenth birthday. This fork-in-the-road moment in life made me go through a six-month-long journey of asking myself what was next for me, did I really want to be a doctor? I had to ask the question of is there more to what God has for me in this life. I arrived at the conclusion that a life dedicated to ministry is what God had in store for me and that I was to pursue that through doing a DTS at YWAM Asheville. 

 Now that I’ve elaborated all of the elements at hand in this photo let me tell you about how God was faithful in this moment and taught me lifelong lessons. 

Fast forward a couple of years and that “more to life” thing that God had in store for me was displayed here in this photo on my DTS outreach. The lesson I learned here is that God has an interesting and beautiful way of carving out our paths in life, and to be candid to my experience is that path is not at all what I had in mind nor did they make a lick of sense to me. I regret nothing when it comes to following his path and his voice!

The second thing I want to dissect is why I despised public speaking at this moment in my life. The easy assumption is that I was afraid of public speaking which was absolutely a piece to the puzzle, but it was more than just fear. A large part of it was I had grown up with a speech impediment and required speech therapy as a child. This greatly affected my confidence when it came to public speaking which added a second helping of nerves when I did have to do anything in this area which caused me to fumble over my words and stutter more than normal. This led to very well-meaning people informing me that I should stay away from anything public speaking.  These three elements caused me to write off my public speaking skills as a part of how God wanted to use me in ministry. The lesson learned in this moment and seen through all of scripture is that we shouldn’t let the opinions of just anyone and everyone determine how God wants to use us. God is the potter and we are the clay, let us be molded into the masterpiece God wants us to be.

The future is something that can bring so much fear, anxiety, and stress but I’m here to say something contrary to what the world is saying. The future is bright when it is the word of the Lord that is illuminating your next steps. So whatever it is that God is calling you to don’t take that step with hesitation or fear. Step out with confidence into the mystery God has for you. It will be unknown and unfamiliar. People will let you know their opinions on it, and you will have your doubts. But if there is one thing to trust, is it not the voice of God?