Unkown boredom?

Do you ever start a conversation with someone and there’s so much to talk about yet you’ve no idea what to say?

Well, that’s where I am at right now. I even thought that writing out these sentences would help me figure out where I could start but that’s not even helping.

Perhaps I’ll mention cultural acclimatization - I am getting very used to being here in Switzerland, so much so that even the European style computer keyboards have become second nature and now the North American one is difficult to use. I’m comfortable with the shops in town, the buses, the train. I feel like I know this place. For me, that’s a double edged sword. Yes it’s good that I’m comfy here and at ease which means I am not distracted from the school and ministry. On the other hand I’m a stir crazy person and can feel myself growing in “boredom.”

I put the quotes around boredom because I’m not getting bored. I have heaps to do and I’m being challenged , but part of the challenge is perseverance. Being able to continue within a busy schedule, constantly adding new things to it and serving at a level worthy of the king. It’s tiring for me and would be much easier if I was in a new environment with all this new and crazy stuff coming at me.

You might say that the honeymoon stage is over for me and Switzerland. Been here, done that, what’s next? But there’s something to be said for really knowing a place. It would take me AGES to totally know this country and even then I wouldn’t know it as well as someone who was born and raised here.

So perhaps bored is the incorrect work, excited for what lies ahead…yeah, more adventure, steeper peaks to climb greater obstacles to overcome. Yeah, I ain’t bored, I’m ready to up the ante….Anyone else with me?

Snowboarding and Love

Well I'm in the apls, and the swiss alps none the less and God has once again provided for not just my needs, but my wants. This time it's my desire to go snowboarding that He has helped me to accomplish by providing a seasons lift pass. Go God.

Not only that but a friend of mine will not be around much this season due to money mooning and military service so he's letting me use his board. That might not seem like much seeing as I have my own board, but when you start looking at things like type of board, how their built and what style they are good for riding, then it defenitly becomes noteworthy. On my friend's board I can set my bindings to a stance that is wide and comfortable for me which I would not do on my other boards.

I am so blessed to be in the mountains where it barely stops snowing for almost two weeks, and then clears up into a beautiful bluesky powder day. Even if that blue bird day is cold beyond reckoning, the fluffy untraked powder makes it worth while. And when that blue bird day happens on one of the two days that you get a chance to ride in the morning...words can not describe.

Then what happens next on that day is the free screening of a brand new snowboard movie. And not just any snowboard movie, but the one that really reaches my heart, a movie that is all about back counrty riding and splitboarding; taking big mountain riding to the next level. Now one of the sweet parts about this movie is that I read about it in a magazine, and then got some friends excited about it and we started talking about how we could buy it online and before we got a chance we discovered the free screening. And it was just in time for my birthday, and they gave out free popcorn and it was amazing.

Why am I writting about all this fun stuff I'm doing while living as a missionary? Well it because I've been asking God to teach me more about His love. How does He love me, how do others show love for me that I don't notice. How I am to love myself and others and most importantly how I am to love the Lord my God. This fun stuff is stuff that I really appreciate, and draw energy from, it's lovely.

No Title?

Intense week this week. The official name is called Father Heart of God, but that's just the general theme. It took an entire week of lectures to unpack a little bit about what that means, so I'm not going to try to do so here.

What I will let you know is that I had some cool times. I was managing the comings and going of this week making sure everyone knew what was happening from day to day, arranging for this to happen and that to happen. Sorry, I should say I was responsible for making sure someone was doing that stuff, I didn't have to do it all myself, nor did I do it alone.
Amongst all of the organizing the content of the lectures was really speaking to my heart. So not only was I being emotionally, spiritually and intellectually stirred up, but I also had to be able to coordinate people and help others to process themselves. Fun, well challenging is more accurate but I do enjoy a good challenge.

So, Matt, you got a lot out of this past week personally? Aren't you in Davos to help equip others?

Yes, and yes. And here's where my being open and broken in front of those I am leading has been a blessing. One of the first feed back and pieces of encouragement that came to me from a student of the current DTS has been thanking me for being a leader who is willing to be open and broken. Often leaders are viewed as people who have things together, well I don't. I have some experiences that help me, but I don't have it all together and apparently living that out is helping me to lead. Never would have thought of that on my own.

Well, I've written a short story about my experiences this week and posted each chapter. Enjoy...

Tale of Two Walls

Chapter 3
Filled with contempt I gazed up at the wall, studying it, searching it. I wanted to know everything about it so that I would make sure not to place it in my own wall. The small clefts where the birds could make their nests, The Wall cared for it's inhabitants, but it never cared for me. The rough places that could be climbed by people looking for fun had hurt my hands. The shade that animals took refuge in blocked out the light of the sun. I wanted none of those.

'I know' I thought, 'I will have this wall torn down, and then no one will be able to liken The Wall to mine. But when I asked the authority to tear it down He said

“Why? Why should I destroy The Wall that has sheltered you from the heat of the sun, that has brought you food and provided for your needs? The Wall has even taught you, challenged you and inspired you to build your own wall. This is a good wall, you do not have to like everything about this wall, but choose what you like and leave the rest.“

'I never thought of that.' I recoil as a new revelation of what The Wall means hits me. With these new idea running laps through my head I turn around and my gaze falls upon one like a Son of Man who appears transfixed with something up in the sky. Following his gaze I see only The Wall, but I know that is not what He is looking at. What He sees is above The Wall, but I have not seen it because I have been to busy looking at the wall.

Curious to know what it is, I begin walking towards the Man for a better view. It is only when I reach Him that I see that the ground he is standing on is perfect ground for building my own wall. Not only that, but from here The Wall that I hated doesn't seem so bad. In fact there are some things that I like about it, somethings that I want to use from it and incorporate into my own wall. This time, I won't be tearing anything down, I will only build upa wall that will draw people so that from my wall, they can see the beautiful sight that the Man is staring at.

Tale of Two Walls

Chapter 2
One day I began to build my new wall. As I was building some people walked by and said “What a nice wall, it looks very much like The Wall over there.“

In a furious rage I tore down the beginning of my wall. The ferocity with which I went about taking the wall to pieces scared the passers by and they ran from my prescience.

Again and again this would happen. Sometimes I would only just be starting, and other times my new wall was well on it's way, but each time it was liken to The Wall I would destroy it and start again.