Where have you been?! – The Coffee Shop Conversation

“Where have you been?!” seems to be the question I get asked most these days. A guy stops blogging for a while and suddenly, he falls off the face of the earth. Hah, it’s understandable though. The truth is I haven’t gone anywhere; just became busy and found less and less time to blog.

Well, I just lied. The actual truth is I’m lazy and I struggle to find the patience and motivation to continue to update this thing. Fortunately though, because of a few certain people who I talk to every so often and ask me the questions, “Where have you been?” and, “How’s that blog coming?” I have decided to put forth more of an effort to keep this thing going.

So, to answer your question, I’m going to use a different one that I know how to answer. Let’s use our imagination for a second. Pretend the two of us are sitting at a coffee shop (Caribou to be specific). We both have our coffee (or hot chocolate) and you ask me the question, ”Hey Matt, what’s been going on in your life lately?”

Well, I’m glad you asked!

1. The Band – Hisnamehigh

The reason I chose to write this blog in a “Coffee Shop Conversation” format as opposed to a normal boring blog was in honor of my two good friends, Zach and Krista’s engagement. Zach (picture above) is the acoustic player, lead vocalist and leader of the band. Zach works at Caribou. Krista is the sweetest Lebanese girl you’ll ever meet in your life, and also works at Caribou. I’ve gone into Caribou a few times with some good friends to have a Coffee Shop Conversation and have always seen one of them there. I’m so excited for the both of them and can’t wait to be a part of their special day and all the fun leading up to it. Just yesterday, they asked all of us guys and our girlfriends (and wife) to be in the wedding party.

Along with one of the members being engaged, we have lots of big and exciting things coming up in the near future. We just got back from an incredible six weeklong tour across the U.S. with Andrew Ironside. I don’t even have enough space on this thing to write out every single thing I learned on tour, but you will hear about it soon. After this blog, I am going to continue to write about specific things God’s been teaching me like my previous blogs.

Although the tour was long, it was an amazing experience and one of the most informational for me. Its great staying with families and spending time with other Christian people who live outside of the area you’ve been raised and who have a completely different outlook on life. It’s pretty crazy how different we as humans all across the world are, and it’s pretty amazing how united we all become when we worship and serve the same God. God’s remarkable!

It was also great staying in hotels, sitting in the hot tub at 12:00 am watching Zach and Jeremy chase each other around the pool hitting each other with towels. I think the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life was Jeremy attempt to hit Zach with a towel and have it wrap around a pole and come back and snap him right in the face. Hah, speaking of Jeremy, while we were on tour we made Jeremy a twitter. Please go to www.twitter.com/BrayneofWayne to follow the wisest, funniest, best looking guy in the world.

I’ll post more about the tour soon, but right now we have lots of amazing and unreal opportunities in front of us. God’s really been guiding and testing us every step of the way to see where our hearts are and what we can handle. The verse that’s really been on my heart for the band has been Luke 16:10-12  “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. ¹¹ And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? ¹² And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?”

It seems as if God really wants to find out what we can be trusted with. God’s amazing and really is in control of everything! Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to go on this crazy journey at a band. I will be sure to keep you all updated.

2. The Girlfriend – Audrey

Oh Audrey, I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t just stop and smile and think about all the funny, hard, and great time’s we’ve had the past year and four months of our relationship. Audrey is one of the most beautiful, respectful, loving and compassionate girls I have ever met in my entire life and I am so undeserving and blessed to be able to call her my girlfriend!

Relationships are great and so much fun (when you’re with the right person). I’ve learned so much from just spending time with her and watching her live her life and all the discussions and even arguments we’ve had. Audrey and I have quickly learned how to agree to disagree, it’s pretty awesome! We hardly ever fight, but when we do it’s always been about learning how to handle that specific situation and trying to understand the other person as best as possible. People often look at our relationship and think everything’s always flowerily and perfect, we hear all the time that people label us as the “perfect relationship.” The truth though, is that yes, she’s perfect for me and I’m perfect for her but we of course have our fair amount of ups and downs just like everyone else.

The thing I love most about our relationship is that even though sometimes things get hard. It has always been fun, and it has always been an adventure and we’ve always come through things stronger and wiser and ready to move on to what God wants to teach us next. That’s what separates us from normal teenage relationships, just because a problem occurs or something happens doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world! It just means you’re going to have to work through it and be flexible and ready to die to yourself and operate in love. (Something most people don’t learn how to do till their 40′s!)

On a less serious note, one thing that I’ve also learned that I picked up pretty quickly is that Audrey is always right (yes, I know I am wise beyond my years!). My dad told me about that in the beginning stages of our relationship, but now I’ve realized how correct he was! Audrey is always right! Haha, we laugh about it every time it comes up. It’s pretty entertaining sitting in my car for 10 minutes with her in the passenger seat refusing to go into the store until I admit she was right. She’s pretty wonderful! (By the way, that’s happened more the once…and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t happen today.)

As I said before, I’ve learned so much from Audrey and I am just amazed and how much God has used her to teach me so many things. She’s opened my eyes to things I never would’ve seen on my own, and has been a fantastic supporter to me with the band.

Just to brag on her a little bit, ..I know you probably think you have the best girl in the world, but you’re wrong! I have the most supporting girlfriend in the world. Most girls would have a hard time with their boyfriend constantly being gone for long periods of time, but she has never once given me any grief or attitude or made me feel bad for leaving. She has always been supporting me every step of the way and offering to help with whatever she can and has encouraged me to go and follow my dreams even if it means being away from each other.

I couldn’t ask for a better girlfriend, she is everything I want/need in a woman and I am amazed at how blessed I am to have her! Please continue to keep the two of us in your prayers as we continue on the journey of life together.

3. The Man Upstairs - God

If you combine everything I’ve learned on tour with everything I’ve learned from my relationship with Audrey and then add to that everything I’ve learned from my own personal devotional time, you will get my current relationship with God.

I am happy to say that I am at a great place with God right now, although I am not to the place where I would like to be. I am pursuing God as much as I possibly can and am learning to be content in every season (Phil 4:11-13). I am so excited to write about some of the books I’m reading and things I’m learning and sermons God’s been putting on my heart to one day preach. I’ve really been feeling a tug on my spirit to start preaching more, not to become a pastor but just to be a better speaker. I feel like God wants me to develop that gift he’s given me because he wants me to use it for things I can’t even imagine.

The cry of my heart has been for God to teach me, and like he promised. I have learned a lot! That’s all I am really going to say about this because you will hear lots more about it in my upcoming blogs. I will write more hopefully this week, but I’m done for now. This thing is getting to long..

Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for me and mentoring me for the past few years and my entire life. You all are amazing and I pray that you have a blessed Holiday season! (Merry Christmas, Mommy!)

- MatthewJames.