Faced with a Choice?

Have you ever been faced with a choice? Not the easy kind where you’re choosing between right and wrong, but the tough kind — when you’re choosing between multiple, and equally good options…
For example, when I applied to college, I had abysmal grades, and on top of that, I was graduating a year ahead of every one else. In short, I was not expecting to get in to many colleges. So to hedge my bets, I applied to 5, hoping that maybe one would accept me, and that would be a clear sign from God that I should go that school.
Then the letters started coming back. For some reason, all 5 schools wanted me. I was so confused — and I told God as much. How on earth was I supposed to know what He wanted for my life, when He wouldn’t narrow it down at all for me?! All 5 schools were good — one was even a Bible School.
I have learned since, that very often, God’s plan for our lives isn’t really affected by “big” decisions like these. What He really wants for us is to get off our butts and do something. The question came up in a conversation today, and I was so excited that I could answer it from what God’s taught me, that I had to post my (somewhat lengthy) reply here…
We have a tendancy to think “OK God, as soon as you spell out every detail of your plan for my life, I’ll get started working on it.”
The reality is God never does that — if He did, we wouldn’t have to trust Him!
Our job is to take a step toward Him in Faith, and to keep taking those steps one at a time.

We have no expectation of knowing what He’s going to do. But we trust Him with each step… and then we look back at where we’ve come — at the path we’ve travelled — and find that He DID have a plan for us, and it was brilliant. And He HAS guided us every step of the way… one step at a time.
Just take a step — God will guide your path, but you need to do the walking.
Over and over in my life, God’s made it abundantly clear that He doesn’t care where I go — all He wanted was for me to go…

when He DOES have a specific place in mind, He’ll keep pointing you back there. With each step you take forward you’ll find your angle adjusted slightly so that you’re pointing in that direction. And He doesn’t punish you for not knowing. He blesses you for moving forward, and gently guides you where He wants you.
God is infinitely patient, and what He asks for from us is not understanding of the universe, or the ability to see the future. He simply asks for obedience and trust. Step forward — in any direction — and watch how He guides you.
Like I said, you probably won’t be able to see it until you look back on the path you’ve been down. But when you do see that, you’ll be glad you started moving forward, and you’ll be in awe of the wonder of His love for you…

Recovering

surgery.jpgThis is me at the surgery center on Tuesday. Once again in the hospital gown (they tell you “it ties up in the back,” what they really mean is “it hangs open in the back” — which I suppose it better than the front) once again on an IV. I’ve had more morphine in the past 6 months than anyone should ever have to take.
Surgery was strangely fun. I was under MAC anesthesia, which basically put me into a pleasant, but hazy sleep. I remember flashes of things: being rolled into the operating room with giant lights above me, waking up briefly with a sharp pain in my left arm when the local wore off, climbing into a chair afterward. Most of the rest of the time is hazy or not there at all. Actually a significant amount of my week has been hazy. They’ve had me on these hard core pain killers, so that I’m pretty stoned most of the time. I have a couple hours of lucidity between doses where I get things done, but mostly I’ve been playing Red Alert 2, and watching Stargate episodes.
Today I decided to just use Tylenol so I could go into work. My head is still pretty foggy, and I’m having a hard time concentrating, but my arm doesn’t hurt too much, and the doctors say it’s healing nicely.
Other cool things that have been happening, while I’ve been stoned:
– Jason and Brooke had their baby girl, Alivia, 8 pounds, 8 ounces. They had a few scary moments in the delivery room, but she’s healthy and gorgeous, with straight black hair.
– Nic and some gals from the church took Ben on a road trip to NYC, to investigate a location for a potential summer missions trip. She was talking a mile a minute when she got home, so that usually means she had a good time.
– Dave, Joey, Karl and Alicia all have birthdays this month. Shout outs to all y’all.

Jon….

Well he had his surgery this morning and it all went very well. He is doing good so far, alittle on the cranky side but that is understandable considering. We go in for a follow up visit tomorrow so we’ll let you know anything different then.
He is currently sleeping while I am trying to get Benjamin to take a nap but being very unsuccessful at it! Oh wait he’s asleep now, yeah!!

Various Cool Things

“No. I have a deep feeling of faith, a deep religiosity that comes from my appreciation of the way the Lord made the universe” – Albert Einstein, when someone suggested he was an atheist.
I got 670km (416 miles) to my last tank of gas! That’s 30km more than I’ve ever gotten before, and 70km above my highway average — and I still have my snow tires on! I drove in circles around the gas station parking lot to get from 668 to 670km — I didn’t want to fill up until I got that number. My original goal of 700km to a tank seems kinda small now, so I’m shooting for 750, once I get my snow tires off.
Our Easter services were insane this weekend! Saturday night we had over 750 people in our little gym-church. It was standing room only! Too bad the HD playback choked on us on Sunday. Fortunately God isn’t limited by the imperfections of the software we were using!
And, best for last: Our friend’s Jason and Brooke are about to be parents! We got a text message from Brooke this morning at 7:05 saying she was in labor. We can’t wait for Benjamin to have a little girlfriend to hang out with!
PS: New Benjamin pics in the sidebar on the right…

Gimpy

scan10040.jpgMy mom sent me this picture for those who think that the crippled arm thing is a new trick for me…

  • When I was 5, I broke both my arms jumping off a swing.
  • When I was 14, shown here (shut up your face! Long hair, plaid shirts and giant glasses were cool at the time), I broke one arm playing extreme volleyball (I was trying to impress a girl).
  • When I was 16 I broke the other arm rollerskating.
  • This past winter I destroyed my elbow (6 X-Rays, and an MRI, and I still don’t know what I actually did to it).

Fortunately, the recent injuries have been to my left, and non-dominant, arm. I figure by the time I’m 30 it’s either going to be glowing green from the x-ray radiation, or their just going to cut it off and replace it with one of those bionic arms like Luke Skywalker gets in the Empire Strikes Back…
In for my skin graft on Tuesday. I’ll be sure to let you all know how it goes.
PS: This is the first in a series of embarrassing photos. If you want to see the rest, you’ll have to come to Vertical on the 18th to hear me speak!

My name IS Matt Foley, I AM a motivational speaker, and I live in a VAN down by the RIVER

OK, last night was hilarious. We had an open mic night at our high school program, and to kick the evening off, all the (cool) leaders got up and lip synced and danced to “Larger than Life” by the Backstreet Boys — with moves choreographed by Libby Howe.
I’m not one to brag, but I think its fair to say that we looked pretty amazing up there…
Paul and Zack, you were amazing in a completely different way.
And Alicia and Karl… you guys sounded incredible!

Why We're Not Planning on a Long Term Stay…

From CNet, via Slashdot:
The door has closed on the H1-B visa application process for this year, one day after it began. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said that it had received 150,000 applications as of yesterday afternoon. 65,000 H1-B visas can be issued for foreigners with batchelor’s degrees. The USCIS will choose randomly from the appilcations to determine the winners.
Not that my employer applied to get me on a more permanent status, but even if they do next year, its not looking good for a long-term Visa. For now, we can keep living on our TN-1 — we just can’t do anything…