Matt Short

So let me begin by describing a few of the complexities (pros/cons) of living with the “COMMUNITY” of YWAMness. Firstly you get to meet AMAZING people from everywhere between Timbuktu and your grandma’s house! So you’re steeped in culture, like a huge pot stewing curies, rice, Big Macs, biscuits, and fajitas all at once. It’s NUTS but a crazy cool learning experience. Then you have the spiritual benefits such as worshiping with over a hundred other insanely passionate youth who love God and want to spend their life showing it. However, there are cons… and almost anyone here could attest to these, such as: sleeping in a room maybe twice the size of mine at home with 18 other “WONDERFULLY” fragrant dudes (Imagine what that pot of stew smelt like… and your not far off =), or the way that every time you enter the dining area you come out smelling like whatever’s been cooked that day, and by far the most difficult… finding peace a quiet simply to read and relax.

Now in saying all that, I am RIDICULOUSLY blessed! And I am SO grateful for where I am and what I am doing… yet it has its challenges.

Ok, setting that aside, I have to tell you that the school I am participating in is off to a great start. I have just finished my first video project which was intended to simply gauge where we were at in our skills. The only parameters of the project were to create a one minute film (exactly one minute!), in a sink or swim fashion. Our school leaders thought they would throw us in the deep end and see who could swim. Well I believe I proved I could Doggy Paddle. I couldn’t post the video straight to this site but have a link that you can follow in order to view it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9214254@N03/4012683141/ or you can view it on my facebook if you have an account.
Thank you for reading

God Bless

Hello there to my faithful readers who continue to keep up with my shenanigans! My summer could be defined as the very antithesis of monetary gain, but a well spring of spiritual growth. So I’d like to share shortly how God has been working in my life and then let you know where my walk of faith is leading me this coming Fall.

Past

The past few months of being home have be trying on me spiritually, physically and emotionally, but I’ve absolutely loved what God has been doing. As you can read in my previous blog, God has kept me very busy this summer with ministries, continuing relationships I left while overseas and work (when it was available). Please scroll down and read more if you’d like… but I shall continue to divulge…

Present

At the moment I am working back at Dick’s Sporting Goods, the same job I had the past two summers and am happy to finally be making decent wages. God is SOOOO GOOD… which in full means: FAITHFUL, true to His promises, holy, just and righteous in all He chooses for us. Faithfully he has provided me with this job everytime I’ve been in need, and this summer has been nothing different from exactly that.

Future

Recently I have been accepted to the Video Impact School at the Youth With A Mission base here in Denver! This means I will be attending full time Video Production classes at the Arvada campus this fall from October 5th to December 18th. This course will teach me the skills needed to produce creative, visually stimulating and kingdom focused media, which I hope to use initially (this coming year) back at my local church. Due to the course’s location it will also allow me the ability to continue to attend my church on Sundays, lead my college group (The Crux) on Thursday nights… and hopefully see my girlfriend at least once a week. So as you could imagine, I am STOKED about this Fall!!!

My desire in this season of my life is to learn skills that I may use, alongside my spiritual gifts, to glorify God with. A prerequisite to the success of such a goal is learning who I am (aka who God’s made me to be), what I love, what I’m good at, and what God has given me individually to work with. Over the last three years I have DEFINITELY discovered the answers to most of those questions. I KNOW that God wants me to continue to use the gift of leadership he has given me and to walk wisely as I disciple those he’s entrusted me with, so THAT I shall continue, but I know there’s more I could do with my life. So I am in the process of discovering what I can do with the most influencial medium of art (video), using the passions God has given me for creating things along side a love of art. For I know that I am a created being created in the image of the Almigty Creator, and I want to be like my Abba.

Thus I ask for your prayers as I continue this season of self-discovery, spiritual growth, and character developement. I have greatly appreciated your support and love these past three years, or however long you’ve been with me, and I pray that you may be encouraged by reading this. I know that I have hardly scratched the surface of knowing how wide, how long and how deep the love of our Holy God is, but may we walk that adventure together.
God Bless

I have learned SOOO much these past two months since my last blog. God is revealing new things to me about my character, things that He has gifted me with while at the same time things that He’d like to help me change.

A “Short” Recap:

 

I have constantly fought off the frustrations of being hardly employed and struggled to hold my focus on what God has for me in this time of my life. The Lord has blessed me with many things, one of which lately has been a job at a portrait studio. It makes me hardly enough money but doesn’t take me away from having time to invest in people’s lives. Which I feel is right where God wants me, even if it’s outside of what I would consider to be “comfortable”.

I have been leading the Young Adults Ministry at my home church, Thorn Creek, since the beginning of April and it is really coming into its own. I absolutely LOVE this ministry. The young adults that the Lord has blessed me with are hungry and longing for discipleship… and MAN is that my passion right now! I want to see these guys overcome the challenges of their newly found indipendence and come into a whole new understanding of their faith.

 I have been shooting photography as well, anything from macro to engagement photos, but even more exciting is the few weddings I’ll be photographing later this summer. I bought my first Digital SLR in March with some Birthday money my grandparents had given me, and it has proven to be an AWESOME  investment…  however sadly I smashed my nice lens just a day ago… and am waiting to find a way to purchase another, something I DON’T have the money for right now. However, this is  a minor concern when compared to the needs of many others I know, so I will remain grateful for what I still have.

My girlfriend, Larissa, and I are doing very well. Being home with her after being gone for so long, as you could imagine, is amazing.  I’m head over heals for her and I try my hardest to show that. As we’ve pursued a righteous relationship we’ve discovered how much influence we both have in our lives and seen how our actions and choices directly affect those who look up to us. This has been an incredible blessing as I’ve moved from leading one ministry to the next. I find myself able to speak into people’s lives who’ve struggled with impurity or even basic social difficulties with the opposite sex. I know God has blessed me greatly by placing her in my life and I am exceedingly grateful for that.

My father has had a rough spring and I would greatly appreciate your prayers for him. He’s been out of a job since January and has had to move into his sister’s basement just to have a roof over his head. Him and his wonderful new wife, Hillary, seem to be doing well from what I can tell though. She too is an amazing blessing in his life. God really knew what he was doing when he made man “a helper”! =)

The Next Step:

 

One thing I have become sure of is that “God’s grace is sufficient for today” yet not only for me, but also for you. This has been a huge lesson I’ve had to learn. The point is not that it is only sufficient but that He’s longing for us to reach out for it. He waits to see if we’ll truly recognize how desperate we are without it. And BOY am I pretty hopeless without it. haha

For quite some time now I’ve been considering my options of “WHAT’S NEXT” and I’ve struggled to really see my “purpose”. When I was in YWAM staffing and leading schools my “purpose” was evident, at my finger tips, and super rewarding. Being home has been a different story, I have found good things to put my time and hands to work on but I would like to correlate my “purpose” into “what’s next”. I believe I’ve found a way to do that. I’ve considered doing General Education courses at Front Range which I believe I’ll still do in the near future, however God has made possible something that I thought to be impossible.

At the moment I am applying for a School at the Denver YWAM base called a School of Video Productions. The school begins in October and ends in November but you can find more details about this course at www.ywamdenver.org/sovp.htm. The general design of the school is to teach students the necessary techniques in crafting quality motion pictures for ministry. This has been a school that I’ve been interested in attending for about 8 months now but never thought I would be able to until recently. My pastor has stepped in fully behind me on this decision and I believe it is the right next step in my life of pursuing ministry. I will continue to lead the Young Adults ministry at my church while attending this school and hopefully graduate the school with skills that will assist my church in their constant pursuit of higher quality media productions.

I do ask that you will pray for me as I embark on this next step of my life. It’s an exciting one that will undoubtedly present a whole new book of challenges and experiences. I look forward to facing every one of them, knowing that my hope and strength rests in Him.

 God Bless and Thank you for following my adventures in faith.

-Matt Short

I’ve now been home for a whole month! It’s crazy to think about it. It’s been a great month, full of blessing, challenges and reuniting with the most important people in my life.

 I’ve been SOOOO blessed this month so here’s a short recap of my month and ALL glory to Him who provides!

  I don’t have a vehicle since I sold my Jeep to buy a plain ticket to NZ in 2007 yet God has provided me with family and friends who have constantly lent me theirs while out of town. With the money I received for my birthday I was able to buy my first Digital SLR for photographing weddings this summer and have already begun shooting engagement photos. My girlfriend, Larissa and I celebrated our one year anniversary last weekend going out for Indian food and swing dance lessons! I’ve been provided a couple opportunities to make some extra cash while out of a job and just the other day I landed a job at a Portrait Studio. PRAISE GOD!!! And just last night I started the 18-25 year old Small Group that I’ll be leading for my church.

There are still many things in my life at the moment that I’m totally confused about and slightly frustrated by… however it was suggested to me the other day that it was almost too ironic how ambiguous my life is at the moment. Going from Leading the Backpacker’s DTS where most things were within my control and within my ability to rap my brain around… to…… THIS! I’m excited to be where I am in life right now, it’s flippin great and I am truly grateful! That doesn’t mean I stumble and fall into frustration from time to time as God continues to teach me that I HAVE TO fully rely on him to lead me. He hopes that I’ll make decisions to the best of the wisdom he’s provided me with but sometimes I’m not all too good at doing that. That’s just the simple truth.

 Thank you all for your prayers and support through this transition of my life. It has meant SOOO much to me!

You can be praying that I am able to find a second part time job. I could really use one right now. As well as if anyone’s looking for wedding photographers give me a ring. =)

 God Bless and let me know if you ever need prayer

Matt Short

     It’s my third day of being home so I thought it would be good to update everyone. So yes, I DID get home safely. =) Thank you all for your prayers. 

     Being home is as I previously stated “Bitter Sweet“. I LOVE my family, I LOVE my girlfriend, I LOVE my friends and I LOVE Colorado… all in their varying degrees. However I loved my NZ family, I loved my staff, my school, my friends and simply New Zealand! It was extremely hard to leave. It breaks my heart to know that I won’t be seeing these people again any time soon. I was worshiping by myself this morning to the song “This is our God“, which became a key song for my school, and couldn’t help but weep. I miss them. I miss the community, the fellowship, the ministry, and passion that was shared amongst those I lived with. But the Holy Spirit comforts me in my distress. He’ll guide my every step and bring me to a place of richer inheritance, of greater growth and more intimate community. This I stand on and look to put action to. 

     My Plans for being home are not solidified so I won’t speak of anything beyond what I know to be true. My hopes, however, are to continue to pursue growth in leadership as well as ministry within my church while maintaining a healthy balance of school, my relationship with Larissa, my girlfriend and work. I am looking into attending some College courses no later than next fall and have joined my church’s staff team that I might serve the church in the most effective way possible. So I am becoming more and more excited about how the rest of ‘09 looks. My mom has allowed me to continue to live from home seeing how I have no job (at the moment) and no vehicle (also only hopefully for the moment). However, I do see myself moving out within the next year, Lord willing/providing. But for “the moment” family is an AMAZING invention, huh? haha, good one God. 

     One thing for sure is that I have gotten the chance to take some incredible photos during my travels, thus I look forward to blowing them up to be printed and hopefully sold. First thing is to go get them developed though seeing how I’ve shot them all on a Canon film SLR built in the 80’s! Along with that I’ve thrown around some ideas of having a couple exposé’s this spring but I will keep you all updated on that as they develop.

     Thank you for your support and devotion throughout the past 7 months, year and half, or three years (however long you’ve followed my work). I GREATLY appreciate it and pray that it has encouraged you in your walk with Him.