Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Last day of class

Today was my last day of class for this semester. For that matter it was my last day as a junior (assuming I pass all my finals this week). It's just another milestone in God's ultimate plan in my life. That plan started being reveled to me in it's simplest form when I was in tenth or eleventh grade. Thats when I felt God's call on my life to be a pastor. From there I didn't really know what to do. I talked to a lot of people but it was something I wanted to be 100% sure about. I kept that on the down low for some years while I prayed and got people to pray for me about it. Deep down my own personal desire to be a teacher/coach was still what I was pressing to the fore front. When it was time for me to decided what college I wanted to go to I ultimately chose Troy so I could keep my options open. I felt like, at the time, that this decision may not have been what God wanted for my life but God was quick to assure me that I was right where he wanted me. (I need to back track) toward the end of my senior year I was completely sure of God's call on my life to be a pastor. But I often wondered, "if God wants me to be a pastor, why am I wasting my time here at Troy?" Thats when God sent his assurance by blessing me with a full tuition scholarship out of nowhere. There were three people in front of me for the job of sports editor and they all three ended up leaving for some reason or another which left me there to take it. To some, even me sometimes, it seemed like a huge coincidence. But I know God used that to assure me that I needed to be here for some of my life.

With people still praying for me often about where exactly God wanted me after Troy many doors opened up. I wanted to go to seminary at Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn but they only take a class once every three years and I wasn't due to graduate until the next spring. So what did I do? I challenged God (He can do some pretty amazing things). I told God that I felt like He wanted me to be at Lakeview but I wasn't supposed to graduate in time. I put it in God's hands and promised Him I would work as hard as I could and that if He wanted me there then I would go through every door He opened. You know sometimes people say be careful what you wish for? Oh yeah! Last summer I took 12 hours worth of class. This semester I took 18 hours. Then I reached another hurtle (to me it was a hurtle, to God just another way to show me his power). In order to graduate in time I would need to take 19 hours next semester, the 'hurtle' was that you're not allowed to take more than 18 if your GPA is below 3.5. Mine is a 3.1. So I did what I promised God I would, I met with a department chair, a dean and a provost to get approval for the extra hour. And God let me take overtime even though it seemed like they would say no. (just a funny side note) My department chair said, "you'll have to talk to the dean about that. But let me warn you, shes a tough cookie to crack. You'll be lucky if she lets you" well I don't go by luck, I go by faith. So now i'm on track to start my senior year in January and graduate in July. Just in time to start seminary in August. There is still a lot that has to work out just right for me to be able to start that particular seminar but God has already opened so many doors I don't expect him to stop now. Even if things don't work out. Even if when the summer comes and some how I can't do an internship and take 7 hours to graduate on time, so what? I will still praise God because He is worthy. He's not worthy because He makes things work out for me, He's worth because He is my Creator, my Lord the author and finisher of my faith.

He is worth because "while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me" -Romans 5:8. I will praise God because I've seen with my own eyes His works.
[14] I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
(Psalm 139:14 ESV)

Well this was supposed to be about my last day of this semester but it turned into so much more than that. I'm so thankful for all God has done for me and for what He will do. I hope this can encourage you, and help you see what God is doing in your life.

Please keep praying for me, as I said, there is still a long road before I can get to Auburn but if God wants me there then that's where I'll be.

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

Monday, November 29, 2010

Procrastination

Well well well, it took me only one day back from the holiday to remember how to procrastinate. I mean I'm doing it right now by writing this blog. Today was a lack luster day back to school. I didn't have class so I slept until 11ish then went to the j-school to see if any of my friends were up there. Yes I have friends, if you were wondering. And yes I'm a nerd that goes to my department on days that I don't have class. Anyway, I went and ate lunch and just came back to my room and sat here all day. I have a presentation due tomorrow at 8:30 and it's currently 12:30 and I'm not done with my part. I met with my groups tonight and since everyone had to use my computer they went ahead and put there material in PowerPoint so now I just have to put mine in and we are good. But who knows when that'll happen. Also, I have a paper due for sports reporting due at 10, so I guess i'm about to get to all of this work. I just wanted to blog to waste time and because I've already missed two days in my challenge.

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Great day of Worship

Man I love Sundays! They are my favorite day of the week. I've been singing in the choir for two weeks now and that has helped my worship tremendously. Today we sang "By his Wounds" as the special. Then Ryan Johnson preached today and it was incredible and unusual for what our church usually does. Ryan preached for about half the time then we, as a church, prayed through Psalm 145 together. I loved it. You should read that Psalm if you have time. After church I ate with my favorite family, the Johnson's, and we played Apples to Apples. Great game btw. I had choir practice after that and we worked on our Christmas special and stuff!

Then tonight was my church's thanksgiving testimony service. Pretty much we pass the microphone to whoever wants it and they can tell the congregation what God's been doing in there life. If past years I had been nervous to partake in this but this year there was no doubt that I had to tell people what God was doing in my life. I love this service because you get to hear people's hearts, and get to hear what there going through. During the service one member read Hebrews 10:23, "[23] Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."
(Hebrews 10:23 ESV)
I love this for the last phrase. He who promised is faithful. You can take God at His word because when he says something He does it. Not like faulty humans. That is such a great word!

Today I got more of a vision for what I want in my life. I can see it happening little by little, well feel it more than see it. Psalm 42:1 reads: [42:1] As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
(Psalm 42:1 ESV)
I love the imagery. This deer isn't just thirsty, this deer in panting for flowing streams. He wants it worse than everything else. That's how I want to want the word, and I can feel my body and soul going towards that. I just have this longing for the word! I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving, I know I did. But now it's back to school time. Only another week and a half and it's Christmas break! Have a great week.

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Different people, same creator

Today was a new experience for me. I went to watch a Florida State game. I got up around 9 and we got down to Tallahassee about 12. When we got to Doak Campbell Stadium we decided to walk around the entire stadium to see everything around it. First off that is the most beautiful stadium (on the outside) I've ever been to. And yes I've been to both Jordan Hare and Byant Denny. But the out side of 'the doak' was pretty amazing. They had a Bobby Bowden statue that was pretty cool, they also had this one section outside of there stadium called the 'sod cemetery'. In this section they had tombstones from games that FSU had won on the road despite being underdogs. Each tombstone had the sod buried under it and has the score engraved on it. On top of that since they were playing Florida this week there were flowers placed on all of the Florida spots. All in all it was a pretty good experience. I mean it wasn't good enough to convert me but to be honest I did the 'chop' about three times. It's college football tradition...

On the way back I got into a good conversation with my friend that I went with. The conversation was about religion. He's a Hindu and I was wanting to know more about his religion. The thing he said that stuck out to me most was this, "it (his religion) pretty much comes down to this: be good to people, treat them how you want to be treated and everything else will workout." Kinda sounds similar to 'do on to others as you would have them do to you'. But that is there ultimate means to the end. Do good and go to a better place, do bad and go to a worse place. In all this I realized that you can see similarities in religions and in people because we have the same creator.

Today's game was a perfect example of that (and Sanjay pointed this out to me). Me, him and Robert (another one of our friends we sat with at the game) are three of the most different people you can find. I mean outwardly we are a white guy, a black guy and a guy from India. And then our personalities are different in the sense that i'm very loud and talk a lot, Robert is very quiet and Sanjay is somewhere in the middle. But we can still be good friends is the point that Sanjay made. And if you ask me it's because we have the same creator who made us to have friendships and relationship with other people. Just my opinion and the talk on the way home helped me see that there are similarities between morales in all religions. And to me that's because God made us with the ability to know what's right and how we should treat people.

Well, i'm off to bed. Pumped about tomorrow, I get to worship that great creator with my faith family! I hope everybody has a great day tomorrow and finds time and a place to worship Yahweh!

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

Friday, November 26, 2010

Football and fellowship

Today's blog is gonna be really short because nothing really happened today, but I've already missed two day's blogging so yeah. Got up this morning and watched Teara for a little while until 12:30 then it was time for an Iron Bowl party at the Weem's house. The food was amazing and the game was even better. If you didn't watch it then you really missed out. I've heard it's already starting to be called 'The Comeback'. Sounds fitting for an famous Iron Bowl name. After that I just watched Oregon run through Arizona and now I'm watching Boise and Nevada play. As much as everyone else hates Boise I actually want them to win because my preseason pick for the national title game was Auburn (I really did pick them before everybody else jumped on) vs. Boise.

I went to the Johnson's house to watch Oregon and got some encouragement about missions. I told Ryan (my mentor) about my family conversation and he, as always, had words of wisdom for me and helped my have peace about it.

That's all I got today. Tomorrow should be awesome because I'm going down to Tallahassee to watch the Florida @ Florida St. game. Can't wait to blog about that experience.

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

What i'm thankful for

So this is going to be quick but last night I realized that I didn't blog about what I was thankful for. I got so side tracked with the whole missions thing (see last post) that I totally forgot so here goes.

First off i'm thankful for my Savior. The creator of all things who died for me. So that I could be with him! Simply amazing. I'm also thankful for my family. More so this year than any other. My niece was born this past January and was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (check out http://cff.org/ for more info on that) so just with her doing good and with advancements in CF research it just looks promising and for that i'm thankful. Just a side note, Alexis has truly show me what it means to love unconditionally. I love her as much as possible every time I see her because I worry that something may go wrong. Usually time flies by with little children but for Alexis i'm getting the fullest of every moment. I'm also so thankful for my friend's and church family (those are almost all the same people). With out this group of people I wouldn't be anywhere near the man I am today. I'm afraid to name anyone because I don't want to leave anyone out so if you're reading this then i'm talking about you :).

I'm very thankful for everyone (if there is anybody) who actually reads my blog. I think when mine and MaeLee's 30 day blog challenge is over i'll continue to blog... just not everyday. I hope you have been enjoying my blog and I hope you'll continue to come back.

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanksgiving and deep burden

Well today has been a sort of roller coaster emotional day. Not really what it's supposed to be but hopefully you'll understand when I get to that part, but let me start at the beginning.

I slept really late today and it was awesome. Mom walked into the room saying "Timbo, you gonna get up?" she preceded to inform the that it was almost 11. Awesome wake up to lunch! Well almost lunch, I got up and went with my mom to get my niece and she was sooo cute as always! (http://yfrog.com/14yhp0j) When I got back the youngsters wanted me to play football again, so I agreed with the understanding that I was quarterback only (couldn't do all that running two days in a row). When that was over it was time for some food. The food was great just as I expected it would be. After that me and some family watched some NFL and had a little trash talk about tomorrow's Iron Bowl. I was the only Auburn fans around all those bammers so it was really useless trying to talk sensible.

After that is when the roller coaster of emotions began. I started talking to some other family member and when ask what my future held I answered, "full time missions or youth ministry." That's where the conversation went down hill. Some family member verbally expressed their dislike of my missions plans. And I just wanted to disappear. They were supposed to be encouraging me (or at least that's how I envisioned it). They were all fine with me doing youth ministry but missions seem crazy to them. I don't understand how they can feel one part of ministry is more important than another. I love my family but after this talk was over I was down cast. Walking around the rest of the day I had deep burden on me. I was burdened for my family. Some of those people are believers and they don't want me going overseas for my entire life? But most importantly I was burdened for people overseas. I realized this is how most of America feels about missions. They fill that they are only responsible for themselves and nobody else. It breaks my heart to realize that most people don't care about the 26,000 children that die everyday from starvation and preventable disease (not saying my family doesn't care about those people). I wonder if American's (my family specifically) understand that the amount of food we had to is more than most the world has in a year. Little did those family members know that they were actually pushing me more towards missions than they were talking me into staying. Be praying for me about what God has in store for my life. I'm not worried about the future because I know who holds it in there hands.

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Day full of sports

I'm enjoying my thanksgiving holiday! It's probably not helping my health though. I've been sitting around all day eating everything in sight and it's not even turkey day yet. The lack of walking to class probably isn't helping either. I'm sure by the time I get back to Troy i'll be a few (hopefully only a few) pounds heaver.

Today (unlike the days before it) I've actually tried to counteract this gaining weight process thats undoubtedly happening. My distant family got in town today and with us living closer to my other family for the first time ever I actually got to hang out with 2nd or 3rd cousins for the first time that wasn't actually thanksgiving day. Me, my cousin that lives next door and my two other cousins went to our uncles field across the road and played football. It was very fun! I realized how out of shape I am. I haven't ran so much in a long long time. (side note: maybe i should start doing active stuff at college...) When we finally got done I was so sweaty I had to go take a shower. Yeah it was that bad.

After that I just chilled and watched some basketball. A lot of basketball actually. For the first time in years (maybe ever) I'm actually interested in watching college basketball some other time than March. I also caught the NBA game.

I can't wait for tomorrow! I get to eat awesome food and, more importantly, I get to see family I haven't seen for a year. So much happens over a years span that catching up is always fun to do. Then the most important part of the day, getting to tell people and blog about what I'm thankful for. So that's what you got to look forward to tomorrow! Reading what I'm thankful for!

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Pictures, pictures and more pictures

Well today wasn't too much more interesting than yesterday but at least I had stuff to do. Got up this morning and went to chapel at Teara's school (it was pretty good) then from there we went to take family pictures. This was a long drawn out process as you can imagine. Now don't get me wrong it was fun and all, and I enjoyed it but it was just a lot. But we got a lot done. Christmas card pictures at the same time we got just so photos because it's been a while since we had pictures taken.

When we got back me and Payton (my 13 year old cousin) threw the football for a while and then we played some B-ball. It was really fun, me and Payton hung out a lot during the summer but since school started it's been really hard to see him so today was really fun. That was pretty much my day. Throw in some dancing in the living room and dinner and that was all I did. Like I said, not very interesting.

So what did God teach me today? How important fellowship with you earthly family is. Sometimes I get so caught up in doing stuff with my church family that I forget how refreshing it is to just be at home and enjoy family. I also realized that I need to enjoy my family all I can over the next 9 or so months because once I start seminary it'll be even harder than it is now to find time to come home.

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

Monday, November 22, 2010

Enjoying God's creation

Dang, I missed another blog. But this time I have a better excuse, I wasn't around any technology at all. I didn't even have my iPhone (which is a big deal for me). Okay I had my iPhone but it was in airplane mode and I was just using it as an iPod, but i'm getting ahead of myself.

Yesterday started with me going to worship the supreme ruler of all things. It was amazing as all ways. I have the best pastor in the world. Mike Whitt preaches the truth like very few do these days. With pastor claiming that prosperity comes from godliness, Mike takes the biblical look and preaches the Word how it was meant to be presented. Sunday afternoon was full of the Johnson's as all ways. Except this time they had me working... kinda. I was more supervising them working on the yard than actually working but I was there while it was happening.

Sunday night (and this is why I didn't blog) I went and camped out with John Baxley. It was pretty awesome. Sitting around a fire talking about God's word and His promises. Everything from what our favorite book of the Bible is to discussing the Hypostatic Union (that's just a really big word that Ryan taught me, it means the union between Jesus' divinity and humanity at the same time). We couldn't have asked for a better night to enjoy God's creation. There was a full moon reflecting the sun, very few clouds and we were next to ponds. All in all, I was able to just sit back and realize that the Creator of all those things around me is the same God that holds my life in His hands. The same God that allows all things that happen to happen. No other religion can claim such an intimate relationship. All creation truly does reflect the fathers glory.

Today was a very boring day so i'm kinda glad this was a two day blog. All I've done today is sit around and watch T.V. I am enjoying my Thanksgiving break though. Hopefully tomorrow will be more full of adventure... but I doubt it. But until then have a great night and thanks for taking the time to check out my blog.

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Blog 4 - So thankful for salvation

So only 4 days into the blogging challenge I failed. Lucky my challenger forgot too so we'll just call this one even MaeLee :). Anyway.

Yesterday (Friday) started really boring. I was in Auburn and all my friends had class (all mine were cancelled). So I just sat there all day in anticipation of me and John Baxley going to Tuscaloosa for Gamma Phi Beta formal. When he got done with class we hit the road. Formal was awesome. I went with Katy Barhydt, shes Maggie's lil. Formal is pretty much a prom, except fun. Maybe your prom was fun, but mine kind stunk. Not because of who I went with but because there was bad music no one dancing and most people left within the hour of it starting. But this was full of hang out time to go along with so much dancing. I've never danced so much before (my legs were killing me at the end of the night). But after that we went back to the sorority house to watch a movie but that idea didn't last long (it was 3:30 a.m. when we got back) and me and John left to go where we were staying the night.

Then today we got up and ate lunch with the girls and rode around trying to find a park. When we found it, it ended up being a park for campers only so it was a semi wasted trip, but we had a lot of fun on the way and had fun taking pictures next to the park we couldn't go in. And less than 24 hours after we got there, we were on the way back to Auburn.

So what has God taught me through this trip? How thankful I am for my salvation, and for my new life. At this formal there were so many drunk people. That used to be me. I could look at those people looking/acting ignorant and see what I used to be. Everywhere you either had someone stumbling around or slurring there words (on a microphone mind you) or even throwing up and I had to ask my self why. Why do they do that to themselves? Why did I ever do that? What a sick world we live in. Those people have a empty spot inside of them and, unknowingly, they want to fill it. So thats what they were doing. Filing it with beer, filling it with relationship and sexual desires. I'm so thankful for my salvation because with out Jesus coming into my life and destroying the old and replacing my with himself that would be me. I would be that guy looking dumb. I would be that guy trying to fill my self with meaningless relationships. Jesus is the author and perfecter of my faith and I'm more thankful now than ever of the salvation he offers me by no doing of my own. Because by myself I'm just another guy in the crowd, but with Jesus I know he has plans for me and know that he has in mind better for me than wasting my life doing meaningless stuff.

[11] For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
(Jeremiah 29:11 ESV)

God is the purpose of my life and I only want to know Him and make Him known.

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

Friday, November 19, 2010

Challenge Day 3 - Our Portion

Whew, what a day!

It's the early time of 3:24 a.m. and I'm just getting to my blog. I had class this morning, drove to Auburn and went to the Harry Potter 7 midnight release. Before I get to what I learned today I'm gonna talk about a few randoms things.

First, HP7 was awesome! I usually hate the movies (as you could tell by my second ever blog on here). But this one was amazing. It actually stuck to the book and they did it well. In teh last movie I had enough complaints to fill a decent sized blog, and to tell the truth I was planning the same for this one, but no such luck. Anyway for once I'm pleased with a Harry Potter movie.

Second, I want to clarify some stuff from my blog yesterday. I love love love (did I say I love) music. It's an awesome way of worship, so awesome I listened to music my entire drive to Auburn today. What I was trying to get at yesterday was that our time worshiping through prayer should be greater than our time through song. I realized after my blog yesterday that it may have seemed like I was discouraging music. Not at all what I was doing. Just remember the more time you spend talking to the author and perfecter of our faith the closer to Him you will be which will lead to better worship through music.

So today's blog is named "Our Portion". On the way to Auburn today I was listening to my iPod and 'My Portion' by Shane and Shane came on and it reminded my how much I love that passage: [25] Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
[26] My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
(Psalm 73:25-26 ESV)

There is NOTHING on earth I desire besides you! I love it! It fits perfect with my name of my blog and with my first blog about me wanting this to be my life. I want nothing on earth more than Jesus. Then you go down to v.26 and it continues to define me. My heard and flesh may fail. In my case 'may' means 'will'. My heart and flesh will fail. Over. And Over. And Over. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. When I fail He still is. He always is. So remember that God is our portion. He is what completes us and makes us whole! Something has to be your portion, something has to be what fills you, something has to be what makes you whole. Make sure that's Jesus.

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

P.S. Be praying for me and John Baxley as we travel to Tuscaloosa tomorrow (later today). We will be there for most of the weekend so thats where my blog's will be coming from!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Blogging Challenge - Day 2

Well day two of blogging! To not have class today I feel like it was pretty packed with stuff. I mean sure I slept until 10...or 11. But after that I went and ate Mama G's with Robert Hudson and Katy-Jo Tunks and after that I had to take the MAPP exam. The MAPP wasn't as hard as it was just pure dumb. I didn't feel like sitting at that computer screen reading passages of random literature and then answering questions. The nerd did come out of me during the math parts though, mostly because I enjoy math and am actually good at it. After that was the dreaded Trop layout! I need to give a shout out to Ed Bailey for taking one of my pages, which made my workload a little less and tons less stressful.

Now on to what I'm really supposed to be blogging about. It's days like to day that make me feel like Israel in the Old Testament, as far as my prayer life goes. While things were going good they didn't worry about God, but as soon as an enemy showed up and Israel started to come under trial they would turn to God. He, in his awesome mercy, would deliver them. *Think about that for a second* God, knowing they would turn from him as soon as they were delivered, still loved them enough to deliver them. So what does all that have to do with my prayer life? Well It seems that some day's, like today, I get 'too busy' (I mean really?!? I slept until 10 today! thats not busy) and I just don't find myself praying throughout the day. Other days I'm constantly praying (not particularly because something is going wrong, it's just I get the urge). And on days I'm constantly in prayer I feel so much closer to the presents of God. Who would have thought it? Talking to the one who created all thing will actually make you feel closer to Him? (that was full of sarcasm, if you couldn't tell) I just want to shake myself sometimes when I over look simple truths like this, especially on days like today when I had more than enough time to spend more time with Jesus.

So I figured I'll share some practical ways we as students can use our time wisely to pray. First, on the walk/drive to class. For me I love my iPod but my walk to class isn't even long enough to listen to a whole song most of the time, plus the time it takes to put in the headphones and find a song I want. So instead of wasting that time use it productively. Second, how about while you wait for a teacher to get into class. If your professors are like mine being on time is the exception. So instead of surfing the net for 3 min, why not send some prayers up to God? Third, how about in the shower/bathtub? I mean, I like to sing in the shower like the next person, but thats more lost time. Finally, how about time in between classes? This could even be a more extended time. You could even pull out a Bible and make some notes on what you read. None of these should take the place of a regular quiet time. These are just suggestions to go along with that normal time spent with our Heavenly Father.

I heard a great sermon by Pastor John Piper about prayer that changed my outlook on prayer and has greatly helped my prayer life: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/be-devoted-to-prayer. I hope you will take time to read/listen to this sermon and be devoted to prayer.

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Blogging Challenge - Day 1

Well it's been well over a year since I last blogged but I've been wanting to get back into it, but if you know me you know the laziness has taken over and blogging has been out of the question. Luckily my awesome friend MaeLee has challenged me to blog once a day for the next 30 days! I know right thats a lot! But I'm always up for a challenge!

So here's blog one. It's more of an intro than anything but it's something. Over the next 30 days i'll be blogging about what God is showing me through everyday life. Along with that it will just be a general whats going on in my life type deal.

I didn't really have anything ready for this blog so I think i'm just going to explain the name of my blog and leave it at that tonight. If you'll take your bible and turn it to Philippians 3:4-8. Paul is talking and he's saying if there is any reason to boast in the flesh he has better reasons than everyone else. "[5] circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; [6] as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless." Those are what he's calling his 'qualifications' for being able to boast. But what he says after that is the big deal. "[7] But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. [8] Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" Wow, how amazing is that? He says even though I've done all these things in the eyes of the people, I count it all as loss because the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. Now only does he count all things loss, he HAS lost all things (v.8) and counts them as rubbish.

Thats how I want to live life. I want to live in such a way that people will be able to look at my life and know that I care about Jesus more than all things. This video pretty much sums up how I want my life to be lived: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBJzUnxiKwA

I hope you enjoy the video and I hope you come back to my blog in the upcoming month!

Counting all things loss,
Timothy Mathis

P.S. while writing this another awesome friend, Morgan, text me and told me to read Psalms 66. It's pretty awesome so you should read that too!