Whats Up

So last night and this morning i was reminded of something so important to our lives. Last night i was sitting down in the lobby of church and two guys knocked on the door. I must say i was nervous and a little worried, because it was midnight and who knocks on random doors at midnight. I open the door and it was two guys about my age from Pakistan and they wanted a coke. They wanted to give me money but i was like guys its just a coke. So i give to them and end up just talking to them. We talked about where we are from and all that fun stuff. Meanwhile during all of this they were smoking green, aka weed. So after talking a little bit two girls show up and we are all talking and it starts raining so i invite them inside. So for probably about 20 minutes we just kinda hung out. Remember these were just the normal druggies/gangstas that you would see in your high school or college. Then very shortly we talked about what i was doing here and how this was a church and the reaction I got when I said "christian" was one of the girls said "bulsh" and the other laughed and agreed, though one of the Pakstani guys apologized. It was honestly funny so we left it at that. We hung out alittle more and then the left. Then this morning i listen to the first talk in the door series that Mark Norman just finished and it hit me. Christians, in the eyes of most people, are jerks. We hate others, we act like we are perfect, and we act like we know everything. That is so unfortunate. WE are not at all called to be like that. Mark put it best when he said that we are supposed to be like light. Light fills the earth and makes darkness flee. How useful would something so powerful be if we kept it in our secret little corner. Light can burn you but it can also make you feel welcome and comfortable. I beleive as christians we are called to go out into the world/culture that we live in and be an example of repentance and love. We are supposed to show people that they can't live life apart from God because we are all failures, but we are also supposed to show those people the kind of love that we are shown everyday. To stop treating people as wrong and fighting them over every little detail, bt treating them as lost and little by little showing them the way that is right in a calm and loving fashion. I pray that i can live this out in my life here and when i get back home. I'm not called, in my life, by Jesus to hang out with people who are perfect christians. Iam called to be amungst the peolpe who are hurting and lost and be a source of light in their dark worlds. I hope my poor attempt at explaining that make you think. I love all of you and miss you a lot. I pray that God continues to reveal himself to you guys as he does little by little to me. If you would like to pray for me here i have a little list of things that you can pray for:

• Youth-

I am kind of taking the reigns of the youth ministry here and am completely nervous. I just need God's guidance and wisdom.

• Kirk

That God continues to bless him by giving him direction and peace. He has such a hard job trying to get sinners like me exciting for a God that he loves and adores.

• Matt/Katie

For those of you who came here he is one of the twins and katie is some one he met in the states, but they are going to start premaritial stuff just pray that God can work in that and start to get them ready to make a covenant between them and God.

• Me

I trust that God brought me here for a reason. Pray that he works in amazing ways here and in me. I need that change that can only come from a perfect God.

Thanks if your praying for me. It means a lot and it is already showing its fruit in my life. Don't be strangers. Email me, if you see me online talk to me, facebook me, i don't really care i just want to know how you guys back home are doing. Like i said earlier i love you guys. It's hard being away from you all and not knowing what's going on in your lives. So you can email me at bourque.matthew@gmail.com, you can AIM/iChat me at mattbugsme, and if you have skype my screenname is mattbugsme or just search my name. Hopefully i will talk to some of you son.

Peace,
Matt