I decided to take some pictures of myself while I'm sitting here at the PX (the Post Exchange, it's like walmart on streoids) posting on my blog :)
Oh, hi!!
another mac guy!! lol ;P Macs are the best
I'm sitting in this comfy chair over in the little book area where they have free wi-fi
The Post Chapel, you can see the lovely Texas "winter" making itself obvious.. haha.. I just took this picture on my way over here to the PX :)
Me so gangsta.. not.. lol I'm WAY better at staying serious for goofy pictures now than I used to be!! :p
Oh say can you see, by the coffeeshop light, what so gladly we hail, every morning and evening? The starbucks coffee, it is so good for me, and the class's dead air, the textbooks everywhere, give proof through the day, that I cannot stay awake, so I grab some caffeine, now I am a machine, I stay awake until classes are over.. lol (like my anthem to starbucks?? actually this was back from new year's on my way home from Hamacher's house, but I still like starbucks ;P lol)
Isn't the view from my bed depressing?? I much prefer the pond and woods I'm used to looking at :)
By the way, that's a bandage from my aid bag, also known as a cravat.. I had some fun with it ;)
Ok, so this one wouldn't make sense, but I'll explain ;) So there was some soap stain stuff in the shower that the Sergeant said had to be gone.. even though it's probably been there for like 10 years.. well, after trying like 5 different chemicals it wouldn't come off.. so somebody decided to use this toilet bowl cleaner stuff we have, which is basically battery acid. Well, apparently it reacted with the other chimicals and made a really nasty smelling gas in the showers.. plus if you get it on your hands it burns like battery acid.. so we got medical gloves from our aid bags, dampened some cravats to make emergency masks, and glasses to keep it out of the eyes, and went to work trying to scub the stuff off... well, it ended up still not working completely, but it did help some.. anyway I thought I'd show you a picture of how funny I looked :)Well, I'll shoot straight, there have been times in my life where I've been upset with God, asking why life has to be so full of hadships and trials. Sometimes I've wondered why God has to let life be so hard. Then I realize that some of life's hardships are brought upon myself by my own actions. To be upset with God isn't fair in those situations, but what about the times when I'm just the innocent bystander and my life seems to just fall apart all around me? What about those times? Many people say there can't be a God in heaven with all the suffering in the world. Well I disagree. I have found that when life's road gets the toughest, that's when I find myself closest to God. Like the title says, how could we ever give or recieve compassion if we didn't have suffering? After all, it was through the worst possible torment that Jesus showed the whole world how much he cares for us? He offered those sufferings up to God in atonement for the salvation of someone like me? I mean, why would He do that if He didn't have a purpose for me that's higher than the normal falling down and giving up when life gets hard? I think I've found that by showing compassion to others my pain is put at ease and life isn't so hard anymore. One of the lines that hit me the most out of a movie many of you have probably seen called "a walk to remember" when Jamie says "without suffering there'd be no compassion" Landon replies, "yea, well tell that to the people who suffer." well, I realized that when I've suffered in one way or another, I can have compassion for overs going over similar hardships. God really does have a reason for giving us the gift of suffering. Maybe it's time we realize it's there to make us better, stronger people in the end. True, others take suffering much better than I, but I use them as inspiration to also accept the hard parts in life the way I should. I'd love to keep weaving this analogy further, but considering that I have less than 4 hours until it's time to get up again, I should probably try to utilize as much of that time actually sleeping as possible :) God bless you, and hopefully next time you experience a hardship you will remember that until passed through flames most metal is comepletely worthless. Hopefully we can be like lead that only takes a little bit of heat to go the right way instead of taking years of running from the hardships and not letting God use them in our lives.hopefully this makes sense even though I haven't slept in over 20 hours... :) later! Matt
Alrighty google bloggers and other readers.. I think I set it so this forwards to my facebbok too... You obviously have Internet, so there's not much need, but if anybody wants my address here it is:
PFC Beaty, Matthew S.
B Co. 232nd Med. Bn.
2950 Koehler Rd.
Platoon 1
STE 1350
Fort Sam Houston,TX 78234
Hope you are doing great!
Me
Well, I just finished watching a movie, and "somebody" will be glad to know I loved it. By the end of the movie my fingernails were gone, and if I hadn't been in an army bay I'd have been jumping up and down yelling:p ok, I admit, most wouldn't guess it, but I've got a bit of the hopeless romantic in me.. maybe from my mom, but anyway if you haven't figured it out by now, I'm talking about the movie "August Rush" few movies are as soul-grabbing as it was. I generally am more attracted to fast-paced action movies, but every now and then a movie grabs me by the heart and takes me for a ride. This was one of those :) so anyway, I'm doing good down here, tomorrow it's back to the grindstone going to class.. The temps dropped a lot today, the last two days have been around 80!! But hopefully it won't be cold tomorrow!
Another fun movie you might like to see is Kung Fu panda. It was cute and really funny. A little dumb at times, but generally pretty humorous :D well, I'd better get to bed, so ttyl! God bless you and protect you, and have a blessed year to come!
Your brother in Christ, matthew
