Pictures and stuff.. since I haven't updated lately

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 :)
hehe mohawkishness... :P it's like the only thing I can actually get my stupid hair to do..

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 anyway, I'm out of new pictures.. they said we could bring cameras to class, but then the next day they changed their minds :'( so now I cant show you pictures of what I do :( oh well.. anyway I haven't really eaten anything yet today, and it's 15:00 (3:00 for you analog clock people) so I'm pretty hungry, so i'm going to head over to Robin Hood and grab a sub, and maybe over to cinnabon to get one of their amazing cinnabons and an iced mocha latte espresso :) so God Bless you, have a great day, and ttyl!!

"Without suffering, there can be no compassion"

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

My snail mail ;)

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

Movies, fingernails, and classrooms.

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

Temptation

Well, since I'm living in a place filled with as much filth as there is
going on every day around me I have a lot of opportunity to deal with
temptation. I decided to look up the major verses on dealing with
temptation in the Bible, and share my thoughts on dealing with
temptation.

Matthew 25:41
Watch and pray, that ye not enter into temptation: the spirit indeed
is willing but the flesh is weak.

1 Corinthians 10:13
There hath no temptation taken thee but such as man can bear. But God
is faithful, who will not suffer ye to be tempted beyond that ye are
able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that
you may be able to endure it.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he
hath been approved, he shall recieve the crown of life, which the Lord
promised to them that love Him.

Based on these verses, I think of three ways to deal with teptation.
Only one will pan out in the long run though. First, there are those
who put themselves in dangerous situations intentionally to 'harden'
themselves to temptation. Sorry, but looking at dirty magazines to
strengthen yourself is just lying to yourself and you're giving into
your selfish desires. Second, there are those who try to blanket off
any opportunity of temptation. The problem with this is, eventually
you will be tempted, but you won't know how to resist temptation. God
can use temptation as a way to "test us by fire" so to speak. Then
thirdly, the best way to deal with temptation. Look at temptation as a
necessary evil, one that can't always be avoided, but not something we
should be looking for. Look at yourself and question- am I really
strong enough to be in this situation without giving in to the fleshly
desire to sin? If yes, proceed with caution and don't give in, because
that is not the most effective resistance training. If no, you need to
do some prayer and work on standing up to the little temptations
without giving in. There are many times whee a perfectly fine thing to
be doing can evolve into a mirey pit of sin if you can't resist the
temptation to begin with. All to many times I've found myself in the
first group and ended up further away from a true faith-based ability
to defeat sin than people from the second group.(no, I've never looked
at dirty magazines, I'm just using that as an example) The key is
listening to the Holy Spirit through your concience and knowing when
you're in too deep and back out of a situation that you may fail in.
Basically, defeating the flesh does not mean fleeing temptation, it
means fleeing from sin. Be bold and courageous when facing temptation,
and remember that if you keep your eyes on God, He won't let you fall
into sin. However, we have the choice to ignore God's escape path and
plunge ourselves in too deep and end up sinning. Hope that makes
sense! Please keep me in your prayers as every day I'm met with the
opportunity to fight, or to flee, and pray I'll have wisdom to know
which to do in those situations.
God bless!
Your friend, matthew.