Throughout 2023 and into 2024 the Lord has laid on my heart a few key verses that I haven’t been able to shake or ignore… though I’ve tried.
These verses are ongoing reminders that I am called to be a conduit for Him [1], for His fragrance to be apparent in how I do things [2], that I am to speak to my generation [3] and to the present age [4]. It has become so obvious to me that I know if I don’t write, for me it is a sin [5].
- [1] 2 Corinthians 5:20 – Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
- [2] 2 Corinthians 2:14 – But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
- [3] Acts 13:36 - For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers…
- [4] Titus 2:12 - training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age..
- [5] James 4:13-17 – Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Honestly, I’m not sure where this may lead me. He’s given me unique skills, capabilities, opportunities, and influence. If I were to apply my thinking to the topics I’d write about, I’d say that I should write about Business, how it intersects with my Christian faith. I could also assume that I could write about how I try to be a better husband or being a father who tries really hard to raise 4 kids.
That all said, we’ll see where it goes…
If you’re interested knowing a bit more about me, keep reading. I’ll try to tie together three consistent tugs in my life that, I believe, tie this all together.
First, backing up a little bit, I grew up in Middle Tennessee and had a good childhood. The picture below picture sums up most of my afternoons and summer days in the neighborhood. We had kids all over the place and many of them were around for years – Preston, Peyton, Casey, Reyna, Alisha, Leaf. Some came and went, some I’m still friends with until this day. I knew to head home when the streetlights came on or my dad came out and whistled. My own little version of the Sandlot.
We were also a family that went to church multiple times each week. Sundays for Sunday School and then Church Service. Then church on most Wednesday nights for Royal Rangers or, as I got older, Youth Group.
I was voted “Most Religious” in High School. Kind of embarrassing… but also a key theme that persists in my life still. It is something I’ve both fought for and against for 20+ years. You know… it doesn’t help when your Granny & Papa were pastors of a small country church, your mom is a Pastor, and your dad is an Elder and a Church Administrator… pretty sure it’s genetic at this point in my life.
Fast forward to a few years ago, I went on to become ordained through my parent’s church and have “A Pastor’s Charge” hanging in my office at work.
Speaking of my Granny, she had a unique sense of humor. One time she hit me with her bible (not hard, just being silly) and she said “When’s the last time you got hit by the word?“. In college, I knew that if I went to church with her on a Sunday, she’d call me up to the pulpit and say something like “Get up here and testify to what’s going on in your life“. One of the last times I visited her church, her church sign said this:
Here’s her and a few members from her church singing Beautiful Star of Bethlehem.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had this relationship with Church and the community surrounding it. It wasn’t until much later in my life that it became less a function of habit and more a pull and desire that I lean into.
Second, switching gears slightly… another consistent draw in my life has been leadership and business.
As a young kid, my parents said I used to organize & stack money and at the age of ~13 my dad started teaching me finance. Then at a youth conference, one of the leaders pulled me assigned and said something along the lines of “Matt, the Lord put on my heart that I need to tell you that you’re gifted in Leadership.” Random… but it’s stuck with me now 20+ years later.
The journey I’ve been able to take since ~13 years of age has been quite interesting… all my steps somehow crossed over into Technology but the applications of Tech into those roles has been somewhat secondary. Proverbs talks about “man makes plans, the Lord establishes their steps” – I’m not sure I had a plan here… just saying.
- Once I discovered computers around the age of 10… I started repairing them for friends and family. Going so far as to create a business called “Alpha Tech” and try to formalize that experience.
- At ~13 I worked for my best friends Dad who started a Car Lot.
- When I started driving, I worked for the owner of a GPS Installation company.
- In college, I worked for at a manufacturing company that was started from the ground up by the man I was able to directly work for. Later on, I worked with him to start a Solar & Windmill installation company.
- I’ve helped someone start a curbside recycling business.
- After college, I went to work for a white label insurance company doing software development.
- From there I had the opportunity to work at Microsoft in their Azure product group in a variety of roles.
- Since 2019, I’ve worked at my current company, CloudFit, reporting to one of the Co-Founders.
For some reason, the Lord has given the exposure to a wide range of companies. From starting my own side hustles to working for 150,000+ person organizations.
I love entrepreneurship, technology, leading people, and learning constantly.
Lastly, but definitely far from the least, I’ve been blessed with an incredible family. That’s the third long running passion of my life so far that I think I can tie into this platform to share various learnings, struggles, theories on how to be a husband, father, brother, and son.
In a nutshell,
- My parents have been together for 40+ years but both came from split homes
- I’m the middle of 3 kids
- Met my wife in 2006 and we were married in 2010
- We now have 4 kids, a dog, and a cat
While that’s only four bullet points, I feel like I could write pages on each specific row. There is a depth to having parents who came from broken homes and have figured out how to be married for 40+ years. There is chaos with being a middle child with an older brother and younger sister. Having dated many people before finding my bride and then us being married for 14 (& counting) years is a story in and of itself. Having 4 kids that all need love in various ways is too complex for me to articulate at the moment. My brevity is not due to lack of care, it’s due to the overwhelming nature of those four bullet points and their constant impact in my life.
ALL THIS SAID – I’m a man who is trying to increasingly follow Christ day-in and day-out. He’s blessed me with unique giftings. He’s showed me that my childhood was specifically crafted, that my desires for business and technology were uniquely designed, and he’s allowed me to be part of a dynamic & loving family.
I’m excited to see what is to come.
-Matt