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I was cleaning out my room and stumbled upon some things that I felt I should write to you about.  These were the things you would write home about.  Unfortunately, I have yet to write home.  I haven’t because they were ideas of things I wanted to accomplish before graduating, but never did.

I have a suitcase that I am taking home that is filled with ideas from 2008 – the present of things to do.  In this suitcase there are song ideas, play ideas, book ideas, blank pieces of paper where I always wanted to journal, along with many other things.  This suitcase is heavy.  This is where it gets sentimental.  I have felt one suitcase heavier.  The suitcase I brought back with me from the Philippines.

Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.”  I have many plans that didn’t succeed, but I am able to realize something.  If you submit your actions to the Lord, your plans will become like His and will be far greater than plays and songs to write.

Whether your suitcase is metaphorical or literal, my blog is here to encourage you to put the good stuff in the “done it” suitcase.  You’ll have the rest of your life to do some things, so put those some things in your “to do” suitcase.  You only have so much room in your “done it” suitcase; make it count.

There are flashes going off all throughout the building.  They symbolize a disengagement of those who spent money to enjoy the show.  I took many pictures this summer while in the Philippines.  I have for a long time been an advocate of taking pictures, both with and without a camera, in order to learn and grow from experiences we encounter.  I have seen recently that I often place too large of an importance on taking pictures.

I was at The Hopper’s and The Isaac’s concert last weekend and wanted to take many pictures of things to remember, such as a fellow student who sings with me in the choir and OCU Singers, singing on a stage with three other guys who have all been nominated for Grammy’s.  That was when it hit me.  Instead of always trying to take pictures with a Canon or with a 21 year old memory that has been through grade school, three and a half years of college, and the Philippines, I should simply be listening to what is being said and how the Spirit is moving.

Many times, the harder we try, the less productive we are.  It is the same with the picture thing.  Instead of trying to get the perfect picture, just let the moment happen. When you close one of your senses the others become stronger.  If you are searching for something and say that you are unable to hear, it is not because no one is talking; it is because you aren’t listening.  Stop taking pictures and just listen.

Turn to Page 279 of the Physical Science book.  There you will find a volcanic explosion covering the page all in red.  This eruption clearly devastated and changed all of the people who were around it.  The ash forced the lives of the families to be submissive to it as it showed them who was boss.

This volcano once looked like it was not going to erupt but then joined the high percentage of inactive volcanoes throughout the world that erupt unexpectedly.  It surprised all and affected many lives in the process.  Since that picture all in red on 279, days have been different.

We need to take the advice of that once inactive volcano: erupt and bury everything surrounding us in an irremovable ash that changes the history of our lives and those all around us – but for the better, in our case.

College is great.  I learn many things.  No play on words will occur in this blog.  There will be no deep meaning.  It will be as simple as 8+4=12.  My college experience was not that simple.  I am almost finished and will get a job.

This is Mat Murphy, and there will be only a couple more blogs during my college experience, and then I will become an alumni blogger.  I will talk about bills, jobs, and adult life.  Until then, I can see that I have nothing but this.

This is where it gets a little tricky.  I could make an acronym for the word “this” and make it to where you have to think very hard to figure out what I am saying.  Instead, I will say what this blog wants to say:  Nothing.  I will leave it blank and let you read some of the other students’ blogs and understand this school further.  I love this school, so I really think about the structure of this blog.  Regardless of where you go, please listen and apply these words of wisdom: “stalk members of _____ (appropriate location goes here) on Facebook so you can find out for real what that place is and does.”

While you are where you are, look around and see who/what is your 8+4=12.  This is the standard of living.  Every time you add it up the answer will be 12.  If you are writing a sentence you may get confused if a comma goes after an introductory phrase beginning with a preposition.  You may wonder if there should be just one space after a period or two.  Your curiosity may arise about the spelling of your ancient neighbor because you thought it was “i before e except after c or when the sound makes an “a” sound.”  The thing is, after all of those controversial rules, 8+4=12.  Find those things in your life and hold onto those truths and take them with you everywhere you go.

Sometimes you just gotta keep it fresh.  Think outside of the box.  I sit here and wonder how to open this blog, and then I realize that I need to look outside of it.

I look at all of the experiences that are on my profile that people refer to as my social network, and I remember that they all have occurred since I came to this school.  Oakland City may not be for you.  It wasn’t for the high school me, but as I see all of these pictures, it is for the me that is graduating in a couple of months and going on to the next step.

As I close this concise blog, I challenge you to open up your life to what’s outside of what you currently know.  If you do, you may one day be able to say that OCU was the place for you.  The place where dreams come true.

Clouds are over mountains.  I think about what my missions professor said today as I write this.  He talked about how there are mountains in the Philippines (where he served as a missionary for many years), and there are mountains in Missouri (where his brother is a pastor).  I think about the future ahead of me and see a variety of possibilities and think, “I’m gonna d that.”

Today was the first day of pledging for a music fraternity on campus.  Embarrassment was creeping in, but I simply stood in my dorm room and said, “I’m gonna d that.”

I walked across campus, and I instantly thought about the many people who have said this phrase prior to me.  Where are they today?  Some may have “succeeded” on worldly terms, and others may have “failed” in worldly definition.  Regardless of how they ended up, they all once said, “I’m gonna d that.”

You may not want to wear a large “D” around your neck in order to be in Davidsbuendler, but I hope that wherever you are in life, you can look at life, put a large pink “D” made of cardboard around your neck, and say, “I’m gonna d that.”

I have four more days remaining in this task, but after this is over, I will be a part of a music community on campus and be able to say something that many people have said prior to me, “I dd that.”

I woke up one morning and felt that I needed a chocolate chip cookie.  I mean, I had been eating a cookie a day for a while, but there was something about that chocolate chip cookie that I now desired.  The peanut butter and the oatmeal raisin had a great taste, but the taste was not long-lasting.  They left me partially unfulfilled, longing for that chocolate chip cookie that had previously been so frequently consumed, but now had been absent from my life for quite a while.

Not being able to wait any more for this, I threw off the covers and went to the kitchen to pull out the bag of Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips.  Since I had no need to have the chocolate chips in my house, they were not there.  I had to go borrow a bag from my neighbor.  I then rushed back to the kitchen and read the bag where it listed the items needed for these delicious chocolate chip cookies.  With none of these supplies in my house, the preparation time was not only challenging, it was also costly, seeing that I had to go buy it all.

After the smell wafted from the kitchen to the rest of the house, bypassing all of the other smells from the other foods, the sweet sound of victory hit my eardrums as the timer told me it was time to pull the cookies out of the oven.  The pan hit the top of the oven, and the cookies hit my mouth with no
time to get out plates.  With the cookie hitting my mouth, I saw the need for something else to make this experience the best ever.  I needed milk.  It was not that the cookie was not enough for me.  It was instead that the milk would intensify the taste of the cookie, making it even better than before and allowing this moment to be remembered for the rest of my life.  I opened up the refrigerator and to no surprise, there was no milk.  Being new to the neighborhood, I looked in the phone book, and there I found an advertisement for a dairy store down the street that had a large selection of milk products.  I went to the store, and there I found a full arsenal of milk.

There were many different types all varying in certain ways.  Some were more expensive than others.  Some were larger.  And then some tasted better.  I weighed the options and was able to try a sample of a couple of them, and I came to the conclusion that Dean’s 2% would best accompany the chocolate chip cookies that were sitting on my counter.  I paid the attendant and rushed home where I sat down with my chocolate chip cookie and my milk.  Just as I had thought in the store, the milk I had chosen made me enjoy the chocolate chip cookie all the more, and it will be a moment that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Key:

Chocolate chip cookie: God’s love and guidance

Other cookies: desires of the world

Milk: colleges and universities

Dean’s 2%: Oakland City University

Substitute the cookies and milk in the story using the key above.  After you do that, you will be able to understand the past four years of my life.  It took time for me to figure out God’s calling, but coming to Oakland City University helped to intensify my experience, causing it to “be a moment that I will remember for the rest of my life.”

August 2007:  I was playing number 1 singles at Indian Creek High School in Trafalgar, Indiana, while doing an internship at a local clinic to try to figure out what my calling is.

August 2008:  I was getting ready to start a new adventure 132 miles southwest of Nineveh, Indiana, and I heard of this thing called the “Sweet Corn Festival.”  It took me just long enough to read this to get a good chuckle and sarcastically say that I was upset that I missed it.

August 2009:  I didn’t go to the “Sweet Corn Festival” once again, probably because I had something more important to do like getting to White Castle before they closed for the evening.

August 2010: I didn’t go to the “Sweet Corn Festival” once again, probably because I had something more important to do like going to Honduras and being visciously tackled by culture, while prying open my ears to finally listen to the best Storyteller tell the story of my life.

August 2011:  I didn’t just go to the “Sweet Corn Festival”…I lived it.

I heard the sounds of a cover band playing popular 70s music.  I heard kids screaming on rides that would make me vomit.  All of this was accompanied by the sound of cars on the highway going to where their “here” is.

I just got back from the Philippines a couple of weeks ago and while there and since I have gotten back, I have been using the quote “I am living the dream.”  I also say that I don’t like to go to sleep, and when I do, I wake up early because my life is better than my dreams.  This is true.

All of this happened because I went to Oakland City University.  I would have never picked corn out of my teeth for thirty minutes at a “Sweet Corn Festival” after coming in third place in the Sweet Corn Eating Contest if I would have never come to Oakland City University.

August 2012:  I don’t know where I will be, but it is some place that I would have never been if I would not be “hear.” I did mean to spell this with “ar” instead of “re” because we need to hear what our heart is saying.  Home is where the heart is, and my heart is here.

Hearing…that’s how we get here. 

This counts as my week 7 blog that never got posted because the end of my trip was rushed, and the beginning of my return was rushed, and it seemed like I had no time, so I did not write one. It has been nearly a month since my return. You would think that after 4 weeks to think about what I would write to conclude my blogs from the Philippines, I would have the most clever blog that was perfectly put together. Instead, I give you this:

I just washed dishes.

Theresamesamesamesamesamesamesamesamesamesamesamesamesamesamesamesamehere

That is all I have.

If you are confused now more than ever…here is what I think it means:

I “washed dishes” over here “just” like I washed them over there. There may be much space between there and here, but it is the same. All I have over here may be different than all I had over there, but I will give it all the same (see the “Spent” blog).

Thank you all for keeping up, and I hope I didn’t keep you up while you read my blogs.

This whole summer, I have been sharing some of the many lessons that I have been taught by Asians. This one may be a little different because I thought that it was another life lesson by an Asian until I typed it out. I now see that it was an initiation by an Asian to help me remember many of the life lessons that I have been taught by Americans over the past 21 years of life. New lessons are good to learn, but we must also be changed by those already taught to us.

Many Americans know the saying, “don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” This lesson is shown to me, but this time it goes like this: “don’t count your babies before they are born.” When people find out they are expecting a child, they only expect one at a time. They rarely expect that it may come in a buy one, get one free combo deal. When coming up to the mountains for my last week in the Philippines, I was coming to just spend my last few days here in a quieter and more relaxed atmosphere. I had no intention of being taught another lesson. On the first full day here however, the Lord taught me something that He was preparing in my heart for at least the past couple of days.

On Saturday, Randy and I were sent up to the mountains on a bus with a student from school. We got off of the bus, and that was it. We went to the house we are staying at for the week with no instructions for the week. On Sunday morning while we were eating breakfast, we were waiting for our ride to the church we were scheduled to attend that is around 3 miles away from the house. Our host asked us what church we were attending and if someone was coming to pick us up. We said we had no clue as to what was happening, and she followed by saying we should catch a motorbike to take us to the church. So we, two Americans in the middle of the Philippines, took off up to the highway to catch a motorbike.

We got to the highway only to find no motorbikes. We started walking and got about a quarter of a mile when we passed a store where people were standing around outside, and there were motorbikes in their presence. Not knowing how to communicate with the people there, I simply stared until a man pointed at the bike and said “ride,” and we crossed the street, said yes, and told him the cathedral. This part taught me something that the Lord loves to teach and constantly re-teach me: “actions speak louder than words.” The driver took us the distance, and when we got there he told us 20 a piece. I have been here long enough to know that it was probably only 10 a piece, but he took full advantage of the opportunity to take full advantage of two Americans whom he had already given the ride to. I see now another lesson. It is the famous American quote that “hindsight is 20/20.”

I realize that I should have asked him the fee before we accepted the ride, but it is whatever. To describe it in many words, I know that although it may be fun to be on our own, it may cost us a little more, so having older and wiser companions is very helpful. I realize that 20 plus 20 is 40 but I gave him a 50, and he only had a 5 to give me as change. In life, we need to give 110%. This 110% may have been an extremely generous tip for this driver who got lucky enough to give us a ride on this Sunday, but regardless, we need to always give 110%. (To clarify for all of you confused Americans, 43.15 pisos = $1).

I was thinking about the “Spent” blog I posted earlier in the summer, wondering if there were any other good messages from their money. I was doing this during a sermon spoken 75% in a different language. The part I understood said that there are two sides of a coin. The preacher, who translated parts of his own message into English, told a story about a man who was robbed but said, “thank You Lord because at least I was not killed, and thank You Lord because I was not the robber.” This sermon was going on for around 20 minutes when I realized what God was saying. Their 5 sentimos piece (which has little value, so it is rarely used) is a small piece of copper with a whole in the middle. I then thought you could tie a string around it and frame it with a question that I want to pass on to you today: what side of the coin will you look at today?

Yesterday we went to evangelize to the village that got hit by the flash flood last week. I told the victims that we need to realize it is all a part of God’s bigger plan. That is harder to hear than to say, but it is the truth. The pastor also said that we must magnify God and make Him bigger than our problems. The message spent a great deal of time talking about suffering. We told the people in the village about suffering. God has been teaching those around me about suffering while I am in the middle of a dream. I think about what is happening, and I look out into the distance, and I do not know where Heaven stops and where the Earth begins.

What side of the coin are you looking at? Do you see whatever is in front of you as mountains or do you see it as the clouds in the distance that I call Heaven? Living the dream for you might not be sleeping on a four inch thick single mattress only to wake up and ride a motorcycle the size of a moped for about 3 miles with your guitar, Randy, the driver, and you more off than on, but I will simply ask you again, “what side of the coin are you looking at?”

I learned another life lesson from another Asian. This lesson does a few things. It does what was previously mentioned, but it also teaches me that an old saying that I learned in America a long time ago is true. “Money talks.” This 5 sentimos piece of copper, both smaller physically and monetarily than a dime, given to me by an Asian cashier in Southeast Asia, apparently speaks English. This lesson that has been taught to me again and again is now heard in a different way because this coin is speaking louder than before.

One of my greatest inspirations in life was my basketball and baseball coach from when I was a little boy. I was always one of the smallest, but he reassured me that dynamite comes in small packages. As a 10 year old, this little boy would hold a basketball trying to look past those over a foot taller than him. Now as a 6 foot 1 inch 21 year old American living amongst Asians, I am taught by the littlest in size and monetary value of copper. Never count out anything as being able to teach you. What side of the coin will you look at today?