Friday, July 15, 2011

7/14/2011 Lena Hunt

Sent to the group: May 15, 2011
Celebritize You, http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000089984912, is one that I’ve been sharing motivation with as of late, and we have spoken to each other briefly on skype. It’s too bad our connection became too weak to continue conversation. Celebritize You is the stage name, or so I’ll call it, for my friend Lena Hunt. She posted the following on this group’s wall, and I’d like to talk about it;

“People say they wish they knew what the future will bring. Yet you are creating your future right now whether you mean to or not.” ~Lena Hunt

This struck me as pertinent to this group, and I would like to embelish a little deeper. Please be advised that I think it is best for you to believe and/or practice whatever sort of beliefs or religion that you want, because my aim via this message, as usual, is not to vilify your religious beliefs. I may challenge you if we don’t see eye to eye or defame you if you ridicule others for their opinions, but never will I persecute you base on you religion. These messages are my opinion, and I hope that you have something that you do believe in. It’s nice knowing that your life has a purpose and reason even if we are always certain what it is.

People occasionally and mistakenly think that God is in total control of your life. Hear me out here please. I believe that the spirit with the ultimate force is God (a trinity in my belief- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,) but they do not control what you do. This group’s title explains it a little better: God is has the power to control you, but “The Rest is Up to You.” There is another, different, maybe better (but maybe not) way to explain what I mean, but I’ll let you be the judge.

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago I worked as a counselor at Camp Echoing Hills (www.campechoinghills.org) back in the summer of 2005. A song we sang was “Potter’s Hand,” as sung by the group Hillsong United. Here is the beginning part of the lyrics:

Beautiful Lord, Wonderful savior
I know for sure all of my days are held in your hands
Crafted into your perfect plans
That clearly says “my days” and not your days, and it talks about them being crafted into your perfect plan. When things are crafted that implies different ways to achieve the same means, and even yet this analysis seems a bit derailed. Then near the end of the song we have:

Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me.

This would be you asking the Lord to help you try to be like him. In essence Lena was right, and we have every right to shape our own lives. God know what will happen, but it remains a mystery to us.

Lena is involved with PR services, and you can read all about her here, lenahunt.com. I am intrigued to see what she can do to help me get the word out there, give more motivational/inspirational presentations and most importantly write an autobiography. Helping others gives you a great feeling when you do that for somebody. The following tells me that Lena has the same philosophy that I do about helping others.

“In this game called life, it's about reciprocating. Help one another.” ~Lena Hunt

On May 26 I spoke of John Michael Montgomery and his song, ‘Life’s A Dance.’ I proceeded to analyze the lyrics and the chorus:


Life's a dance you learn as you go
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow
Don't worry about what you don't know
Life's a dance you learn as you go

That says nothing about reciprocating anything; it talks about life, though, and I’d love to alter what I feel about life. Life is a combination of what Mr. Montgomery says and what Lena Hunt says. To me life is a dance we learn as we go, but it sure is nice to help when others are in need.

I’m sorry this message was more lackluster than most, but I was swamped yesterday and it only gets worse on Friday. Have a great weekend.

A big thank you goes out to everybody who has joined this group recently: please add your friends to the group by going to the group wall (www.facebook.com/groups/46959448480) and clicking Add Friends to Group. Enter your friends’ names and click the add button. Special mentions go to Purvasha Jain, www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000921869192, Kara Sextro, www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1662468001, and Kayla Winner, http://www.facebook.com/kayla.winner, who just this week added friends to this group. Thanks and it’s much appreciated, but I don’t want to let people who have invited friends to the group formerly to feel unwelcomed. It just was not this week. Thanks or being in this group.

▒♥_______/)______./¯”””/’)
▒♥¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\)¯¯¯¯¯’\_„„„„\)
~Matt~ Failure is the first step to success. Think about that one.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

7.7.2011 Harman Rachael Schauberger Jordan Paterno

Sent to group on 7/7/2011
Sometimes things don’t go as you’ve planned, dreamt about, or hoped for, but stay positive because unknowingly those things do follow a plan. I do not want to downplay anyone’s religion or beliefs, and I will state mine in the following paragraph. This group is called “The Rest is Up to You,” and that is exactly what should be done; I may ramble a bit at times, but I never want to step on toes for religious reasons. I speak my mind and/or may try to motivate you, and your take on the subject matter is up to you.

I am a proud Catholic, and if you want to stop reading this right now, get yourself removed from this group, or stop being my facebook friend (even though I hope you will not chastise me for saying what I believe) then so be it. I am a believer that God is in ultimate control of everything in our lives, and even though we may not know now, possibly/maybe not ever, and He has a reason for everything. Scientific proof of God and miracles may be absent, but faith isn’t very often concrete in that regard. I have experienced miracles and am a real example of what prayer unwavering faith can do for an individual. There was a lot of hard work done, too, but it took a true miracle to beat the odds as has happened in my case.

I won’t delve into specifics, because this group message is about helping you anyways. God has been the focal point throughout my life and is responsible for tenacity that accompanies me along the journey called my life. It goes without saying (even though I’ll say it) that everything happens for a reason, and even what is perceived as an unfortunate occurrence is part of Somebody’s big plan. I found a quote that sort of talks about God albeit it’s done indirectly:

"Sometimes things fall apart just so other things can fall together...what's meant to be will always find its way.”
~Sarah Harman

If my life would not have been altered as high school was nearing completion I never would have met the people I know today. Maybe on the surface the life altering mishap seems a travesty, but deep down (believe me its deep, for I’ve clawed through a lot of rubbish) my wreck was a good thing. Believe me I’d rather that car crash (and other major negative events in my life) would have never happened, but I’ve accepted it. I know whatever happens in your life and mine is meant to happen, but I believe Ms. Harman’s quote lacks a major aspect; therefore it’s incomplete.

What’s meant to be will be, but God’s plan already includes you trying and giving your best effort to help shape your life. You help shape your own self, but the Big One’s master plan already has best effort built right in. That’s what I believe anyway. What’s meant to happen will occur, but not if you give up telling yourself that everything is predestined and tour actions are meaningless. It’s been said in this paragraph already, but I find it vastly important: but God’s plan already includes you trying and giving your best effort to help shape your life. I don’t know for sure where I’d be at had catastrophe not struck my senior year of high school but don’t care either. I’m living/loving my life in the now, and I never would have shared in many of the fun activities, nor met my friends, had He not been actively involved in my life.

One person who has the same outlook towards life as me, one would guess is Rachael Schauberger. My new friend’s page, www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1015325553,
And that’s where I saw this week’s second quote, I feel it to be totally accurate and necessary to share, but I’ll let you be the judge:

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."

I don’t know much about this beautiful Rachael girl except for the fact that she is also Catholic. I want everyone to appreciate these messages, please share them with anyone who you think would appreciate receiving and/or benefit from reading it. That quote, on a smaller scale, is true as well. Maybe it’s better suited for the group in a smaller scale version because of the word greatly, and it is listed twice. Is our average day failure or success of great means? I think not, and a simpler version follows this sentence. Those who never try anything challenging can never truly experience the feeling of success. Let me tell you something that I find more often than not; the more times you try something and fail the sweeter it will feel when you succeed.

Many people do not see Larry Bird as the greatest basketball player of all time like I do, but rather they see Mr. Jordan as the holder of that title. That is fine with me, and I just wanted to show you this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc, simply because it let’s you hear Michael Jordan say the same thing that I’m trying to get across to you. Maybe he can get through to you about success if I cannot.

I saw an interview with Mike Krzyzewski and Joe Paterno this weekend (on one of the ESPN networks,) and they are legends in the coaching departments at Duke and Penn State, respectively. Joe is quite the animated character, and I learned his son, Jay, is one of his long-time quarterbacks coach. I looked him up on the internet. Jay Paterno is a father, husband and political volunteer. He’s a frequent guest lecturer on campus and at Penn State events. His column appears every other Thursday on the State College website. That’s where I’ve found this week’s third:

'A Man Is Not Finished When He's Defeated. He Is Finished When He Quits.'
~Jay Paterno

Maybe the Joe Paterno name is better and much more widely known throughout the nation, but the Paterno name has earn the respect of me. I'll argue it to my grave that both literally and figuratively you did not fail and are NOT a failure (given that you never stopped trying to get better.) Please add your friends to this group, share this message, and may God Bless you.

“Failure only increases your chances for success at your next attempt."
~Matt~
www.mattschroeder.org

Friday, July 1, 2011

Sent to the group: 6/29/2011

It's well worth the loading time wait & have your speakers on... it was made a couple of years ago, when the subject was on dialysis (this guy had his kidneys removed and a transplant after this video was made ) & imperfections are prevalent, but I found this particular video that it is fascinating :-). For the record this dudes kidney malfunctions were unrelated to his accident, but they have to do with genetics. He is soo lucky, but no seriously he is (to have friends like you.) The star of this short film is not an actor, model, or anything of the sort. He is just that good looking... LOL. I hear he is fairly darn witty and likes to laugh, too! Here is the video talked bout this week: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23082236/good%20video%201.wmv.
Wow that was very powerful, thanks for watching it with me, and the amazing thing is the goof resembles me, significantly. Maybe he is my twin or my doppelganger? I always wished that I had a twin brother, when I was growing up, to play basketball with and do other fun things with, but I never did so I know it must be the latter. We even have the same name. Hot dog, if I were you I’d most certainly get Matt to speak at the next upcoming event that you know of. This sharp looking speaker looks like he’d do a fantastic job at any multitude of events. Even though I had a lot of fun, growing up with neighbors (usually Tony,) classmates/friends, and my relatives it is still fun to finally find my doppelganger (we’ve all got one.) Ha-ha, here comes the obvious for I cannot tell a lie; it’s really me in that video… surprise, surprise (lol.)

Speaking of friends, many co-counselor friends were made when I worked as a volunteer at Camp Echoing Hills. Everyone knows that my singing voice is so eloquent so I’ll provide a link to one of the songs, Our God is an awesome God, we sang as a group when I was there, here: http://youtu.be/6RGcb7alSk0. Although I am a random person while I write these messages I was not just randomly writing about a song from camp without having an ulterior motive. First let me explain how working there one summer made a huge impact and difference in my life.

First I want to tell about some of my experiences as a counselor at camp and show you a video from the summer I worked there (2005) that is on my Youtube page, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O8f0Zp3_Vs. You may not have seen in the video what it meant to me as a counselor, and I wanted to tell you. Those nine weeks, three of which were teenage camper weeks, I had an opportunity to give more than just money or physical labor to disabled campers. We impacted the lives of a new set of either disabled children or adults each week, for nine weeks. Giving up your physical gizmos/gadgets and helping those at camp physically, mentally, and/or spiritually was worth everything. I’ve been back for a wedding and another year just for one week. Hopefully campers still use what we showed them. The place helped me feel better, because I could tell after interacting with campers throughout the week that they felt more at ease. That definitely was not the case in all situations, though. Some of the mentally challenged individuals really gave positive or negative feedback, but you know that what you did for them was best in the long run.

When you are with a group of counselors at a Christian camp there is bound to be some bonding, and definitely that is what we did. Take nine weeks out of your summer and spend it with a group of around 50 people that try to run a nine different groups (six days each,) and you will form some quality friendships. There are way too many to name them all so I won’t even try, although there’s no doubt I could. Elizabeth Kitt went to Jimmy and Maria Mcnutt’a wedding with me, but I lost contact with her. Another wedding that I received a wedding invite to was Lauren Unger’s, http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=638565230&sk=wall. Then there was Josh Westover, http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=164901163&sk=wall, Ryan Law, http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=547203715&sk=wall, and Chad Smith, http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1067796097&ref=ts. I cannot forget Markias Littlejohn, http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=88200458, who was the spirit of God in the passion play where I was Peter and Westover was Jesus.

There are more guys, but I’ll mention Tasha Rouse, www.facebook.com/tashaleeministry, her ministry, www.tashaleeministry.com, and blog, www.healingdiabeteswith80-10-10.blogspot.com. Then there’s Tricia Wegman who was on the World Race, and Katee Battiste.

The reason camp was so fresh in my mind now is twofold. This past week I spoke with a very good friend of mine that I met at Camp Echoing Hills back in 2005, Dustin Lawson (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=666965024&sk=info.) He is a very good guy, and he said that he was going to meet me inn Findlay on Saturday.

The last quote, for this week was told to me by Danika Boever, www.facebook.com/NikeNikaMontanaRuthBoever. She’s a relatively new friend that gets around, and I don’t mean gets around like the two word phrase is commonly used to describe loose women that sleep around. That would be rude and false, as far as I know. She is a terrific person and friend that I am glad to know. The quote was commonly said nearly 30 years ago by a man she was never old enough to know truly:

“Live for today and see what tomorrow brings"
Danika’s grandfather (who died 27 years ago)

Thank you so much for being my friend. If you suggest your friends for me that would really be great. Can you also please invite your friends to join my Facebook group, "The Rest is Up to You” (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_46959448480?) Please share this message!


~Matt~ Failure is the first step to success. Think about that one.
▒♥_______/)______./¯"""/')
▒♥¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\)¯¯¯¯¯'\_„„„„\)
www.mattschroeder.org

Sent to the group on: 6/23/2011

I for one am thrilled to watch America’s Got Talent on NBC, www.nbc.com/americas-got-talent, and since I cannot or will not continue to use that three letter middle word I will just refer to the show as AGT. Anyway, staying away from that “g” word comforts my Junior High English teachers back at St. Anthony’s. Even though Ann Recker and Ginny Schroeder no longer teach at my former school they might hear about this one way or another, and my fear is that they would make me take classes this summer, Lol, not really, but I had to pay respects to the parochial school and teachers that paved my way to now. My high school English teachers were really good too. I know for a fact that Delphos St. John’s HS appreciates Mrs. Elwer, too. She was my grades 9 and 11 English teacher at Columbus Grove.

Sorry for that lapse of focus. AGT is typically aired on Tuesday and Wednesday, and judges are Piers Morgan, Sharon Osborne, Howie Mandel, and the host is Nick Cannon. I always wanted to be on that show so reviewed last year’s competitors and was contemplating send Sharon a video. Ha-ha, maybe not.

I began searching the web for past AGT contestants. Here is Jackie Evancho's video submission for the AGT YouTube Audition from August 10, 2010: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0et5xcXvQns&feature=related.

Here is her first appearance on AGT that anybody who watched the show knows, www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d_XTvLalJk&NR=1.

Jackie has a very unusual capability to sing, and I’m not even an opera style music fan but enjoy listening to her. I just hope she doesn’t turn out like most of the stars do. When fame sets in, with most people, it spells bad news. She has a website where you can read about her if you want www.jackieevancho.com

This is Jackie Evancho, from Pittsburgh, PA singing the National Anthem at the 2010 Pirates Home Opener against the Dodgers in front of over 39,000 people. She was the youngest singer to ever do this for the Pirates on opening day at the age of 9; www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdxnQsjhNJc&NR=1

More recently Jackie was on the Jay Leno Show June 21, 2011. That was this Tuesday, and if you missed it you can watch it here: http://youtube/24S_HOwhxE8.


I saw a saying on the wall of Lauren Lynn Hartshorn, www.facebook.com/llhartshorn that meant a lot to me. I had a situation where I responded similarly when I was out with my sister (nearly 7 years ago) and she said she would be a basket case if she were in my situation. I more or less told her this:

“God won’t give you anything in life He doesn’t think you can’t handle.” -- Unknown

And I hope people realize that life won’t give you too much to handle. With hard work you can jump higher, run faster, score better, or succeed at anything.

Thank you so much for being my friend. If you suggest your friends for me that would really be great. Can you also please invite your friends to join my Facebook group, "The Rest is Up to You” (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_46959448480?) Please share this message!


~Matt~ Failure is the first step to success. Think about that one.
▒♥_______/)______./¯"""/')
▒♥¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\)¯¯¯¯¯'\_„„„„\)
www.mattschroeder.org