Life,Faith,and Disability

Reese Thomas Part 2

cpoutlaw — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:39:06 +0000

I want to thank everybody who has been praying for Robin and our baby. The goal is to get him to 37 weeks, and the doctor said he can be delivered. We can’t wait to see Reese’s face.He could be here in only three more weeks. I can’t believe he’ll be here soon, and that I’m going to be a daddy. for those who know me, know that my father was not in my life, and I covet your prayers. Please pray for me. Pray that I will be the daddy that Reese deserves. Pray that with Reese, the cycle of brokeness stops. Pray that I can be the husband Robin needs. Thanks to everyone who’s been praying for our family. I will posts updates soon.

God Settles Solitary In A Home

cpoutlaw — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:49:56 +0000

5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
6 God settles the solitary in a home;
he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious dwell in a parched land- Psalm 68:5-6 (ESV)

There is so many things that can be said about these verses. They speak of the great God we serve. He is a good daddy to his children. Today, as I read this, the words “God settles solitary in a home” jumped out at me. I looked up the definition of solitary and it means being, living, going alone, or without compainions.It also means to be sadden by isolation. Married, divorced, or single have felt this. Do you here what this verse is saying? God settles this. I been married for going on three years now, and when Robin and I our together under God there is a feeling of no matter what happens we are in this thing together. In our marriage, we have overcome sickness, living on one income, an apartment being flooded twice, being a one car family, struggling to start a family, and so much more. But we have trusted God and he has seen us through. I will only speak for myself, but in those times that I let worry take root and have taken my eyes off Jesus I feel like my back is against the wall and I feel alone. I will hold in my feelings about whatever hurdle we are facing and not let God or Robin in. This is not good. A bad habit that I have gotten into is not going to bed with Robin at night when she goes. I’ll stay out in the living room watching tv or playing Xbox. In the past when we were in our first apartment, not having tv, we would go to bed early and just spend time together. Sometimes we would pray, read scripture, and mostly laugh. Robin is such a blessing. I can be a jerk, but I’m so thankful that we both desire to follow hard after Christ because in our ups and downs of life we know he’s with us. No matter where we been, God has been with us. No matter the trial, God has taught us. When we fell, He caught us. When God is the center of a family’s life, then they truly have a home. There is no isolation in Christ. Even if everyone you know leaves you, God has your back.

Prayer-

“Father, Thankyou for settling solitary in our homes. You call us to be a team under your leadership. As a husband, I pray that I would be a man who is understanding and loving. May I be the kind of man who my wife respects and feels loved by her husband. Your love is the only thing that can settle tough issues in people’s relationships. I pray for married couples, widows, people who are divorced, and singles. Be the one who settles the solitary places in their hearts. Help them to see that you are their God, Protector, and Father. Amen”

Reese Thomas part 1

cpoutlaw — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:28:59 +0000

On Friday, March 12th, Robin and I got to see the first ultrasound of our baby. As of the 12th, he is 18 weeks old. The first thing I saw was him moving his arm. The joy I felt was overwhelming. I can’t wait to hold him. Robin’s due date is August 11th and that day will be so awesome. We never thought this would happen, but God keeps blowing our minds.We been trying to have a baby for two years and I never thought it would happen, but God is bigger than our doubts. When Robin was 13 or 14, doctors told her she would never have children because of her pcos. Doctors told my family that I would never lead a normal life. no school, no job, no family because of my cerebral palsy. I’m so thankful that the Lord don’t listen to man’s opinions when he’s planing our lives out. He took two people, who the world wrote off of ever having a family, put them together, and once again proved that He is greater than the world. I got to be honest, There’s a part of me who wants to tell the haters off, but I’m more concerned with sharing God’s grace to me. He is allowing me to become a daddy. It’s a prayer I prayed as a teen, and at 28 it’s coming true. I desire to be the daddy i never had. I pray that through Reese, there will be a generation with the last name Matthews who will know God. I’m thankful that it seems, that the things that plague my family name such as drug and alcohol addictions are coming to an end through Robin and I. It’s a prayer of mine that Reese will be a better man than me. I can lead him to become a man of God. He is a miracle. I can’t wait to see his face. Thankyou Jesus. You Rock!

In Affliction: A Letter Of Hope

cpoutlaw — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:25:51 +0000

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.- 1Thessalonians 1:6-8 ESV

This Sunday will mark many firsts for me and my ministry as a preacher. Starting this Sunday I will be preaching through the book of 1 Thessalonians in a sermon series I’m calling “Be Prepared” at the Washington City Mission. My recent sermons there have been topical, but the Lord has led me to preach through a whole book of the Bible. People need the Word, not the preacher’s opinions, so I’m humbled that God has found me faithful to teach the people at the mission. Plus, This Sunday Robin and I will be meeting with people at the Bible Chapel in Robinson to give them our vision for Robinson’s student ministry. I’m very grateful for the life and call God gave me, and we all have reasons to praise him, but sometimes we lose focus in times of affliction or persecution. But 1 Thessalonians 1:6-8 reminds us that even in hard times we can have joy. Paul was writing the young believers in Thessalonica to encourage them in their faith. They were perhaps losing hope because of sever persecution, and Paul was writing them to assure them of what they believed. So, I would like to use this time to write a letter of encouragement to you my reader.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

You may find yourselves in a very dark time now in your life. You may be thinking that you may not belong to God, but let me encourage you that your circumstances act as the path to bring you closer to God, and to act as a testimony to others as you stand for your King. He as found you worthy to suffer for the name you bear. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake- Philippians 1:29. Be encouraged by the Thessalonians who received Christ in much affliction. Count the cost of them accepting Christ in Acts 17:1-7:

17:1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. 6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” 8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. 9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Brothers and Sisters in your everyday ups and downs of life be like the Thessalonians and count Jesus worth it. He’s the reason we can press on. For you who don’t me I came to faith in Jesus in the darkest time of dealing with my cerebral palsy. 1o years ago, The Lord had mercy on me and opened my heart up to receive his gift of salvation. I still find myself living with my disability, but my focus has changed. Instead of looking inward with self-pity, I now look upward to God with thankfulness. my situation with my cp has not changed, but God has changed my heart. I now have the living hope that is in Jesus, our God and Savior. He is using my trials to bring me into a deeper relationship with him, and he is using my hurts to bring him glory. Take heart. You are suffering, but your King has also suffered and understands. He, and only He can help you stand. Your circumstances will end in your deliverance. Either in this life, or the great Kingdom to come.

Your Brother,

Michael Matthews

9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again- 2 Corinthians 1:9-10

Does Your CIL Have A Culture Of Advocacy?

cpoutlaw — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:55:13 +0000

This week’s topic: Does Your CIL Have A Culture Of Advocacy?

To start, here is how TRIPIL defines Advocacy:

Advocacy can be easily defined as an action that produces change. TRIPIL speaks out for the equality and civil rights of people with disabilities. TRIPIL works to teach people with disabilities how to become their own voice using either individual or group advocacy techniques.

As stated in our mission statement TRIPIL’s goal is to promote independent living in Southwestern Pennsylvania for and by individuals with disabilities; to enable them to take control of their lives; to make decisions about themselves and their future; to ensure that the necessary support services are available to enable them to be active participants in their communities; and to prevent unnecessary institutionalization; and one way we do this is through advocacy.

Some of the key issues effecting people with disabilities in our tri-state area are accessibility, transportation, and housing. Our efforts include both individual and systems change. A common thread running through all advocacy efforts is empowerment so individuals become self-advocates. This means that we do advocate, but our purpose is to provide people with the right skills and information to advocate for themselves concerning issues that effect their ability to live independently.

At TRIPIL we eat, sleep, and breath this. Advocacy is what drives us. We provide Attendant Care service coordination but even this is seen as a result of our advocacy. We are known in our community for our advocacy. The biggest victory we have fought for in recent years have been polling place accessibility for voters with disabilities. We started tackling this problem three years ago, and its been a hard-fought battle but a battle worth fighting. We started in Washington County by advocating with county officials and our local elections board. Then we surveyed all the polling places in our county. This brought our CIL together because the advocacy staff and the services staff came together to complete the surveys. This gave our services coordinators a real life example of being a part of advocacy and they learned how important our job as advocates are. It showed the community have important polling place accessibility is to the disability community. It made our county pay attention to TRIPIL because we we’re not going away. The local press started reported on our advocacy and people’s eyes were open to the problems voters with disabilities face. Our message was simple. We wanted to vote like everyone else, and the meant that polling places had to be accessible. Our goal is 100% accessibility. We are not there yet but here is what we have accomplished so far:

Polling places were changed to more accessible polling places.

That county go more HAVA grant money to buy accessibility equipment to make polling places more accessible.

TRIPIL has become a polling place because of its accessibility.

We have done disability training with the election board.

We have good relations now Washington county in our efforts for accessibility.

These are a few great results of our advocacy. The disability community is better because of it. The questions you and your CIL need to ask is :

” How is your community better because your CIL is in it?”

Is your CIL having an impact for the disability community?

What can I do to create a culture of Advocacy?

I hope these posts will encourage you in your advocacy. Future posts will dig deeper in what I think makes a great CIL. This is the second post focusing on what makes a great CIL. Please see my first post “Does your CIL have a Community Space” More posts are coming after the holidays. I hope everybody has a awesome Christmas.

Does Your Center for Independent Living Have A Communty Space?

cpoutlaw — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:37:48 +0000

For my readers who don’t know, I work at a center for independent living in Washington, PA. Our name is Tri-County Patriots for Independent Living. We are run by and for people with disabilities. We are not a nursing home! Nursing homes and assisted living has tried to hijack the term “independent living”, but a CIL like TRIPIL purpose is enable and empower people with disabilities to live independent lives in their community equal to people who don’t have disabilities. We do this through Peer Support, Skills Training, Information&Referral, Advocacy, and Nursing Home Transition. I’ll address these core services in later post as I write about my experience working for a CIL. I wanted to just give a intro before I jumped into my topic today. If you work at a CIL I hope you enjoy my posts but I also hope it will challenge you to make your CIL better for people with disabilities. So, my question today is does your CIL have a community space? Do you have a space in which people can come together and learn what independent living is about? A place at the CIL where people are around others for peer support and community building? At TRIPIL we do this by having an internet cafe where people can come and learn new skills or just socialized. If computers are not a person’s thing, our cafe is big enough for people to just talk. We recently been having Wii Wednesdays playing wii bowling. Trash talk among friends is always a fun time. Also, our CIL staff work on the cafe side of our building so we are not hiding in an office or cubicle away from our community members. Having a community space is not all for fun, but is a great advocacy tool because it gives people a chance to role model independence for peers who are working toward similar goals.For example, I have cerebral palsy and when one of community members see me working through the same struggles their facing, it encourages them to be independent too. I gave a few examples about how our community space has helped us build up our local disability community and don’t be overwhelmed if your CIL does not have the kind of room we do, but do something. Get rid of waiting rooms and open your doors for your people. Let people come to your CIL and start learning to be independent. We CILs need to be the place where people can come to be empower. All our lives we been stuck in waiting rooms and having doors shut in our face, let’s not do it to our own people.

Note: This is the first post in a series of posts I’m doing about Independent Living.

Robin Matthews

cpoutlaw — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:14:28 +0000

Thanksgiving is this week and I want to take a moment to talk about someone who I’m thankful for. My wife is so good to me. She is a blessing from God, and I just wanted to take sometime to brag about her. She really is my best friend, and why she love me is still amazing to me. I’ll never forget the first time I saw her sing at church. She was singing a song called “Mary’s Alabaster box” and I fell in love with her heart. When she sings, it’s like the only two people in the room is God and her. All she cares about in that moment is praising God, and it moves me to a place of deeper worship. I watch other people’s faces as they watch Robin, and their moved because they can see what I see. Robin believes what she’s singing. It’s not just a song to her. Her love for God blows me away. When we’re in the car, I’ll pretend to be sleeping so she’ll sing because she gets embarrassed if she knows I’m listening. Being a wife of a preacher is not easy, and Robin trys staying in the background to let me do my thing but some of deepest moments with God have come from Studying the Bible with her. Her insight on Scripture, God, and people are very profound and wise. She has helped me be a better man and teacher. I watch how she gives grace to people and it blows me away. People who are considered outcasts or rebels are attracted to her, and no matter where they come from, she loves them. She challenges me to love like this. She is a real life example of God’s love. I don’t know what I did but I sure did marry out of my league. I’m proud of her work at Dress for Success.She works so hard to serve her clients to make sure they can succeed in life. That company is lucky to have her. I often fail to let her know how much I love her and how beautiful she is but I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying. Thankyou for loving me Mrs.Matthews

Robinson R19 Youth Ministry

cpoutlaw — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:15:41 +0000

Robin and I are excited about How God is working in the Robinson Campus. For those who don’t know, Robin and I are the youth leaders at the Bible Chapel in Robinson.South Hills Bible Chapel launched the Robinson Campus Nov.8th, 2009 and it’s been great. We love the vision of the church for the Robinson area, and when a oppurtunity came to help reach students, we couldn’t pass it up. About three months ago I told Robin I was praying about going out to Robinson to help out with the youth ministry. At the time, I had no clue if they needed youth leaders or not. Then one night, Scott Arvay the campus Pastor announced at the Bible Chapel’s Saturday night service that they still needed youth leaders for the Robinson Campus. That was an answer to prayer. I filled out a volunteer card, and about a week later Scott called me wanting to meet. Our first meeting with Scott and Nathan Lee, The Chapel’s Youth Pastor went good, and about week after that they called me to tell me they would like us to lead Robinson R19. So, where are we now?

Upcoming Events:

November 21- will be our first event for Robinson R19. “Pizza Bowl” will be at the AMF bowling center located at 2440 Noblestown Road Pittsburgh, PA 15205. Cost is $11 per student and it’s from 12:00 to 2:00 PM.

December 18th- Christmas Party in Robinson for Students of the South Hills and Robinson’s Campuses.

Starting in January youth group will be meeting in Robinson on Thursdays. Stay tuned for more details. I just want to thank the Lord for this awesome chance to serve him again in youth ministry. Thanks to Scott and Nathan for the support you have given to Robin and myself.

Don’t Give Up!

cpoutlaw — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:27:39 +0000

⁹ So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.- Galatians 6:9 NLT

In ministry, in our jobs, in our marriages, and in life we get to the point where we just want to give up. We tire of doing good. We lose focus and need reminded to press on. I love this verse in Galatians. Through out his writings, Paul tells us that following Jesus will be hard but that we have a great reward at the end of our lives. I needed reminded of this today. I just been bummed but God met me in Scripture and lifted my heart. What I suffer here in this life won’t compare to the joy I’ll have on that great day when I see Jesus face to face. So, Don’t give up! He’s worth it! I know your tired and beat, but he’ll meet you there and will help you up. Just come to him with your hurts. Joy is only found in him.

When Running Is Fighting

cpoutlaw — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:47:28 +0000

²²Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.-2 Timothy 2:22 (NLT)

Temptation comes to us all. We all have those temptations that are so powerful in our lives, if we are not careful, we will give in to them and fall into sin. Therefore, stay away from what or who you know tempts you. And when you find yourself right in the middle of a temptation to sin, Run! Yeah, Run! Get out of the situation! When tempted God will provide a way out. When he does, we need to take it.

¹³The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are ^htempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.- 1 Corinthians 10:13

God has given us weapons to beat temptation such as His Word, Prayer, Worship, and community. But there will be times when temptation is so strong that all he wants us to do is get away. Turn the tv off, get off the computer, or get out of a conversation. Just Run! Look at the Story of Joseph and the Potiphar’s wife:

Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man,⁷and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded.

⁸But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household.⁹No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great ^bsin against God.”¹⁰She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible.¹¹One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work.¹²She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.-Genesis 39:6-10

Like Joseph, we will find ourself in the middle of temptation and we need to respond like he did. He knew sleeping with her was a sin against God, and when the heat got too hot he didn’t debate her about if it right or wrong. He ran. He left with his integrity in tact, even though she would go on to lie about the situation. So, there will be times when running is the best way to fight temptation. And I’ll end with this point: Don’t go through this life without community. We are called to walk this Christian life together. I’m learning this for myself. We stand a better chance against sin when we have a group of people around us loving us and holding us accountable. Ask yourself some tough questions like:

What do I need to Stay away or run from?

Do I have people in my corner helping me fight the good fight of faith?

Remember these words : Run! Run! Run!