Matt had his life under control and everything planned out accordingly. As an athletic high school student, Matt planned to go to college to become a junior high teacher in the sciences and a track coach. It made perfect sense and seemed like a perfect plan. In fact, Matt was awarded a sports scholarship to attend UCLA.

The only problem is that things did not go exactly as he had planned. After losing his scholarship due to a physical injury, Matt next got into body building while in college. He was doing well, but again had to quit because of an injury. He began attending Butte College in Oroville, California.

During this time Matt was involved in a serious car accident. His car was damaged so severely he had to be cut out of it. Because of his injuries Matt began seeing a chiropractor. At that point, his plans of teaching and coaching changed for good. As he began to improve physically, his chiropractor, a 40-year expert in the field and a friend of his grandmother, asked him to help her out. After seeing a wheelchair-bound woman recover to the point where she was hiking at the end of six months, Matt knew he wanted to be a healer. Instead of teaching and coaching, Matt felt called to become a chiropractor.

Matt grew up in the church and attended a parochial school through the eighth grade. Disillusioned with the formality and disconnectedness of the church he attended, Matt and his brother began attending a non-denominational church as teenagers.

Once he entered chiropractic school, however, he got involved in the club scene and fell away from the Lord. One night as he entered yet another club, his vision was suddenly altered. He felt as if he was seeing the epitome of evil as he looked around the club. The feeling hit him like a brick wall. After this happened at the same club more than once, Matt realized that going to clubs and being involved in things associated with clubs was not good for him and was not pleasing to the Lord. Around that time a friend of his invited him to attend a Bible study on campus. He became involved in the Bible study group and got back on track.

As a chiropractor with his own practice, Matt is not hesitant to share his faith. From praise music playing in his office to Christian displays on his desk, he does not hide his faith from anyone, including his patients. When discussing how faith impacts the healing process with his Christian patients, unbelievers have overheard and asked him about faith. In addition Matt knows he is called to change the way people think about their bodies both physically and spiritually. He never pushes his faith on anyone, but also does not shy away from anyone’s question about how they can maximize their healing process.

Matt realizes the chiropractic field includes some doctors who have a different view of life. He encountered many non-Christians at school and met doctors who were into techniques that include energy, chanting, and even levitation. He distanced himself from those doctors and instead associated with those who came from the same viewpoint he held.

Currently Matt is involved in a Bible study with another chiropractor and is actively involved in his church. Matt has many goals when it comes to sharing his faith through his work. First, he wants to build his practice to a point where he is spending the majority of his time with patients and can focus on their physical and spiritual healing. His second goal, which is set in the future and up to God’s timing, is to sell his practice or run it part time so he can pursue medical missions. He would love to travel with those who do medical missions and offer his services without charge.

As praise music is emanating throughout the office and therapy rooms, Matt leans back in his office chair with a smile on his face. The thought of doing the Lord’s work here and abroad gives him a sense of peace and satisfaction not found elsewhere. “I feel like God is making me a warrior for him,” he says.

Matt knows that whatever transpires, he is doing the work God has called him to do. Matt will continue to be faithful as a healer and to rely on the Healer as he shares his faith at work. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
June 15, 2008 - A time saver who knows the soul saver
May 18, 2008 - Working by faith 24/7
April 20, 2008 - Motown, music, and ministry
March 23, 2008 - Be One Sportswear
February 24, 2008 - Fighting for the faith
December 30, 2007 - Parenting faithfully
December 2, 2007 - Building physical and spiritual strength
November 4, 2007 - Taking Christ into the classroom
October 7, 2007 - Changing lives through music
August 12, 2007 - Strategies for business and life
June 17, 2007 - Finding fulfilling work
May 20, 2007 - Faithful to his calling
April 22, 2007 - An unstoppable witness
March 25, 2007 - The perfect plan
February 25, 2007 - Teaching with faith
January 28, 2007 - Changing a community—one event at a time
December 24, 2006 - Business by the book
November 26, 2006 - Growing through life’s storms
October 29, 2006 - Giving God his best