THIS IS IT!

Lets recap for any new reader to the Paper Clip Project.
It all started when my 1994 Ford Explorer blew a head gasket. I was Jobless and car less. But I have a God. I had heard years ago about a guy in Canada that took a paper clip and through trading that paper clip traded to a new house. So i figured I would give it a try.
Just for the record. I did catch ALOT of flack for this idea. But the Paper Clip Project was a way for me to keep my Faith focused. Faith being the substance of things Hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
So i bought a paper clip from Patty my Church's secretary, and went to work. I made my first trade that night! I traded with Doug Anderson for a can of Goofy string. the pace did not slow down. A matter of fact the trades moved faster than i could! I traded the can of Goofy string with Jesse White for a Case XX pocket night. Then that same day, i traded the Case XX pocket night with Shawn Crowe for a Samsung S630 digital camera. Then there was a few day lull. But Tuesday Lemon (yes that is her name) wanted to trade the digital camera for not 1 but 2 Japanese style swords. They were awesome. i wanted to keep them and go back to school to be a Ninja! But the trades did not stop there. I then traded Pastor Jeremiah Johnson the swords for, not 1 but 2 MTX Thunder sub woofers! The trades stopped there.
The trades may have stopped with the sub woofers but my Faith did not. I got a new job. I fixed the 1994 Ford Explorer for pennys on the dollar, $1.49 to be accurate. Then i started fixing up the Explorer. But i never let my Faith down. I kept working the, confessing, sowing seed, and believing God for a better car.
Well the months past. I tried putting the Paper Clip Project on Craig's List. That did not work. Then Tuesday night at church, it happened! I was blessed with a 1995 Ford Bronco! It was not a trade, God gave me a Bronco! I was so excited that i almost mauled Keven Curry. I was so hipped that I almost disturbed praise and worship. But I did not do ether one.
So what does that mean for the Paper Clip Project? Well the Bronco already has the set for a system. The MTX Thunders will look real nice in the back!
I will have pictures of the 1995 Ford Bronco up soon. God is good all the time. I guess my final thought on this is, "Victory is SWEET!"

things are looking up!

Things are indeed looking up! I have a job! That alone is enough to get happy about. But the good news does not end there. My truck is up and running! (to a degree).
I had been praying about getting my truck fixed. i had tried the expensive head gasket repair kits. They did not work. So my truck sat for about 3 month. The i was sitting in the video room at church when God told me how to fix my truck!
Now before i tell you what he said, i must say this. If a person would have told me to try what God said to try i would have politely, passed off the idea. But i know better than with God. I know That when God speaks he is not playing games or voicing His opinion. So i took His words very seriously. A matter of Fact as soon as He said it, I said out loud to thous around me, "God just told me how to fix my truck!" They were all shocked. Not that God spoke to me, but that it took me 3 month to hear him.
Then they, like most of you, were wondering what God said. Well good question, and no better time for me to end the suspense of this blog by telling you. But first let me tell insert this fact. This is the reason that a relationship with God through Jesus is so important. Because you talk to God and talks back, you are able to do things normal people can not do. It empowers you to live a life of greater Faith. Because one word from God will change your life forever!
Okay enough delaying! God told me to use radiator stop leak. It cost about $2.50. The head gasket repair stuff i bought was about 4 times that amount, and i tried it twice. Now i know someone who knows something about cars is saying that would never work! Well i am sure there are lost of time in the Bible when some by stander said that would never work. But it did, because the people doing it heard from God.
Someone else is saying, if it was so easy, then why didn't God tell you sooner? Good question. The answer is simple, I was not listening. I was listening for New Car, not fix truck. The entire reason you are reading this is because i am believing God for a new Car. But i realized i could get my truck fixed and still have my faith for a new a car. It was only about a week from the time i released my Faith over my truck that God spoke to me about it.
This does not mean that i am doing away with the Paper clip project. I am still going full steam with it. It is now on Crags List. Where God is bring exciting results. I will continue to Blog and keep you up dated.
Faith works, If you would like to know more on the subject of Faith i encourage you to check out "Two kinds of Faith" by E.W. Kenyon. He died in the 1940 a very old man. So his work is as far as i am concerned, the definitive work on Faith. All the great Faith teachers of our time learned from Kenyon's ministry.
I still have the 2, 15" MTX Thunder sub woofer, Anyone want to trade?

What is the Paper Clip project?

Some of you may be wondering what is the Paper Clip project. Well let me explain, and get everyone up to speed. I started the Paper Clip project after i was laid off from my job on a Friday, then that Monday my truck broke down. I had just had about 450 dollars of work done on my truck. Which brought the total amount of repairs for 2010 to over 1500 dollars. This was back on May first.
So i was jobless and had no means of transportation, other then Adidas Shell Toe Classics. So i prayed, I really felt God wanted me to do something Extreme by Faith. I remember a story I from severally years ago about a man that traded a paper clip for a home. With a leading from God, a heart full of Faith, and an idea crazy enough to work the Paper Clip project was born. I bought a paper clip for 1 penny, and started Blogging. My first trade came the first day! I traded Doug Anderson the paper clip for a can of Goofy String.
The second Trade came a few days later. I traded the can of Goofy String with Jesse White for a Case XX pocket knife. Trade #3 came that same day i traded the for the knife. I traded the pocket knife with Shawn and Amber Crowe, for a Samsung S630 digital camera.
It took a few days but sure enough trade #4 came. Tuesday Lemon ( yes that is her real name) traded the digital camera for 2 Japanese style swords.
Then the first really long wait came. But just trade #5 came. Pastor Jeremiah Johnson, Trade the swords for 2 MTX Thunder sub woofers! They are sweet!
Trade #5 was the last trade i made. I am waiting for Trade #6. Just as i know the sun will rise, the trade will come. That's the power of Faith. Jesus teaches us that Faith is a servant. And in Hebrews 11, we see men and women inheriting the promises of God by Faith. Paul teaches the we are to follow those who inherit the promises of God by Faith. What are the promises of God?
God promises up health, wealth, peace, mercy, and truth just to name a few! The paper Clip project is rolling along. Tell your friends about it. God is moving, and I know i will have what i desire because i have believed i received when i prayed.
I have 2 MTX Thunder sub woofer, anyone want to trade?

Sum it up, get everyone on the same page!

I started the Paper Clip project about one month ago. The week before i had spent about five hundred dollars to repair my truck. My job laid my off. I could have dealt with not having a job. I had my truck money in the bank, i could find a new job, right? Then my trusty ol' truck did the unthinkable! It broke down again. What was i to do. I didn't have a job, now i didn't have transportation to find a new one!
I can not say what most people would have done at this point. But i started the Paper Clip project. I was determined to apply Faith to my situation, and manifest a new car, all in ever watching eye of the public. It was extreme, but then again my name is Matt Extreme Crowe. So i went a bought a paper clip for i cent.
Things happened Fast. I quickly traded with Doug Anderson. He traded me a new can of Goofy String for the paper clip. I wonder what he did with the paper clip? I would like to think he kept it. Possibly he put it in a nice frame, over his mantle. To tell his grandchildren one day, his part in the Paper Clip project. probably not.
Any ways. My next 2 trades happened real quick. I traded the can of Goofy String with Jesse White for a Case XX pocket knife. Then i traded the Case XX pocket knife with Shawn and Amber Crowe, for a Samsung S630 digital camera.
The next trade took a little time. But not that long. Tuesday Lemon, (Yes that is her real name!) wife of world famous RVN Band drummer Eric Lemon, wanted the digital camera. So she traded the digital camera for not one but two Japanese style swords! They were awesome! i kinda wanted to trade with my self so i could keep them, but i didn't have anything i would want for the swords. Oh well.
That brings us to date. My final trade with Pastor Jeremiah Johnson! The world famous bass player from the RVN Band, and world renown evangelist. I traded the Japanese style swords for two 15" MTX Thunder sub woofers! These subs are awesome! These I would trade my self for, but i don't have anything of equal or greater value!
Well that wraps up the summery of the Paper Clip project. I have two 15" MTX Thunder sub woofer, anyone want to trade?

The Longest Trade! Trade #5

Glory to God i have recently traded the Japanese Style Sword! This trade how ever was a long trade! This is how it went down!

I traded with Pastor Jeremiah Johnson, (yeah like the Robert Redford Movie!). Many of you know Pastor Jeremiah as the bass player from the RVN Band! For you who are really in the know, will remimber my last trade with Tuesday Lemon (yes that is her real name). Tuesday's husban Eric Lemon is the drumer in the RVN Band. This is far from my first celeberty trade i just didnt pump up the fame of my last trade! Lets get back on track!

Pastor Jeremiah, even though not on Facebook, is a great friend of mine. Being a close friend he has knowlege of the Paper Clip project. He also knows that Tuesday and Eric traded with me. Pastor Jeremiah wanted to make a trade with with, and really bless me at the same time! So on thursday after we were finished volenteering at the Grace Place Fellowship Kitchen, he purposed a trade. He wanted to trade the swords for, not one but two, 15" MTX Thunder 4500 seires subwoofer! I did some quick price checking on line, and found out the value of the suds. I told Pastor Jeremiah, that there was a major price differnce between the swords and the subs. He didnt mind. He was blessed with the subs, and really didnt have the time to hook up a booming system in his car. Also i dont know if that idea was blessing his wife.

So we had a deal. One problem, the swords were home! I dont have a car so running and getting the swords was out of the question. The trade would have to wait till the next day. The next day came. Pastor Jeremiah was buisy evangelizing, and i was buisy job hunting. No trade on friday. Saturday the RVN Band had a concert out of state. they would not be back on town till late Sunday night. So the trade would be put off till monday.

So monday came as it does. I started a new job on monday (dont get too excited it is at a "sub shop" getting payed minum wage. But its a job). Tuesday came, (NOT Tuesday Lemon) as it does. Pastor Jeremiah had to coach his sons last soccer game of the season. We agreed to trade tuesday night after church. Church was awesome tuesday night by the way. I mean really great. After service ended Pastor Jeremiah got called to the hospitality room. He was buisy once again.

At this point it would have been easy for me to let my self get discouraged. But i didn't. To make a long story short. (too late.) Pastor Jeremiah and I traded last night. Jon was there with camera ready, or iPhone ready. It was a long trade procese but a great trade non the less. I have, not one but two, 15" MTX Thunders 4500 seires subwoofers, any one want to trade?

The moment of Truth.

I think at some point everyone, who is truly seeking God, comes to the place where they realize that it is not about me. The Paper Clip project was never really my project, i turned it over to God in the very beginning. But now it really has nothing to do with me getting a car. Now its about a missionary being equipped to deal with the mission fields. Its about the needs placed on the gift that God has put with-in a man. The truth is that yeah i will get a car if i get this lap-top. One quick fact-the lap top will be worth more than a Chevy Astro van! i checked it out already. So its at this point, the moment of truth, am i faced with a fact that i don't like. i really wanted a new CAR not an old VAN. The truth is i care more about what God wants. Jon is giving up 10 month of his life to serve God in the Marshall Islands. I am giving up the Paper Clip Project to equip him for the Islands. I have a major trade coming up to marrow. A BIG trade. I am not going to say what it is right now.
This project is greater then me. It has been taken over. lets all work together to send missionary Jon out into the mission field equipped and ready to serve! For I believe that this is the will of God.

A turn.

My good friend, Jon, is going on a mission trip! He will be teaching school in the Marshall Islands. The Marshal Islands are located in the south Pacific. They are extremely poor and over crowded. The Island Jon will be teaching and living on is called Ebeye. Ebeye is known as the slum of the Pacific. After WWII the US Government did A LOT of nuclear weapons testing in the Marshal Islands. The government not wanting to nuke the natives moved entire islands to Ebeye causing to be one the most densely populated places in the world. To this day many of the inhabitant of the Islands are suffering from radiation poisoning. (Don't get nervous, i am not asking for never had never will!) I want everyone to know where Jon is going and what he is getting into for the service of Jesus.

Some of you may want to know what this has to do with the Paper Clip Project. Well Jon needs a lap top, in the islands. He told me he would trade me his car for a lap top. Just to keep the record straight, His car is NOT all that! It is a 1994 Astro van. Not what i had in mind at the start of this project. To be honest i did not even want to consider this trade(sorry Jon just keeping it real). But God really showed me that Jon's need I could supply with the Paper Clip Project. And in the process of me Helping take care of Jon's need, mine would be supplied. You that have been reading my blog know that i have mention Jon a couple of times. he drove me to trade the silly string for the knife then the knife for the camera. Then he took the picture of the camera for the swords trade. Jon is a great friend, and i will miss him in the Islands. I am willing changing the premise of the Paper Clip Project to help Jon. Hey Jon i got much luv for ya broski! I have a pair of Japanese style swords, looking to trade for a lap top, or something that will help me get a lap top. Anyone want to trade?