My Story

My name is Ryan Mathews. I was born on August 1^st 1989 in Orlando, Florida. I have an older brother and I grew up living with both my parents. My family always went to church growing up and I have always considered myself a Christian from a very young age. I would say the first time I felt myself really come to the Lord was at around age 7 or 8 at a church a camp. I grew up involved in the church and youth group. In high school I was involved in FCA and even on board with them.

The thing is I grew up so involved in the church and ministry but lived a life so radically far from what I said I believed. I grew up living for the attention of others and only to please myself, willing to do or try just about anything. I looked for most of my attention growing up from girls and playing baseball but it didn’t stop there. By the time I was 14 I had started drinking and smoking weed. The worst part was it never really even bothered me that I said I was a Christian and lived this radically different life.

Towards the end of high school I had realized baseball was my passion and that drugs and alcohol didn’t really mix in with that so now my main focus was simply baseball. My dad had made a deal with me when that if I was able to get a scholarship to go play baseball that he would allow me to get whatever car I wanted with the money he had set aside for me for college. I ended up getting a scholarship to my dream school at the time, which was the University of Florida. So here I was headed off to my dream school with my dream car for my freshman year of college.

But I still felt like something wasn’t right with my life but I didn’t know what. I thought maybe it was a girl in my life that I was missing. So after arriving at UF, I went out and started dating the prettiest girl I could find in hopes that it would fulfill this need I had in my heart. I ended up losing my virginity to this girl and that was something that really opened my eyes. My virginity was the last thing that I was holding onto that I felt still made me a Christian in my eyes so when I lost that it made me start to question a lot of things.

It was at this point in my life where I realized that I had everything that the world says will make you happy. I had success, I had materials possessions, I had a serious relationship, but I still had a huge longing for something more and something better. But how?? I was at the point in my life where I was most successful in the world’s eyes to where I realized I was completely empty inside.

I knew that it had to be God so I prayed and asked God to help me get out of the relationship I was in and to help me be a better person. This was during my sophomore year of college and definitely the beginning of the turn around in my life to where God changed me.

After I got out of the relationship though I really struggled and had a hard time. I knew that I shouldn’t sin and really just tried to live a life to not sin and do bad things. I still went to church and ministry events but I simply didn’t know anything other than living a life to not sin.

This attempt to live a life simply not to sin went on for a while and was a very difficult stage of my life. I ended up getting to NC State my junior year of college and with a fresh start I wanted to start off on the right foot. So I got involved in an Athletes in Action bible study and started attending weekly meetings for AIA. The bible study was on God’s love and it wasn’t until I started to learn about God’s love to where my life really started to change. How could God love me so much with all that I’ve done in my life and all the times I’ve repeatedly let Him down? I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the concept that this was even possible at this point in my life. I had claimed to be a Christian for so long and lived a life so hypocritically different, how and why could God still love me? Honestly I didn’t really think He did.

Towards the end of my junior year at NC State our leader for AIA kept asking me to go on a summer mission trip to play baseball and learn more about Jesus. I honestly didn’t want to go at all because I thought how fun could a full summer with all Christians be? I really thought Christians were kind of lame, the ones who lived all out for the Lord at least. I kept making up excuses and telling him I couldn’t go but his persistence wore on me. He was like just apply for it online at least. At this point the team had already been picked so I figured why not apply and get him off my back.  Well I applied and you wouldn’t believe what happened. I get a call two days later from the head coach saying, we had an outfielder call us and tell us he can no longer come this summer the same day that you applied. Wow, ok so clearly God wants me to go on this thing, so I raised the support and headed off to California and Alaska for the whole summer.

I honestly cannot describe to you how much my life was radically changed this summer in Alaska. I really had never read the bible before in my life before this. I not only started to read the bible but was able to learn what it means to live life as a Christian man and what it means to be a follower of Christ. I learned not only about God’s love but that it was actually real! I found out that despite all the things I had done in my life that Jesus had already paid the penalty for them! Wow! 

I learned about pursuing a life of PURITY for the sake of Jesus. I learned about not only what type of woman I want to marry but most importantly what type of man I want to be for the sake of Christ for the rest of my life.

At the end of the summer I was baptized in a river by my head coach in Alaska on my 21^st birthday. To say my life has never been the same would be a complete understatement. I still experience pain and short comings, I still fall so short of our great God but He has called me into His glorious light through an intimate relationship with Jesus.