Beautiful Feet

There are two words that all runners never want to hear: Stress Fracture.

Unfortunately, this happened to be the case for me.

I had just come off of a career best indoor season, primed for a great outdoor season- had a few good early tune-ups just in time before Texas Relays and Big XII's. Seemed like a new 5k PR was in my sights at last after a hard few months of training.

But the Lord had a different plan for me: a small little fracture in my right foot. 

Instead of the track or the open roads, my world consisted of doctors offices and swimming pools.

The last two months of my life have been definitely out of sync, no running, occasional cross training or pool workouts, but without running, things have seemed out of rhythm.

I've had a lot of free time while I've been out of commission, and it's been a time to reflect and ask God some tough questions. I was driving home a friend from school one day and she told me, "Matt, you have worked so hard to get where you are, I don't understand why God would allow you to get injured."

That was a question I struggled with a lot.

It's hard to watch on the sidelines, its hard going to rehabs and X-rays, when your teammates are out giving it their all on the track. You want to be with them, you want to have that feeling of satisfaction, the one you get when you have run your hardest, and know their is nothing you could have done to make your race any better. Every runner wants and strives for this feeling. And when that opportunity is stripped from you, its hard.

However, I have had an incredible peace about the whole process. The doctors said it was okay to be angry, it was ok to be frustrated. But I wasn't… at all.

I've realized something that has completely changed my perspective on injury:
If my goal is to glorify Christ with running, then why would I be discouraged with an injury? I can use an injury to glorify Christ with my attitude. I can use an injury to open up great conversations with people to tell them about the peace that the Lord has given me!

Romans 10:15 says, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

With this perspective, everything has changed. The glass is half full for me.
My "broken" foot, has now become a "beautiful foot," because I can use it to make Christ's name more known!

Life is hard, there is no doubt. Look around us- West Explosions, Boston Marathon Bombings… just 5 minutes of watching the news will clear any doubt that life is hard. But let me tell you, yes life is hard, but Christ is the only way we can get through our trials and struggles in life. And my words mean nothing, Christ is the only one who can truly change our hearts.

My prayer is that we all can find peace and satisfaction through Christ, no matter what comes our way.

my hero, Eric Liddell, in Chariots of Fire said it best,

"Who am I to say, "believe," "have faith," in the face of life's realities? I would like to give you something more permanent, but I can only point the way. I have no formula for winning the race. Everyone runs in his or her own way. And where does the power come from to see the race to its end? From within,

Jesus said, "Behold, the kingdom of God is within you. If with all your hearts you truly seek Me, then you shall ever surely find Me."  
If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, than THAT is how you run the straight race!

An Exploration of Love Pt. 1

Now-days it is an unsaid, unspoken, unheard of subject; yet we feel it so much running through our veins- it makes us want to yell from the tops of mountains, echoing for all the world to hear. It shines through our windows, reflecting a greater light than we ever imagined. It jumps over walls, opens every lock, crumbles everything in sight, shatters our atmosphere, brilliantly sounding out through both the night and day...

But we hear it everyday.. misused, mistreated, abused, forsaken, broken, let down

What is this subject I speak of?

LOVE

There I said it.

I often think about this term, and the many implications behind it. It as almost too commonplace, we use the word too loosely. We hear, "I love you" left and right, through the media, music, friends, whatever it is...we hear the word way too much. This is a word I wonder and wonder and wonder about, what does it mean?

You see, I am obsessed with the concept of love. Not a day goes by when I'm not thinking about it. I question who I am going to marry, what will she look like, what will our love be like; better yet, will I ever fall in love? Many days have gone where I have pondered these very questions. But it was until I took a step back and wondered a different question that my other questions made more sense to me.

Where does love come from?

I truly believe with all my heart loves comes from God. Why, you ask, does love come from Him? This love comes from one central fact:

GOD IS LOVE

The truth comes through 1st John 4:7-11 which says:

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

Christ calls us his beloved... We are loved by Him!!! We are constantly being loved by someone!!!!

But before we love a human the way the Creator of love desires us to, we must learn how to love the way that Christ's loves us. What does that entail? A relationship with Him!

For Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

These thoughts struck me, I realized I had been looking for love all in the wrong places. Often I get trapped into thinking, "this relationship is what I need, I need a girlfriend," or if "I just could get this one girl to like me everything would change."

But in reality, all I need is Christ, for His love is constant, and never goes away: all I need to do is let Him pick me up in His arms and say, "You are mine child, I love you for who you are"

"He must become greater, I must become less," -John 3:30

Matt Galvin

Encouragement In Troubled Times

Friends,

Today just seemed like no other, the sun was out, the air was crisp- it was perfect. Even as I gaze out of my window, the sunlight streams in, reminding me of how awesome our Creator is. It also makes me think of Daniel, he always sat by his window and prayed towards the east, I wonder, did he see this same amazing sunlight streaming through his bedroom?

Due to recent happenings, I have had a great opportunity to reflect on our blessings and truly how precious life is. It's not until we are tested and thrown upon the high storms of our life that we look up to the sky and search for answers and seek out His truth. These trials test ones foundation, for it is only through faith in the Lord we can endure these trials.

Matthew 7:24-27 says,

"Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like the wise man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded upon the rock."

As the Lord gives and takes away as Matt Redman sings, I hope that we can use the life of Alan Cole to inspire us to remember that our life here on earth is not temporary, for our time here is short lived compared to the vast time spent in our true home: heaven.

Psalm 39:4-5 "O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!

Lastly, I loved how Wes read Isaiah 41:10. This was the first verse I memorized as a kid and has constantly been a reminder to me in my messed up, screwed up life that He is there. "Do not fear for I am with you, do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Kingdom Living,

Matt

Sanctification Through Humility

Friends,

"Its not the end that glorifies God, its the process." - Oswald Chambers

Man needs to keep vision on God's eternal focus rather than their own desires or what they think is the "right path" More and more in my own life I am learning this process of sanctification- Chambers puts it best when he refers sanctification to the "being crucified with Christ"

"For I have been crucified with Christ- it is no longer I who lives but Christ who loves me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20

Most of the time I aim to do things the "hard way" making ends meet, getting the job done--everything in my own way. Unfortunately thats not the way God wants it to be. Being crucified in Christ means that I need to sacrifice my ways and let God take over, let His plan reign over my life, let Him mold me more and more into the man of Christ that I need to be. Otherwise, I'll be stuck in a rut trying to figure things out on my own without Christ's eternal focus that He shows us when we follow Him. Last weekend, I truly learned this lesson during the Iron Sharpens Iron Retreat that I had planned- everything I had planned turned out to go differently. Christ taught me that in order for His way to work, you must lay down what you have and run to Him!

"For He must become greater, I must become less." John 3:30

Let us continue to lay ourselves down for His glory,

Matt

Humility Through Our Successes

How great is a PR!

For everyone who doesn't understand the running lingo, PR means personal record. Eight laps around the track may seem like the worst 8-15 minutes of a man's life; however I can certainly say a PR is one of the most rewarding things in a runner's career. A person may go home elated, perhaps for the next couple of days, and man what a great feeling it is.

However a question struck me after trying to recover after my race that wait: How did I finish that race, I was dying after the first mile! Indeed if you had watched me run, you could of seen it in my face that I had nothing left.

Some of my initial answers included maybe that it was my training, the way I slept, the way I ate, and simple details that worked well. But truly looking back, none of that influenced my race. My true strength came from the Lord, the One who gave me the legs to run as well as the energy and endurance to finish the race. For each step I take further in athletics, I must take a step further in my humility to acknowledge Christ's presence and support in my life. I am astounded everyday in my training when I have no more gas in the tank and Christ pulls me through, however I still am not giving Him the credit that He deserves. And no there is no splitting credit with God 50/50, every single bit of it belongs to Him, the rightful owner. "For He must Become greater, I must become less," John 3:30 says. If we truly hold to this mindset, every action that we do in life must glorify God, our Alpha and Omega.

Keep this humble mindset in mind as I will this week friends,

Matt

If You Shall Take a Step..

"You of little faith, why did you doubt?" Matthew 14:31

Jesus charges these words to the passionate disciple Peter when Peter tries to walk on water. The issue lies not with Peter's physical capibility to walk on the water because Jesus had already given him the ability, this deals Peter's faith in that Jesus would carry him through and allow him to walk.

As men we are charged with from the Lord to "walk on water" or to do the things that the Lord wants us to do, yet we fall in this category because we are scared of the outcome. We are scared of the danger of "drowing" or failing, or getting laughed at by others. We often don't stand up and truly walk because sometimes our faith in Christ is lacking and we don't truly believe he will bring us through to the end.

Or are we just too comfortable on the boat? Are we too comfortable with our own surroundings? Many times I find myself enjoying things that have no eternal value and have nothing to do with the advancement of Christ. I constantly need to be "realigned" (as Oswald Chambers put it," or put back into the footing of a fully devoted Christ follower.

"Matthew 14:27: "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."
In Gladiator, do we ever see Maximus wimp out and run to the corner and hide from the lions?No we see him courageously in battle standing up for what he believes in, slaying anything that comes near him. Christ calls us to be warriors on the field of battle, so stand up and fight for the truth that has set us free, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And when the stormy waters come around, don't be afraid to get out of the boat and walk on the water, for in Him all things are possible. (phil 4:13)

Lets walk on water courageously friends!

Encouragement

The title says it all. 

This verse really struck me one night and reenergized my ever so lukewarm faith. Lukewarm faith as you know, does not fly with the Lord and he says in Revelation 3 :16 that He will spit you out of his mouth if you are lukewarm.  

So how did I get out of the lukewarm mess?  Well, late on a Friday night, I took the time to settle myself down and spend some time with God. Right there during that short period of time, I felt as if I was pouring refreshing water down my body in a Saharan Desert. The Lord truly reenergized me when I turned the page to Proverbs 23:19-28, which says, 

"Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path. Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor,  and drowsiness clothes them in rags. Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding. The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him May your father and mother be glad; may she who gave you birth rejoice! My son, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways, for a prostitute is a deep pit and a wayward wife is a narrow well. Like a bandit she lies in wait, and multiplies the unfaithful among men."

The Lord's commands were clear;

1) Keep your heart pure

2) Keep away from drunkeness

3) Listen to your father and mother

4) Hold onto truth

5) Gain wisdom, knowledge and understanding

6) Give the Lord your heart

7) Stay away from lust

When spending time with the Lord, doesn't that list become accomplished? With the Lord, I felt a sense of satisfaction. Instead of drinking and giving my heart away to girls, I was spending time with the Creator who loves me wholeheartedly. I cant think of any better picture of love than that.  

Sincerely,

Matt