You Are Not Defeated

Rejoice! God is real and He speaks clearly through Fr. Jack, his cousin, and our tears…many tears.

Watch Father’s beautiful reflection from a few Sundays past:

http://at.bc.edu/laetare/

Peace always,

Tim

Love in a Hopeless Place

I was blessed to have spent a large portion of this past weekend on retreat with 90 curious, caring and Catholic students from Boston University (yes, Boston University…). Despite their college of choice, I was inspired and in awe of their hunger for faith, their openness to instruction and their receptivity of God and His message. It brought pure joy to my heart to see students on their knees in front of the Blessed Sacrament, students sharing a shoulder for a crying friend, students attentively listening to guest speakers and students taking great risks to be vulnerable enough to maybe let God in. That God was present among us was clear, in my eyes, in my ears and in my heart.

The theme for the retreat was “Grounded: Christ is our Rock.” For some reason, I was deemed worthy to speak and share my experiences for a portion of the Saturday night section of the retreat. My challenge was to address the role of prayer in grounding one’s life in the unshakable foundation of Jesus Christ. I was to teach and share on the purpose, practice and progression of prayer, through its unique and varying stages. In keeping with this very appropriate and significant theme, I placed at the center of my talk the need for prayer to exist simply because God exists. There is a tremendous desire in prayer, and a common tendency, to think that we pray for our own benefit, or even for God’s benefit. Though the rewards of our prayer are great, they are not the foundation, the foundation of prayer is the worthiness of God that warrants our prayers. He is who is, unchanging and eternal, and therefore, someone in whom we can and must place our heaviest anchor.

This blog has shown in the past that life, noticed mainly in running, is full of consolation and desolation. Every day presents new opportunities for success and better opportunities for failure, but in each of them exists another great opportunity – to hold on to the Cross with confidence that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us. As I spent the night in conversation with these students, listening to their lives and sharing mine, it was apparent that we each struggle uniquely, but we find solace in common. We learned that we are not alone in our fears, troubles, joys and experiences. Rather, we stand with each other as friends, because we stand on the same holy grounding. The conviction of my friend is a pillar of my own. It is my friend who helps me to bear my cross because he is an agent of The Cross Bearer, whether he knows it or not. Together, through good friends and hard prayers, we started to see at the retreat what has been there all along – the person of Jesus Christ, sometimes scared, sometimes sorrowful, always healing, always praying, the Crucified, but the Risen!

Though we rejoiced over our friends and our God, the retreat was not all easy. The difficulty is in recognizing that the greater challenge, in grounding ourselves in Christ, is not the attachment to our God, but much more so the abandonment of ourselves. As the students shared their stories of transition, lost identity, daily struggles, sin, pride, and slowly launched these testimonies as waves upon rock, to watch them crash into mere droplets, they noticed a similar erosion event occurring.  As we offered up ourselves, in our strengths and weakness, God offered Himself even more fully to us. As our attachments shattered on the Rock of Christ, in return did His grace begin to shatter the rock of our own hearts, revealing beneath it, a fleshy, living and holy Heart.

The retreat was a wonderful example of the power of prayer and the support of friends. Over the weekend we all became a little more aware of God’s goodness and His relentless longing to love His created children. These students, as they danced to Rihanna in the middle of life’s challenges, truly found love in a hopeless place! (by which I can only assume they meant BU…)

Let us offer our hearts to the Lord, so we may be free enough to receive His!

Peace!

TIM

Athletes’ “Ambition”

I just had the great fortune to travel to Tampa, Fl to be with Intervarsity, a national organization dedicated to creating and caring for Christian witness groups on college campuses. (A very big ‘Thanks!’ to Intervarsity for sponsoring my trip: Jesus loves these guys, and they truly love Him for it!). In Tampa, they were hosting a conference dealing with the planting of new chapters of their group on new campuses. A significant and exciting portion of this dealt specifically with reaching out to athletes. There is something very special stirring in the athlete community nationwide, and it was a thrill to be among those envisioning and praying for its initiation and flourishing.

Our athlete faith group at Boston College, Ignite, was born from the desire of the student-athlete for space and company through which to seek out and find God, hard at work in their daily lives. This desire is burning across the country in the hearts of many athletes, and Ignite and Intervarsity stand at the starting line ready to stoke the flames. So often the life of the athlete is driven by false desires and misrepresented identity. Athletes everywhere are realizing that they are first and foremost, children of a loving God, and it is this identity that forms and informs everything else. At Ignite and IV, we want to help draw this notion to the surface, to brush away the dust of pressure and performance to reveal a love buried beneath.

At Ignite, we have been truly blessed by the commitment, work and prayers of the members of this group. Together we have sifted through the multitude of everyday obstacles the athlete finds in his path to faith, among them: doubt, fear, injury, loss and expectation. What survived our holy gold panning were themes such as gratitude, joy, humility, service and sacrifice. This weekly exercise of examination, reflection, prayer and conversation has truly been a vigorous workout. We have been training new parts of ourselves – our hearts, our souls and our minds! With the dedication and determination of athletes, and by the grace of God, we are becoming whole.

Now, seeing this conversion happening nationwide, I am filled with both excitement and humility. The task at hand is no simple one. It has been a rewarding, but a trying path. Along the way, we must face some of our own weaknesses, insecurities and fears. Yet, knowing we do not stand alone, but with hundreds of other athletes, and with our God and His Son, we can surely “do all things, through Him who strengthens us!”

The Workout: Please pray for athletes everywhere, that their talents, gifts and work ethic may be first used to build the kingdom and to glorify God in their athletic pursuits.

Continued peace,

TIM

Recommended Readings

Don’t forget to check the Recommended Readings section on the tab-line.

Some good stuff over there! Blogs and books, etc…

O Come Ye To Bethlehem

Always the journey motif has been recurring in my search for God. Perhaps it is the running mentality that renders this imagery appropriate – moving forward to a finish line, a goal, an end of some sort, but recognizing the significance of the journey itself for formation, growth and development. The Advent season fits in well with the theme of a journey – a patient, enduring waiting for the coming of the Lord. Yet, not simply a passive waiting, but a journeying out to greet Him as He comes. Likewise we follow Mary and the Holy Family preparing for the birth of Christ – their wandering, their search, their traveling and all the tiredness, anxiety and fear that comes with it. Advent becomes then a great representation of our own faith journeys. We hear the instructions from above, say ‘yes,’ and place our trust in God, our Star, to guide us and provide for us on the way.

This year, my sister and I decided to journey with Mary to Bethlehem. Our Bethlehem was St. George’s Church, a two-mile walk away from our home in Worcester. Each early morning of the last week of Advent we would rise (usually tired and weak from a late night) to bundle up for the trek to the nativity scene in our church sanctuary. We would attend mass, try to pay close attention to the gospel and place ourselves within the story. Then we would continue our journey home to do it again tomorrow. The week concluded with a final walk to the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve where after a week of waiting we could at last see Jesus placed in the manger – an end to our longing (and our 4 mile frozen walks)!

Christmas so easily becomes a holiday unto itself, as if it exists with or without the Advent journey. My sister and I knew that ultimately we were walking to Christmas, but what we did not realize at the start was that the walk itself was the Christmas joy we were seeking. What at first was physical labor and mental commitment, became spiritual fitness and holy freedom. On the walks we spoke of friends, family, God and His unique place in our lives. Mile by mile the hills became less challenging and our troubles less burdensome. As opposed to growing tired and weary on the daily trek to the manger, we became energized and awake, more apt and ready to seek God and prepare to welcome His return. The pilgrimage itself is what we pilgrims were indeed looking for.

This was a unique experience for the two of us – to literally walk towards Christ. We were no longer able to simply sit and wait, but felt that we had a responsibility to act and to move. Advent was our chance to do something active to increase our understanding of the reality of Christmas Day. It gave us an end to strive for, a mission to complete and a journey to undertake. We learned what it felt like to hunger for the Eucharist, what it felt like to find rest in the pews, and what it was seek God with both soul and body. Ultimately, however, we learned that our journey is not over. Christmas has come and the world rejoices. Christmas has come and my sister and I were able to get a ride home from midnight mass for the first time that week. Christmas has come and Christ with it, the realization of things hoped for. Yet, the journey is not over. Advent teaches us to be pilgrims. Christmas rewards our pilgrimage, but not in completion. Rather, Christmas gives us Him with whom we must now journey. The journey is not over – it has begun anew with Christ.

A Blessed Christmas season to all! See you out on the road…

TIM

Another Reservoir Reflection

God has once again broken into the daze of my self-centered daily life and revealed Himself in the beauty of another sunset. This Monday I was jogging around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir with my 7th grade buddy Chris. Chris, being a young teenager, thinks that everything which I say is cool is actually dumb and boring, and all the things I do not understand (video games, lacrosse, etc) are actually what are cool. Most of our running conversations revolve around some topic of this sort, arguing over who is more ‘chill,’ and listening to him make fun of all my pursuits, athletic and otherwise. It is a good time.

I sensed on the bike ride to his house that we were in store for something special as hints of pink began to streak the sky. We jogged over to the Res as the sunset rolled in and as soon as I hit the dirt trail, I went off. “Chris! Look at this!” “Truly God is great!” “Look at those towers on the Heights, wow!” A string of exclamations flowed as the sky was absolutely on fire with the oranges, purples and reds of God’s creative power. The reflection on the water locked the two of us in a new world, filled with colors that left me spinning between moments of speechlessness and over the top verbal expressions of this real beauty. We were transported from the Res and embraced in the love of God, floating along on the run.

Chris this whole time was responding with sarcastic “cool, Tim”s and “yeah, the Heights, bro”s. I knew, however, that this was undeniable proof of God’s existence, presence, creativity and love. Sooner or later this had to hit Chris. We ran along in silence for a few minutes. Rounding the bend to a perfect view of the sun setting behind the architecture of the campus and it happened.

“Alright, that is pretty sick.”

One Year Out

I have been about a year now on the new road that is post-collegiate running. Beginning year number two has led me to spend some time reflecting on what I have learned and experienced over the past year. This transition is not an easy one as you lose the routine, the teammates and the structure of the collegiate world of running that has been your home for the past four or five years. Often it is during these transition periods of life that we seek the string that ties them all together; some element of consistency so we are not left floating alone and away. There have been many insights as part of this looking back on the year, but I will share three that stuck out to me and could perhaps serve as a guide to others in a similar phase.

1. Run Prayerfully!: It is no surprise here that the title of the blog is the thickest chord tying together the pieces of my running life. It was important for me not to lose sight of the foundation of my love for this sport. I can definitely see the temptation to become results orientated in the immediate aftermath of leaving the collegiate running scene. We want concrete evidence that ‘we will be o.k.,’ that we are still fast, that this whole thing is not going to be as hard as we thought. But, the reality is that sometimes we will get the results we seek, and sometimes we won’t, but when we seek God in running, we always get the gold. Rooting my running in prayer has created a patient consistency to my training that is matched in the patient search for God. Prayer creates perspective and allows me to keep my eye on the larger picture as the smaller details continue to shift. Not to mention, Jesus is a pretty good conversation partner as I end up doing the majority of my training solo. It is nice to have some company in Him!

2. Run Gratefully!: Never losing sight that running is a great gift is vital for grounding. I am aware that this ability to run and any success I achieve is only possible because God has provided me with the opportunity to do so. Recognizing I am fortunate keeps the fire of motivation lit, and allows me to be focused and appreciative of every run, the good ones and the tough ones. Whenever I hit a rut over the past year, I thought of what it would be like to not be able to get up and run everyday. Even if these ruts lasted many days, where it was hard to drag myself out of bed and hit the trails, I knew beneath it all I would rather run than not, any day of the week. Gratitude helps me to take the good with the bad and the bad with the good. I hold myself to a high standard and expect success, but if it doesn’t come, I look to learn, move on and to recognize the gift of failure as well.

3. Run Humbly!: In keeping with the two insights above, humility is the third key piece of creating a flexibility necessary for a person in transition. Change creates the potential for many things to go differently than expected; injuries, sickness, weather, apathy, success and failure. In following the example of Jesus, we learn what humility really means, beneath the modern connotation. For Christ, humility was the emptying of Himself to be ready to receive and do the will of the Father. In a position of power and advantage, He did not grasp at it, but rather poured Himself out and in humble obedience accepted death on a cross. It is this desire to go ever lower that truly frees us to rise ever higher. In the descent of ourselves is the ascent made possible in God’s love. I know I am not in control of most things and on the surface this sounds like slavery, but Christ has proven in His death and resurrection, that true freedom lies in the giving of our lives over to the Father, so that we can truly become His. Thy will be done!

These three elements, prayer, gratitude and humility are tough. They require as much and more training that the running itself. Even Jesus had to constantly pray and practice these virtues. Let it be that running will allow us the opportunity to be prayerful, grateful and humble, and by doing so, allow us to run free.

Please see this transition phase as a significant one for me, but I suppose this experience is recreated in any of life’s major transitions, athletic or otherwise.

PEACE!

Tim