Press

Go to www.nj.com/salem or click on the PRESS tab on the navigation bar. 

I’ve been on the field, pro; I’ve been behind the wall, con. Now I’m back from the grave of failure with iConviction. What is #iConviction? I like to describe it by what Bible teacher Howard Hendricks once said, “A belief is something you will argue about. A conviction is something you will die for!” It seems many people are getting their individual identities from the world around and outside them –the iEconomy (iPhone, iPad, iMac, iMessage, iEverything). This is fickle and fleeting – as opposed to a core conviction within a person, which is valuable and affirming. Since the message we are putting out is usually determined by the conviction we hold within, then perhaps it’s time to get back to an internal and eternal core conviction – where our personal resolve is governed by God, regardless of the world’s pressures that surround us. 

There will always be pressure, and it’s either a friend or a foe depending on how we let it mold us. I feel this pressure as of late, not because I am under it but because it is under me. It moves me forward and motivates me to press on for sure. Against the odds. Against the sways of the world. And even against the ways of my own will.

While I would prefer not to be vocal or visible, God’s grace cannot be contained nor can it be kept hidden. So the pressure pushes my iConviction out, like a volcano that was dormant for years and is now ready to burst forth. That best explains this transition from prison to freedom. Despite my desire to stay under the radar for the sake of being comfortable, I cannot, due to the way this pressure pushes me to accountability. It’s not my beliefs that garner respect from others; it’s my conviction that instigates reflection for others. 

At times it is overwhelming because speaking out promotes acceptance or provokes rejection – the people hate me or they love me. Both responses to “my story” produce pressure, and I must balance both ends of the spectrum in order to remain whole and usable by God.

Almost immediately following my release from prison, I was given a variety of speaking opportunities: I was interviewed on national radio; I sat on a panel at the N.J. Wardens Association for Re-Entry Initiatives; I spoke at a community college, which launched a series of speaking engagements to high school and college-aged youth. I wholeheartedly stepped up to these platforms, knowing they are offered by God’s grace alone. And they created connections with very different audiences. 

Yet, in every situation I encounter, there is still pressure. But here is the key: The more I own my conviction, the more value I bring to any situation. The greater pressure that is within me is the only pressure I want to govern me. “He who is in [me] is greater than he who is in the world.” (I John 4:4

Pressure produces passion as a friend, but this same pressure can produce fear as a foe. I have to make a choice on a daily basis. Fear may be ever present, but courage pushes through the fear and makes passion the driving force.So here we go. Join the #iConviction movement, and together we’ll begin to learn how to own it![Matthew Maher is an author and instigator, as well as a former professional athlete. His “Decisions Determine Destiny” assemblies service youth in the tri-state area. He served four years and seven months in N.J. State prison after pleading guilty in October 2009 to manslaughter and driving while intoxicated. He was released August 2014. His blogs have been read by over 500,000 people in every state, 121 countries, and in 67 different languages. You can learn more at www.themattmaherstory.com]

I rub the scar on my knee, the residue left behind after surgery to repair a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and meniscus, and I am reminded that the tragedy I caused began by misunderstanding pain. Like a serpentine river and its many branches, the scar formed of multiple incisions runs down the center of my kneecap. Six years later, these still-numb lacerations are reminders that pain out of perspective is pain without purpose.After I discovered I had injured my knee in the last professional soccer game I would ever play (though I did not know that at the time), I allowed out-of-perspective pain to leave me without proper perspective. At the time of the injury, I thought, “Woe is me,” which automatically had my future in professional soccer hanging in the balance. I had already weighed my future against the pain and believed I’d never play again. I was right — but not because of my knee injury, but because my out-of-perspective pain led to infinitely greater pain caused by me. I thought I knew pain on March 1, 2009, the day I tore my knee. I would have said I was well acquainted with pain, that I was familiar with pain, that I understood pain. But just six days later, the early morning of March 7, I would learn about real pain.March 6 fell on a Friday (as it did again this year), and I was feeling sorry for myself about my possible career-ending injury. So I hit the Philly bar scene with friends. Drinking away my pain. Hours later, I would feel real pain with the realization that I had ended someone’s life. This pain, which is with me as vividly today as it was at that moment, has taught me about my out-of-balance perspective and the arrogant me. I had missed the major lesson in the minor pain. You see, the initial pain should have humbled me, and I should have limped straight to God with all my pain — physical and emotional. It didn’t have to come to this. Humility can be learned without tragedy. I challenge others to humble themselves before out-of-perspective pain does it for them. Learn from my negative and make it your positive. That’s the challenge within #iConviction.I once again rub the scar on my knee, and I am reminded of all that God has healed in my past. This scar has a story to tell about the purpose of pain and sorrow. Scars may be ugly, but God sees a story. [Matthew Maher is an author and instigator, as well as a former professional athlete. His “Decisions Determine Destiny” assemblies are funded by State Farm and service youth in the tri-state area. He served four years and seven months in N.J. State prison for manslaughter and driving while intoxicated. He was released August 2014. His blogs have been read by over 500,000 people in every state, 121 countries, and in 67 different languages. You can learn more at www.themattmaherstory.com.]