Mat Carriers
Last week I wrote about the 32-mile race my brothers and I were going to attempt. Race day revealed a lot.
The race pushed all of us mentally and physically, and each of us had different battles to fight along the way. We all finished, which was the goal, and my brothers ran great. I, however, found myself battling major cramps from electrolyte issues, likely still a residual effect of being sick a week and a half before the race. At mile 13 I hit the wall I had not expected to hit until mile 22 or beyond. Knowing I had 18 miles left was a tough thing to think about. By the end, I had gone down to the ground several times from the cramps, my legs pulsating and quivering on their own without any effort from me.
This is where the mat carriers came in.
I go into more depth on this in the biblical perspective below, but in short: there were men in Scripture who carried a paralyzed man on the mat he was bound to, brought him to Jesus, and because of their faith he was not only healed but forgiven of his sins. I will get there. But first I want to say plainly that I truly believe I would have given up that day without my own mat carriers showing up.
My brothers, mom, wife, kids, sisters-in-law, mother-in-law, and father-in-law all came out. Two friends were texting my wife for updates throughout the race and eventually drove out themselves, walking with me through two different laps toward the end. The women in the family ran our aid station. And a good number of them walked with me up that last hill.
I try not to lean too heavily on personal stories in these posts, but the original vision for Anchor Point is to leave a library of my biggest life lessons for my kids. They were there that day. They probably saw something that looked pretty scary. Painful cramps, pale face and dark around my eyes…. So one day they might read this and understand a little more about what they witnessed.
The race was a test, mentally and physically. I know a race might seem trivial compared to life's biggest battles, but it was the moment in my life when the concept of mat carriers became most real to me.
Several things were revealed in those hours.
In the middle of it all, I became emotional. I kept thinking, how could I possibly deserve this kind of support? I felt overwhelmed with gratitude and genuinely unworthy of the people around me. The quote that kept coming to mind was the African proverb: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." There is something remarkable that happens when humans come together around a shared purpose. Brotherhoods forged in the military, families that hold each other through the hardest seasons, teams that persevere together toward something bigger than any one of them. We have an extraordinary relational capacity that allows us to get through things we could never survive alone and build things we could never imagine on our own.
The race also confronted something I have struggled with for a long time: pride. For as long as I can remember, my instinct has been to fight my battles alone, to isolate, to snap at people who try to help, to be too proud to be coached or supported or honest about where I am struggling. This is a common trap, and it is a destructive one. There is a reason the saying goes that isolation is the enemy's playground. It is in isolation that he does his most effective work: to kill, steal, and destroy. See John 10:10.
That day, the circumstances stripped away my ability to say "I got this." And what I got instead was the ability to say "we did this." I will be honest: there were moments where I heard whispers telling me to refuse the help, to push people away, to gut it out alone. I am glad I did not listen.
Which brings me to the real question. How did I end up surrounded by mat carriers? How do you find people in your life who will show up like that?
I am not sure I have a complete answer, but when I looked around at the people who were there that day, a few things stood out.
Every one of them was a person of high character. Some I was born connected to, but those outside the family I had chosen deliberately through work or friendship. The people around you matter more than most of us act like they do. You tend to become who you spend time with, so choose carefully, not just whoever is available or easy.
I have been through hard things with every single one of them. Tough conversations, difficult seasons, long nights, real conflict. There was not one person there who was simply a friendly acquaintance, someone you exchange pleasantries with and never go any deeper.
Every one of them had pushed me in some way before that day. To be a better husband, father, brother, worker, or follower of Jesus. They had already invested in who I was becoming long before race day.
I hope they would say the same about me. The goal is not just to have mat carriers but to be one. A relationship built on mutual investment, genuine care, and a willingness to put someone else's needs ahead of your own comfort.
And I had been vulnerable with all of them at some point. I had admitted struggle. I had shared the parts of myself I would rather keep hidden. The good, the bad, and the ugly. That kind of openness is what makes real support possible.
I cannot give you a formula for finding mat carriers. But I can tell you it is one of the most important things you will ever build. It is immeasurable in its value. It can carry you through storms you could not have survived alone, help you achieve things you never could have reached on your own, and in some cases, as we see in Scripture, it can even be the key to someone's salvation.
A Biblical Perspective
The story that kept coming back to me throughout that race is found in Luke 5.
Luke 5:17-26
One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So he said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."
A note on the Pharisees: they were the religious elite of their day, men who denied Jesus and ultimately played a central role in his crucifixion. Jesus called them hypocrites. So if religious hypocrisy bothers you, it bothered him too.
Back to the story. This man had no way of reaching Jesus without his friends. They cared enough to physically carry him there. And when they could not get through the crowd, they did not give up. They went up on the roof and lowered him down. That is not casual friendship. That is relentless, creative, selfless love in action.
But the verse that stops me every time is verse 20. "When Jesus saw their faith, he said, 'Friend, your sins are forgiven.'"
Their faith. Not his faith alone. Both recorded accounts of this moment, in the book of Mark and the book of Luke, use the same word: their.
We know from Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are saved by grace through faith. But this passage suggests something profound: that the faith of a mat carrier can reach Jesus on someone else's behalf. That our faith can have an impact on the people we love and carry. That the prayers and belief of those around us are not insignificant.
This does not minimize individual faith. But it does reveal the extraordinary power of carrying others toward Jesus. If the faith of a few friends could get the attention of Christ and result in a man's physical healing and eternal forgiveness, no wonder the enemy works so hard to isolate us. The maximum punishment in the American prison system is solitary confinement. Isolation is not a neutral condition. It is a weapon. And it is exactly where the enemy wants us.
I still do not have a formula for gathering mat carriers around you. But I think the first step is to become one. Carry others toward Jesus. Pray for the people in your life who have not yet found him. You know his healing power. You know what forgiveness has meant in your own life. Start there. Love people well, show up consistently, serve without agenda, and conversations will begin to open. When they do, you will have a chance to give an account of the hope you carry. See 1 Peter 3:15. That is the moment you grab a corner of the mat.
We are designed for this. We are designed to carry and be carried, to suffer together and celebrate together, to go further together than we ever could alone. The Bible returns to this theme constantly because it reflects something true about how we were made and who we were made for.
To everyone who grabbed a corner of my mat on race day: thank you. These same people were the first ones to subscribe to this newsletter, which tells you everything you need to know about the kind of people they are. I am undeserving of every one of them, and I hope to one day return the favor.
Thank you.
Cam
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