College has been a life giving experience full of personal and spiritual growth. I go to Auburn University and live in a house with my best friends from high school (I know it sounds lame, but I would never trade it for anything). Through this I have a better understanding of what it looks like to live in community with others. I am part of an amazing church which has shown me how to love and serve the city in which I live. My time in Auburn has been well spent and it is apparent to me now how God has ordained all of it. Through all of my experiences here, it is really neat to see how he has prepared my heart and my mind for the next season of my life. In May I will graduate from Auburn University and place my diploma in a file for a year, or so. Within weeks after graduation I will place my life in a backpack and embark on the World Race. I am ecstatic to see how God will continue to transform my life and bless me with opportunities to bring pieces of His kingdom here.
My name is Matt Delaney and I am 22 years old. I have wonderful parents who continue to teach me everyday about what it looks like to love a child. I have three siblings and they all happen to be girls. Two of my sisters, Jenny (29) and Cindy (36), are both married and unfortunately still live in Michigan. My sister Jill (31) is mentally impaired and lives with my parents in Florida. Growing up in the same household as her has been a tremendous blessing. In many ways I desire to be more like her because in turn I will be growing more into Christ’s likeness.
My birth in Southfield, Michigan was by no means flawless. I was born with Hyaline Membrane Disease and Persistent Fetal Circulation which resulted in two collapsed lungs. According to my doctor, the only hope of my survival was to be placed on an ECMO machine which would basically breathe for me. I was transferred to the University of Michigan where I was assessed by another doctor. Initially he was not willing to place me on the machine and thought it best that I not be saved due to the affects I would experience later in life. Dr. Bartlett, the inventor of the ECMO machine, stepped in and allowed me to try it out. Thankfully I am alive today and can tell of my healthy life that I have experienced since birth.
By the grace of God my parents moved our family to Florida when I was 4 years old. Trading the snow for the beach was an amazing deal! I grew up playing baseball, skateboarding, and surfing. Life outside of these activities was nonexistent. The friends that I met in high school are still the ones I live with today. These are the friends that first invited me to church and continued to pour into me as I explored this God they all talked about. It wasn’t until the summer before college that I accepted Christ into my heart and began to see life through new eyes.
