Faith, Hope & Love

No, I am not getting this tattoo, however cool it is!  All my friends can relax now : )

FAITH- I have questioned where God is.  I have questioned why He would allow my mom's life to end the way it did.  I have questioned why He would allow my friends to be hurt, wrongly accused and their lives to be up-rooted.  I have questioned why I have had to suffer so much physically.  I have questioned why ALL the pain and difficulty in a short period of time.

While circumstances have caused my faith to waver at times and question God, it has not been severed.

HOPE - a few years ago it seemed as if life began to pile struggle after struggle on my head, finally culminating in my admission of needing help.  Every anchor in my life was disrupted and it has altered my life.  There were times when I felt like hope was a distant memory.  In those times I clung to the truths I knew would anchor me from God's Word.  That He will never leave me, that He loves me, that He is my Rock.  That hope is anchored in the Cross.

While circumstances caused my hope to dim, it was never severed.

LOVE - in the midst of these trials, my head has not doubted the Lord's love for me.  Because of the simple fact that he died for me and because of that, I can spend eternity, undeservingly, with him in Heaven.  

The love of family and friends is a security that I am not sure I could live without.  God should be enough but He also created us to be relational beings.  There have been a few of these friends, who are like family, that have walked difficult and fun moments with me.  We have shared each others hurts and rejoiced in each others victories.

While circumstances have changed "doing life together", either by death or location, it has not severed that love.  Because it is grounded in Jesus.

"And now these three remain:  faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love."

Growing up the "coach's daughter"

One of the reasons I went into the profession that I have is because of my dad.  There are both negative and positives growing up the way I did.  EVERYONE knew who you were.  EVERYONE knew what you did.  EVERYONE had certain expectations of you.  EVERYONE had access to my mom and dad.

When I was younger, I didn't know any different.  Our house was always full of people, whether it was missionaries or people visiting BBC, or more often then not, my dad's players.  (by the way, that clearly didn't come in handy in the dating world, as I am still single!) My dad traveled almost all summer with the Defender 5, a group of basketball players who used sport as a ministry.  Sometimes our family went with them, but more then not, we didn't.  And as anyone growing up with a parent who coached, you know what the season is like!  But this was our life and it impacted me a lot.

I watched my mom serve, cook for all the boys, take care of us three kids while dad was gone, go to my games, go back to school and all of the other countless things she did to minister to others.  To be honest, there were times when I didn't like the fact that dad was gone so much.  I wanted him at MY games.  But I watched him use sport as a ministry and that also became my passion.  I knew in middle school that I wanted to do something similar.  I saw the lives that were encouraged and impacted by what he did.

Now that I am older and watch "his guys" from afar, often times on Facebook, I am thankful for a mom and dad who followed the path God had for them.  Sure, other people influenced these men and women, but I am blessed by hearing how my dad played a part in their lives.

My 80's college reunion is happening this weekend.  I will miss the big party, but hopefully can see some friends over the weekend.  But as I am watching some of these guys come back and go see dad and write such kind words about him, it makes all those times when he was gone or at a game, worth it.  It also is a reminder to me to thank those who influenced me (or tried to!) as I was in college and afterwards.

So thanks to all my "big brothers" who have stopped by to say hi to dad or have written kind notes.  I will make sure he sees them.

It was a SHARP marking pen!

Today I went for an MRI for my hip, as well as an injection, to help diagnose what exactly is wrong and what we need to do to fix it.  I am pretty claustrophobic and did not look forward to another closed MRI experience.  I usually take some drugs to help with the potential panic attacks that might occur.  But, alas, I did great!  No sweating, no images of being enclosed and trapped in a machine that will continue to close its walls around me, and no hyperventilating.

That may have been because I had a warm blanket, earplugs, headphones with country music playing and a wash cloth covering my eyes.  Not to mention the tech lady checking in every few minutes.  Or, we can chalk it up to the prayers and pleadings on my behalf to the Lord.

Now to the headline of this post ...

I am then ushered into a small, operating-type room where I have to have an injection while using the ex-ray machine.  This is so that the doc can make sure he gets the needle/tube into the right spot in my hip and release the medication.  Of course, being my sometimes funny self, I am joking around with the doc and nurses.  30 second time-out here:  my friend who drove me (more on that later) said she could hear me laughing when they opened the door to the hallway!

They prep my skin and all of a sudden I twitch and tighten up thinking he had stuck a needle in me to numb the area.  Yeah......that was just the marker marking the spot where the needle needed to go in! I insist, as they are all laughing, that it was a really sharp pointed marker and that maybe they needed to get a softer one for the next person.  The doctor clearly acknowledged his need to warn me next time anything touched my skin.

I live through the experience, leave my new friends and head out to the waiting room.  By this time I am starving and in great need of coffee, so we head out to breakfast before heading home.  I didn't understand why I couldn't have driven myself, although I admit that the company was nice to have.

After a few minutes I figure it out ...  my entire thigh from hip to top of knee is numb!  I guess they figure it wouldn't be a good idea if people drove in that condition.

So all in all, I lived through the experience with minimal discomfort.  That is until the numbing wears off!

Oh, and my dog JACK likes sweet tea.  How could I know that while resting outside and recovering from my rough morning that he would start drinking out of me glass of tea?  Good thing he didn't leave any backwash.