How a torn ACL changed my life!

I realize that it's been a while since I last posted. I figured that February was a month not worth reporting about. Here's why.

Have you ever had an experience that, as you look back on, if you had just made one choice differently, it would have made all the difference? Well, mine was on February 21st. If I had just chosen to not go and play basketball that morning, I might still have two good ACL's, rather than one good ACL and one ACL that's not so good.

For those who can't read between the lines :) I tore my ACL (at least that's what the doctor says, though it's not definitive). Now I realize that even if I would not have played basketball that day, it may have happened at a different game or even practice, or just walking down the street. But what if? Have you ever thought that?

On the flip side, what would have happened if one fateful day, I decided not to talk to Shiree? Would she still have married me? Would I be married to someone else? That decision I made so many years ago to go up and talk to her was one of the best decisions I ever made!! If taking back my choice to play basketball means losing a choice like this, I am happy with my alleged torn ACL.

It is interesting what I have learned from this experience. One of the best things that has come from this is a change in attitude. For those that do not know, the country is in a recession and the economy is doing very poorly. That means that businesses are a lot less likely to hire people. The three top organizations that I wanted to get a job with all have a hiring freeze. It's amazing what unemployment will do to your attitude when one of your primary goals in life is to provide for your family.

So, what happened to get me out of my funk? I tore my ACL. Pretty wierd, huh? I began to realize how much control I DON'T have. God is the Great Master of the universe and is all powerful. What He asks of me is to provide for my family with what he provides for me. Consider the lilies of the field. They toil not, neither do they spin. Yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these. (Sermon on the Mount) If God can take care of something like a lily, how much more will He take care of one of His children? God giveth me my breath, and He can take it away. If He takes away my ACL, then He can give it back. That, I know!

I know that trials strengthen us and, if we choose, can help us turn our lives over to God. For me, it took a torn ACL. For you, I hope it's not that drastic.