Sidelined for Jesus

I shared in my last post about falling and scraping myself up pretty badly. As a runner, it is hard to let yourself be down for very long. I was recovering well and saw no reason not to be out running. Besides that, I had an important race coming up. It was the official kick off race for our running team, Calvary Chapel Running Team. 

So this past Wednesday I was out doing one of my training runs. Since my last 5k (3.1 mi) race had been so difficult to complete I had decided to clock a 5k on my own working on endurance more than speed. I was near the end of my 5k and still doing well and feeling very proud of myself when it happened again! Even as I was going down I was thinking to myself, "OH, NO!! NOT again!!" 

I'm pretty sure it was either the same location as the first fall or very close to it. As I sat there gathering the strength to get back up and assessing the damage, I felt overwhelming discouragement. I just wanted to sit there and cry and cry. I was also feeling angry. I'm not real sure who or what I was angry with but I was MAD!!!

I did manage to get up and limp home again. Even tried to run for a short way. Yes, I'm THAT hard headed! Quickly realized that my injuries were to much for that. Once I got home and got a good look at my injuries, I realized that my left knee was in pretty bad shape. What had been just a minor bruise after the first fall was now swollen about twice it's normal size and had very limited range of motion.

Since then, I've been doing my best to stay off that leg, keeping it elevated and icing it. After 4 days fighting depression, discouragement, and boredom that knee is still swollen and painful. So much so that I stayed home from church in order to keep it propped up. Praise God that our church broadcasts the services live over the internet. There was a special speaker who is a special friend to our church, Daniel Henderson. I'm sure that his message spoke to many others as well, but it was one of those that felt like it was especially for me. You can hear it at: http://www.ccstpete.com/living-word-media/teaching/index.cfm?tape_id=GS3352.

Of all things, the message was titled, "Don't Just Do Something! Sit There!" That's precisely what I'm being forced to do. I guess I'm one of those who is so stubborn that God has to sideline me to get my attention! You've heard of the proverbial frying pan to the head! After hearing this message, I have a new purpose to my recovery. I'm convinced that God wants to use this time to teach me to pray effectively. Not those boring, struggling to stay focused, God here's my list of requests prayers, but reaching the heart of God, worship saturated prayers.

At this point, I have no idea how long my recovery will be, whether weeks or months. I need to see the doctor for some kind of prognosis on that, but I'm going to try make the most of this time sitting at the feet of Jesus.