Stop On A Dime

I've been watching a fair bit of baseball and football lately. Something I've noticed is how far these athletes have to go to come to a stop after running flat out. Have you noticed how the guys who've been thrown out at first base or who have just scored a touchdown have to lean way back and require another 10 to 12 steps before coming to a halt?

You know how many steps it takes me? 

Now, I have arthritis. I've had it for over 50 years. I've injured my spine sky-diving, cracked C3,4 and 5 in a water-sliding mishap, cracked C7 a year ago last August in a fall at home. I've had both hips replaced and well, whatever. Reality is, if I I was running, which I don't, but if I was running, it would take me less than one step to come to a halt. In fact from my last running step to my first walking step would technically be mid stride between my last full-tilt running step and my first walking step.

I could literally stop on a dime. Kinda pitiful.

I used to live vicariously through these athletes. I mean, they really are something else. I used to think that I was just admiring the abilities that God had given them, but in reality, I was despising the body that God had given me.

I only realised maybe 10 years ago that not once had I thanked God for the body He gave me; a body that He's given me for a very specific purpose. Not once had I acknowledged appreciation for circumstances, that included being handicapped, that have allowed me to do work for my Lord and my Saviour that I simply could not have done had I been the jock that I'd longed to be.

Ya, I can stop on a dime, and it's turned out to be a very good thing.