Sometimes life is tough. It just is. No matter how hard we try to live right, it throws us a curve. No matter how strong we try to be, sooner or later our weaknesses come through. Sometimes life is tough.
I haven't been doing a lot of walking with Bay lately. I can tell he misses it. Two weeks ago today I fell down a flight of stairs and landed square on one knee. I had a stroke in 2002 and my left side is weaker than my right. I can cover for it most of the time, but two weeks ago I couldn't. I wasn't doing anything special. I was going up the stairs as my wife was coming down. I turned so that all my weight was on my left leg - foolish me. Next thing I know, life is in slow motion as I am free-falling to the ceramic tile below. My left knee took the complete blow. For the next few minutes I wasn't sure what to do. I laid there on the floor in pain. It is tough to fall down a flight of stairs at any age. As the saying goes, it isn't the fall that hurts, it is the landing. After about 10 minutes, I checked myself out and realized that nothing was broken and nothing was bleeding. Praise God! I have rested the knee as much as possible since the fall. With each passing day, the knee is feeling better. It hurts to touch it. It gets painful after I have stood for a long time. However, I suspect within a week, it should be back to normal - whatever "normal" is.
Sometimes life is tough.
Today we did a prayer walk through Solomons Island, Maryland. Life may be tough at times, but it can't keep me from doing the Lord's work. I try to make sure that I have no excuse. There were several churches gathered together to do the prayer walk. It was really nice to see people of all ages, all cultures, all sizes - even ones with limps like me. We worshiped and then we walked around the island praying as one body. It is a small island, so it wasn't a long walk, but my knee didn't hurt me at all. God takes care of us, doesn't He?
During the prayer walk, like everyone else, I prayed. It is hard for me to stay in prayer without giving thanks. My mind always comes back to being thankful. I know that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes I feel a little selfish. God has blessed me so mightily that I can not begin to count the ways. During the prayer walk, my mind went back to last night...it was Friday night and we had a celebration dinner at the church in honor of 25 years of ministry.
It was our annual anniversary dinner at the church. We call it Convention. I am not sure why. We spend a weekend in celebration of what God has done. My knee was really hurting me. I was limping a lot. First order of business is to share a meal as a body. It was great. After the meal, the guest worship band started. I don't recall the name of the group. They are from Quebec and were introduced as the Michael W Smith of Quebec. The group sang several songs...some we knew...some we didn't. One song that was fun to sing was an old Beatles tune called Come Together with the words changed to be a worship song. I don't recall the words. I just remember it was fun to think that a song the enemy had wanted for harm was now doing good.
After Come Together, they played a song I had never heard. I was in a worship mode, so I was oblivious to anything around me. I was praying while the song was playing. My daughter, Kelly, came to me and tapped me on the arm. "It's a waltz, Daddy", she said. I asked her if she wanted to dance. We had practiced dancing waltzes in our spot in the woods in the moonlight. Here was a chance to dance to real music. She shook her head no. I asked if she wanted to go to the back of the church where nobody could see? No, that would draw attention, too. I understood. Too many of her friends would make fun of her dancing with her old man. I closed my eyes and started worshiping again. I felt another tap on my arm. She stood there with her arms out ready to dance. I smiled. I took her hand in mine and put my other hand in the small of her back. In only a moment I was lost in a waltz with my daughter while worshiping our God.
The dance seemed like an eternity, and at the same time only a moment. Why did it end so soon? I leaned down and whispered in her ear "Thanks for the special daddy moment." She smiled and nodded her head. She had waltzed with her daddy and it was a good thing. We worshiped for a couple more songs. When worship was finished, I found my way back to my seat. I noticed how there was no pain at all in my knee.
Yes, sometimes life is tough. However, in those tough times, if we wallow in our pain, we might miss something special God has for us. I could have easily sat out worship blaming my desire to sit instead of stand on the pain in my knee. I could have. I didn't, and in the midst of that worship, God reached down and blessed me with a dance with my little princess.
1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
...during the prayer walk, I am sure I was suppose to be praying for the local people, but I wasn't. I thanked God that He cares about me. The Creator of the universe cares about me. I can't fathom why, but I know He does. He let me have one special moment with my daughter that I will remember forever. For that, I am incredibly thankful. We finished the prayer walk. My knee wasn't hurting. We decided to go get a burger for lunch. Sometimes life is tough, but He has given us a spirit of power to overcome life. I am sure it won't be long until I am back to my walks with Bay. I know he will like it a lot. I will, too. It is spring in southern Maryland. The flowers are blooming and the birds are singing. I miss those times. Just a man, his dog, and his God.
My daddy taught me to waltz, Voice. To this day...I have yet to meet a man who can waltz better than my daddy. I too am glad that your knee is better. Wonderful post my friend. Made me smile and remember special dances with my own father. :)
This is just beautiful! I remember, as a little girl, dancing while standing on my daddy's feet.....what I would give to be able to do that again :) A few weeks ago, we'd bought a new MercyMe cd. Our 5 year old granddaughter came to the house and we're listening to the music in the kitchen. All the sudden, my husband, her Poppa, starts dancing with her....he twirls her and they dance and dance......and I just stand there with tears......overjoyed at seeing them dance together. You see, my husband had a stroke, has diabetes and MS and is not a dancer, LOL. Suddenly, he grabs me to dance, and we dance, then we're all dancing. Later, after she went home, my husband said he felt God in that kitchen with us dancing :)
What an awesome memory she now has tucked in her mind! My Husband taught me. In an empty campsite with a gazebo. He sang and we danced. It was wonderful!
I'm sure your praises over the Solomon Island will do that Island just find. Thanks for your take on worshiping to a walts with you daughter. I've been struggling with legalism in worship, well lets just say Legalism. I play guitar for the worship team. I guess I'm pretty good at it as the other folks in the team and the congregation keep after me to cut loose. I'm mostly struggling to focus on God. Most of my experience playing Guitar comes from playing the Clubs. Apearantly God don't so much care about where I was playing ten years ago. He just likes us to praise as best as we can with the gifts he Gave us. I'm just glad I can play after the Stroke I had in 2003. TGBTG.
Thanks David. I never enjoyed dancing until I learned to do it in worship. Not sure why. Just me, I suppose. It is a beautiful art form when done well.
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