God's Protection

This is a follow-up to the last entry about falling. My friend Craig emailed me and said, "You could have broken something. God was really watching out for you!"

And indeed He was. Not only was I not very sore the next day, the scrapes lasted about two days and were gone. And remember part of my job description these days: TV Co-host? What if I had broken my jaw, my nose or put out an eye?

And it gets better. The very next morning, on an early Sunday morning, I was jogging on a street that's usually quite quiet at that time. At the turnaround, I noticed a large truck stopped by the spot I had passed just three minutes earlier. An earth-moving machine had come loose from the truck's trailer and landed on the sidewalk. I'm talking a big, huge chain--broken in two. If that machine hit me... well, I'd probably be dead now.

It's not just me. God watches out for you, too. How many near-accidents, near-misses have you avoided on the jogging paths of life? We chalk it up to coincidence, being in the right place at the right time... but there's more to it. A lot more.

Falling

I may not run with a group in Atlanta yet, but I run with people every Saturday morning. The five-mile loop around beautiful Stone Mountain gets crowded early, and the joggers/walkers/dogs/cyclists are as interesting to behold as the birds, carvings and flowers.

So today, in an effort to avoid a human traffic jam, I jumped off the sidewalk and ran on the ground near the mountain side of the trail. It was a mistake. I tripped over a tree root and crash… bam… in slow motion I thought, “I can’t avoid this fall.” And I tumbled, rolled and stopped.

“Are you OK?” two women asked in unison.

“Fine,” I smiled, knowing they wanted to be on their way. But I wanted to cry, “No! Come help me up!” I knew the quicker I rose, the better I’d be. I had dirt from shoulder to ankle on one side and blood trickling off my elbow and knee. I was unaware of it, though, until the next woman I passed asked, “Did you fall?”

I smiled again, “I wrestled a big bear.” She was past me then, but I imagined she smiled, too.

Then my worry became that my husband, who was walking the loop in the opposite direction, would come upon me before I could wash up. He gets crazy when I am clumsy and threatens to make me quit running. For Life. But I finished the loop and found a restroom to wash the evidence away before I encountered him. He didn’t even notice anything amiss. I ran another loop, a little slower than usual, starting to feel the damage inflicted, mostly from trying to stop the fall.

I’m scraped, a little swollen, and I’ll probably be sore tomorrow. But you know, I’ve had worse falls and worse abrasions. God took care of me. I could've rolled into a patch of poison oak that appears to be growing with abandon at the mountain. And I'm so allergic to it.

Aren’t falls like life? They offer many lessons: We need to be a little more careful when we get off the regular path. And perhaps when someone offers help, we can be quicker to accept. It might be smarter to run with friends... even husbands. But the biggest lesson of all… we will fall sometime--whether it’s a death in the family, job loss, car crash or illness--but will we get back up on the trail and keep going?

We can do it with God's help.

"For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up." Ecclesiastes 4:10 NASB

Running Advice for the Road of Life

Here's what makes runs work for me in Atlanta: I speed with the momentum down the hills and when the path takes me up the side of a mountain, I know that it's OK to walk if I need to. The uphills are getting easier with practice.

So, in life, when relationships, work, school and physical fitness are going well, take the momentum and do as much as you can. When you're challenged by obstacles, know that it is OK to take shorter steps and go slower.

Every life has its peaks and valleys. A financial coach told me recently that we will all be hit by crisis every 15 years. We can prepare for the hard times mentally and spiritually, so that when we are tested by the high hills, our ability to tackle them comes easier.

Never Give Up

Keep those dreams that seem impossible on a back burner and move on to something else. Check the fire once in a while to see if those old dreams are still simmering. Maybe they've gotten cold and are not supposed to be a part of your life any longer. But if you're like me, you'd almost forgotten they were there... and God improves upon them.

If you've heard me speak about my early broadcasting career, you know that more than one news director told me to lose weight. One even told me that since I was "no Miss America," I'd have to work really hard in this business. In retrospect, what great advice for anyone: work hard!

God has a sense of humor. I'd all but given up on my broadcasting career. And now, thanks to Him, I am on radio three hours a day and TV two hours a day. One of my favorite parts of the day is Kelly, our makeup artist. I'm a wrinkled 40-something woman who still needs to lose a dress size or two, but she makes me feel like Miss America.

If old dreams can get resurrected in an amazing way for me, they sure can for you. Trust God, surrender your agenda to Him and check the stove.

Simple Advice

Buffy, our Border Terrier, is the most verbal dog we have ever met. She carries on a conversation with squeaks, whines and shakes. That we don't speak canine is of little bother to her. She answers our questions and asks us some of her own.

So, suffering a bit of writer's block, I just asked her, "Buffy, what could I say to encourage people today?" She squealed and wagged her tail. Then she rolled over on her back and smiled. I think that means we all just need to wag our tails a little more (smile) and enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

Are there people--and you can define that loosely--in your life who are trying to give you an important message, and you're just not listening? Maybe there is a communication barrier or a credibility gap, so take another try. It may be simple advice that just takes you away from the cat, er, rat race for awhile.

Now, Buffy is taking a nap. What a great role model she is. I think I'll do the same.

Hair-y Situation

Katie Couric has lamented that she can give the most important news of the decade and all viewers comment about is her hair. One of my colleagues at FamilyNet television has consoled me with similar sentiments.

She was trying to make me feel better because I was upset at my boy-length hair. The powers that be wanted me to get a new hairdo, and the stylist cut much more off than I expected. The new style came at the end of a hard transition to a new city and new job, and in retrospect, it was the straw that broke my back. I admit I overreacted. But I hated my hair so much, that for two weeks, I only went to work and back because I didn't want anyone to see me! Isn't that ridiculous? At least I had hair! I ran into an old friend, a TV Consultant, at the National Religious Broadcasters convention, and she said for women in television who are constantly told to fix this or that, hair length is a control issue. She's probably right. I've been told to get my hair permed, colored, straightened, styled, highlighted, smoothed and gelled. I've been told to lose weight, wear different clothes, lower my voice, lose my accent, smile more, not smile as much, wear more makeup and so on.

So it goes back to the prayer I said last year that changed my life: "Lord, I surrender my agenda, my career, my plans to you." And after I finally realized that my hair was growing out, I understood that I needed to surrender it, too. So what if the boss didn't like it long? He's paying me. Last year, when I wasn't getting paid, I wore a pony tail and running gear to the radio station every day. I'd rather get paid! Now, I'm waiting for them to tell me to lose weight, because with all this consternation about my hair, I've been eating a lot of chocolate!

Atlanta Twister

So many friends and family members have called or emailed in the last 48 hours to see if we are OK. We sure do appreciate your love and concern. We were actually visiting North Carolina and didn't even know Atlanta had a deadly storm until Mark's dad started calling early Saturday--and he never calls early on Saturday!

Our prayers go out to those who have been affected by the weather in the southeast and to those impacted by the crane collapse in Manhattan. We may never know this side of Heaven why some suffer more than others. We do know that our Saviour offers comfort and hope.