Here we go. Just three days out. Things now shift from busy to busier. Thankfully, the weather looks encouraging, and we have a lot of things taken care of. There’s still a lot to iron out, though, so it’s time to kick it up a notch.
I think this is going to be a really, really fun event.
A couple of highlights from Tuesday.
I learned that the results from my MRI scan are in, and it’s official: I have a tear in my medial meniscus on the right knee. Next Tuesday, I meet with the orthopedic surgeon to get his opinion, and I should also learn just what kind of tear it is — whether it’s a partial tear, full tear, et cetera. Even though I guess it’s not good news to learn that something is torn, it is relieving in the sense that the problem has been identified. It takes out any possible guesswork as to what could be bugging me.
Secondly, tonight (Tuesday) we played our final softball game of the summer league. We ended up winning, and we ended the season with a season-high four-game winning streak. Before this streak, our longest winning streak on the year was only two! So that’s definitely a good way to end the season.
Also, what made this game much more special for me personally is the fact that I did something I never have done before — I pitched the game! The only other time I had ever pitched during a game was a few years ago, when I pitched to a few batters, was pretty wild, and was promptly yanked in order to preserve the game.
So tonight, I started the game as pitcher. I was actually pretty pleased with how I did! I walked a couple of batters, but through five innings, we were up 2-0. In the sixth inning, we let by a couple of runs pursuant to an error, but we ended up winning the game 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh. So officially, that means that I had zero earned runs during the game, which is pretty unusual in a game of softball!
Quite honestly, I was just happy to not choke during the game. I was fairly accurate, and I didn’t walk too many batters. So, hey, that’s an accomplishment! Now I have started at least one game in every position on the field. Right now, I would say I’m definitely a better outfielder than I am an infielder, and a better infielder than I am a pitcher. But at least I survived a game — a game we won, too! That’s a nice bonus.
The Softball Classic is only 13 days away. Wow! This is the time of year where a big, big part of me wishes I could just warp to the day following the Classic! But, no can do. We have got a lot to take care of, and we have 13 days to do it in.
God, please give us strength and guidance as to where to throw our energies. Let this whole event be for Your glory. Whatever the turnout, please just let people see You and Your greatness through this.
The other night, I was scanning through some 10,000 photos that Dad had taken during our family trip last fall to Maine and upstate New York. As I browsed through them, it reminded me of what a wonderful family I have, what a great “team” I am on. Our family trips our far from luxurious, yet we manage to have such a great time, making so many new memories.
It’s funny how it works, but one picture can bring back a flood of memories. Even though it’s just literally a snapshot, when looking at it, I can remember what was going on, maybe what I was doing, what I was thinking, what I was talking about. All this from one picture. So imagine 10,000 of them! I scanned through them in 20 or 30 minutes, and every now and then I would stop on one that caught my attention, and I would double-click on the thumbnail to enlarge it.
But throughout the entire time, I was just kind of marveling at what a great time we really had last fall. This seems to often be the case with me, but I may not fully appreciate something until long after the fact. Here we are, nearly a year after our last trip, and I’m appreciating it more and more.
I also realized how precious photos are. I do a lot of video work myself, but there is just something special about a photo. Maybe it’s because it’s a great conversation piece — you bring up a photo, and everybody starts to remember what was going on when it was taken. Or you show somebody a photo that they have never seen, and you get to tell them all about it.
So all in all, I just have a newfound appreciation for this family and these trips that we take. There is something very special about them. What’s odd is I don’t think they would be as valuable if it weren’t for the different inconveniences that we might have. Having to get work done while on the road, or still finding ways to be economical while traveling — I think these can actually contribute to the experience.
Whatever the reason is, I think we have a winning formula right now. I almost can’t believe how blessed I am to be able to be a part of this. I hope we can keep this tradition up long enough to where wives and sisters-in-law can experience this with us. I’m having a really hard time explaining it; I just know there is something really special about these trips.
The fact that we’re still able to do this with the entire family is just awesome. Who knows how much longer that will keep up? But for now, it’s definitely a special period of time, and I want to make a point of reminding myself to appreciate it while it lasts.
Yesterday morning, I went to Memorial Hospital in Belleville in order to get an MRI scan of my right knee performed. In a couple of weeks, I’m scheduled to follow up with an orthopedic surgeon, and he’s going to review the scan and give me his recommendations on what to do.
Offhand, I’m guessing that he’ll recommend having an arthroscopy, but that’s definitely not a sure thing. He could simply tell me to try to stay off of my knee for a while, or he could give me some other advice. I should know a lot more in a couple of weeks, though!
I just realized my little notebook here wasn’t working. I must have broke it a couple of days ago. My bad.
If you ever find yourself questioning God in any way, take a look at Job 38. I think it will put you back in your place real quick.
Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:
2 “Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone-
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels [a> shouted for joy?
8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.
16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death [b> ?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
19 “What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no man lives,
a desert with no one in it,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?
31 “Can you bind the beautiful [c> Pleiades?
Can you loose the cords of Orion?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons [d>
or lead out the Bear [e> with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God’s [f> dominion over the earth?
34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who endowed the heart [g> with wisdom
or gave understanding to the mind [h> ?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?
39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in a thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
These words are spoken from the maker of the Earth. Who am I to ever question God? Okay, I have been on this planet for 22 years. “Everlasting” trumps 22, I’m pretty sure. How foolish and how arrogant it would be for me to ever do anything less than humbly obey God’s every command.
As if I could somehow know better? How in the world could that ever even begin to make sense? It just doesn’t. Yet, so often, I’m tempted to think that maybe, just maybe, I might have a pretty good handle on things myself. What a crazy thing to even consider.
God, would You teach me to be humble? I don’t want to force You to humble me. But I know You will if I don’t do it myself. Please help me remember that I’m just a blip on the screen, here today and gone tomorrow. Make me just lean so completely on You, and to not get full of myself or to ever feel like I can control things okay on my own. That would be dishonoring to You, and it would be just plain foolish. Please help me stay reliant on You in every little thing.
Yesterday morning, I had a doctor’s appointment in Belleville. It was actually in regards to my right knee, which has been bugging me for quite some time now. I initially hurt it while sliding in the outfield during a softball game nearly a year ago — on August 7th, 2006, to be exact. Anyway, I finally decided to get in touch with the doctor and at least have him take a look at me to find out what he thinks may be going on.
The doctor seems fairly confident that I have a tear in the medial meniscus, which is the cartilage on the inside of the knee — that means it’s facing the inside of my left knee. And from talking to him, it sounds like if the potential tear hasn’t healed so far, he doesn’t think it’s very likely that it will heal on its own.
So from here, I think I’ll go on to get an MRI of my knee and then visit an orthopedic surgeon. The MRI should be able to tell whether or not there is, indeed, a tear, and also, if there is a tear, just how severe it is. Then the surgeon, I would imagine, could tell me what he recommends, if he thinks this would heal on its own, if surgery would be an easy fix, and so on.
The idea of surgery sure doesn’t thrill me, but if it is the only way to fix my knee, then I suppose it would be worth it. Also, I guess there is a slight chance that the surgeon would say that if I were to completely rest my knee for a period of time, that it might heal on its own. According to the doctor I saw on Tuesday, he didn’t think that would really be the case. But, to be fair, I haven’t really rested my knee much at all since I hurt it. It’s been all softball, volleyball, YMCA, then more softball. And throughout the past several months, I have tweaked it many times.
Perhaps if I were to rest it completely for three months it might start to heal? Hopefully the surgeon will be able to shed some light on that. If that’s the case, a brief break in activities would be a small price to pay in order to avoid surgery. So we’ll see where things go in the never few weeks.