It happened again. This was the worst.
About this time last year, I fell on the ice and cracked my hip. It was very painful, but I survived. So did my stupidity.
This season, I had a foolproof plan to carefully scrape the ice off my car windows. Everything was going fine…until I stepped to the north side of the vehicle.
Suddenly, both feet lost contact with the driveway as I slipped on the ice from the northerner that came in the night before. I fell to the pavement faster than when Ali knocked down his fighting opponent. Howard Cosell did not even have time to shout, “Down goes Frazier!”
I landed on my side and hip. Fortunately, it was not the dumbbell side of my head. In one fell swoop, I body-skated to the end of my driveway. My arms clung to our curb while my feet rested in the road.
My first thought was I hope none of the neighbors saw this. My second thought never made it into my mind because of the horrific pain.
The hurt increased as I assessed the damage. I could not get up. I needed help.
Any slight movement only increased the pain. If a medical attendant had asked me to describe the pain level from one to ten, I would have responded, “Higher.” It was at least triple digits.
I grimaced and moaned as I grappled to get the cell phone from my winter jacket. My loving and adorable and kind and caring wife was inside on the couch in front of the fireplace. I called for help. There was no answer. Maybe she was on the phone talking to someone else. I tried two more times with no response.
By now, I wished a neighbor had witnessed my slippery demise. I cried out for help. All in vain as the strong wind whistled into my ear, “You stupid man!”
That is right; I might be stupid, but I am a ‘man.’ I can manage this. I tried to rise to crawl. Both knees refused to participate.
I decided to slide up the slope. Wrong direction for sliding. Not going to happen.
I remembered my dad teaching his sons to trust their instincts in tough times.
So, I slowly slithered up the slippery slope like the sinuous snake I am, inch by inch.
This was no quick recovery. There was enough time to build Hoover Dam.
Eventually, I pulled my aching body into the edge of the garage where I rolled onto my back. That way, I could feel the pain better.
I tried another unanswered phone call, even a text for “Help!”
I called my daughter in Colorado. I thought she might be able to get to my aid before my wife wondered about my disappearance for several days. There was no answer. I realized they were talking to each other.
I began to yell. I called out for Vicki. I screamed for help! All to no avail.
Finally, after what felt like hours of pain intolerance, the door to the house opened. Vicki was on the phone. She told our daughter, “I think your dad is hurt. I will call you back.”
Wow! What clue helped Miss Marple crack the case of the slithering snake crying in the garage?
Was it that I was flat on my back? Or the moans of discomfort? Or the whimper of incredible pain? I imagine it was the faint whispers begging for help.
Yes, injured people need help. And for the record, stupid people need to be shown sympathy and patience.
I recovered but now I have a greater fear of ice.
I am sure you have fallen at times. It might have resulted in a severe injury. I vividly remember some of my worst falls.
I fell off a ladder near the top of my house while trimming limbs off a tree. As I stepped onto the top of the ladder, my foot slipped. In a nanosecond, I had to make a reactionary decision: Either let my head hit on the brick wall or allow my body to crash through the window of the house.
In that nanosecond, I chose another option. I went into the “imaginary world of not” and thought it better to just jump backwards and use my athleticism and nimble, cat-like reflexes to land on my feet somewhere in the driveway. It worked…badly.
Somehow, my head avoided being splattered across the cement driveway. However, my pride had taken a big pounding. I fell twelve feet onto the concrete and landed on my back, not my feet. I looked up to see the ladder falling on my face and chest.
Yep! It was a scene right out of the Roadrunner cartoons where Wiley Coyote falls and then something falls on him.
This cat gave up four of his nine lives in that stupid endeavor.
There was nothing left to do but slowly roll my way into the garage…again. Lying in the unbearable pain of stupidity, I yelled for my wife…again. The only response was the startup sounds of the vacuum cleaner. This was going to take a while.
I recovered but now I have a greater fear of heights.
Not long ago, I was run over by a speeding truck. It was a football player running full force into my chest. I was bulldozed on the gridiron sidelines.
As the game was grinding to its conclusion, I began to mingle with the players along the midfield sidelines. Suddenly, the running back was pushed from behind which accelerated his momentum. It also hastened my demise.
The players on the sideline parted like the Red Sea. They acted like matadors waving their arms as the charging bull aimed its horns at my red cape shirt.
The runaway train was full steam ahead. I had nowhere to go. I was hemmed in. It was time to face the music.
One word described the impending impact. Unavoidable.
One word described the post smash-up. Painful.
The collision was straight on. His helmet and shoulder pads crashed into my chest. My ageing years and added weight prevented me from getting completely airborne. Instead, I just got plowed over.
It was like watching a trainwreck in slow motion! My body was violently knocked backwards. My cap went flying.
My silence shouted, “This is bad.”
My mind radioed the distress signal: “Mayday! Mayday! Houston, we have a problem!”
I had time to think this might be a career ending injury. At some point, my head bounced off the hard ground. I never lost consciousness …except for that period my spirit was floating somewhere above the stadium.
The young players showed great compassion as they quickly reacted to my prone position. I asked them just to let me lie there for a moment.
I needed more time for my mind to do an emergency inventory evaluation of which body parts planned to get up with me. Surely, some appendages had separated or permanently retired from active duty.
Sometimes, it feels as if life has thrown you under the bus. This felt more like the bug splattered on the bus window. SPLAT!!!
Well-wishers surrounded me. A few players volunteered to speak at the memorial service. It is comforting to know that some people will love and miss you when that time comes.
I recovered but now I have a greater fear of collisions.
I recently stumbled at the supermarket and faceplanted on a watermelon right in front of the main entrance.
I recovered but now I have a greater fear of watermelons.
You might conclude from this that I am a clumsy, unathletic, worthless nothing. Not true. I am just directionally insensitive.
Obviously, I have fallen many times. I seem to specialize in falls which accentuate my stupidity! Even then, God was with me. God was with me on the ice, the ladder, the sidelines, and the fruit stand.
God was with me in between the fall and the impact. God was with me in those nanoseconds, saying, “You idiot.” The actual scriptural phrase from the #1 Textbook is, “You foolish man and frail creature of dust.”
I am certain you have experienced some physical pains this past year. It may have been a fall, disease, surgery, or something minor. All of us have experienced a little more physical pain than a year ago. The greater hurt comes from the emotional pain like grief, loneliness, anxiety, or stress.
In every moment of pain and grief, we all have reason to fall into greater gratitude to God.
My physical injuries could have been worse. The emotional pain you have been through this year could have been worse. We may be a little worse off, but we are still here.
It is especially important that we live out what we are learning about God’s presence and care. God knows when we are painfully falling physically and God knows when our life is emotionally falling apart.
Psalm 139 begins, “God knows what I do and wherever I go. He knows when I sit and when I rise, when I go out and when I lie down. He is familiar with all my ways. He knows all my thoughts. Before there is a word on my tongue, he knows even the secrets of my heart…God holds my right hand.”
Somehow, through all the stumbles and falls, our lifelong journey falls into place.
That raises the important question for everyone who falls and falls…again?
Are we falling into gratitude?
You do not have to be flat on your back to count your blessings. But it might help you get a better perspective on life. Every moment matters. Every person matters. Every additional morning is precious.
Falling hurts. If you need to cry, then cry. That is not a lack of faith. But focus on God through your tears.
Falling hurts. When others have been knocked down in life, they need a caring heart and a helping hand. They do not need criticism or condemnation. They need hope.
What can you learn from falling?
You are never, never—no matter whatever is going on in your life, never out of the sight and care of your Heavenly Father. He is holding your hand, even when you are falling.
“Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, You are with me…You hold my right hand. You hold me tight” (#1 Textbook).
“I am the Lord Almighty God who is with you and for you. Do not be afraid” (#1 Textbook).
When the Biblical patriarch Jacob kept falling again and again, he moaned that “all these things are against me.” He later came to realize that all these things were used by God for his good.
Surely, you have those moments when you feel as if all these things are against you. God is orchestrating them for your good.
As Jacob’s lost son, Joseph, later declared about all the sad and bad things done to him by bad people, “They meant it for evil, but God intended it for good.”
And God will use all the sad and bad things done to you to bring you greater good.
Jacob and Joseph fell into gratitude. So can we. Even in great grief there is greater gratitude.
I am praying for you and me to be awakened into a greater awareness of God’s presence in every area of our lives, especially in our falls.
Give thanks to God in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
I am praying that we fall into greater gratitude…again and again.
Stay safe!
LOVE FIRST...LOVE MOST 