Family

The skit in Sunday's service got me thinking about my family. Isn't family great? I have been blessed with an awesome family. Not just great parents and siblings, but awesome aunts, uncles, and cousins. Every holiday, my entire family gets together. We all gather in one household to celebrate together. There are about 30 people - ranging in age from 20 months to 82 years old- coming together. A family get together like that can usually spell chaos and disaster. Maybe to outsiders, it looks like a bunch of chaos, but there is nothing in this world I love more than gathering with my family. My parents and my aunt & uncle have done a phenomonel job of creating a family centered on God, laughter, and definately the importance of good food.

During this Christmas season, I wanted to take a chance and blog about the blessing family has been in my life. Without such a tight-knit family, adversity would be much tougher to get through, but it has never failed that when adversity comes, that everyone in my family is ready to support each other. Over the past 4 years, we have faced a lot of adversity with dad. Going through the process of Alzheimer's has not been easy on anyone. Without family, things would have been nearly impossible. With family, we have gotten through. With the passing of dad in August, family has gathered around mom to support her. God has blessed me with a family that is amazing! We certainly aren't perfect, but in each of my family members I can see a servant's heart. What a blessing!

If nothing else, it is on account of mom, dad, Aunt Charlene, and Uncle Larry that God's heart shows through. Mom has always been the tough one in our family. She has always held it all together and always stressed the importance of getting through things together. Thank you mom! Without your strength and values, our family would not have grown into what it is today. I am truly thankful to God for blessing me with such an awesome family and nothing like the Christmas season can remind me of this more.

Failure

Failure can be a scary thing. Too often in life, we live in the shadow of failure, whether that is the fear of failure or the allowance of letting failure define us as a person. Isn't this all too true in the sporting world? We've based all of our practice and time around succeeding. We've become accustomed to success. When one obstacle is thrown in our way, we tend to question our value on the field, court, or whatever sports venue it is. A key fumble, a couple of missed free throws, or a strikeout with the bases loaded to end the game devastate us. A person story of my own life:

My final minutes on the basketball court in my competitive career were filled with disappointment. As a DII college basketball player, I had experienced a lot of success on the basketball court. One of my final goals was to go to the National Tournament. In the conference championship, we were winning by a single point with less than 10 seconds left in the game. I had just secured a rebound a was fouled. During my senior season, I was an 85% free throw shooter. If I made both of these free throws, the worst that could happen is the other team could make a desperation 3-pointer to send the game into overtime. I stepped to the line and missed both free throws. The other team raced to the other end and hit a shot with 0.6 second remaining. We lost the game by 1 point. The defeat was crushing to me. It made me question my basketball career. This failure was poised to mare my memories. I could have let this event define me as a basketball player. In looking back, it took some time to realize that no single event could define me.

Whether it is sports, a job, your family, or anything else that holds significance in your life, there will be many obstacles that are thrown in your way. There will be failures along the way that cause you to question yourself. There will be failures that seem like they define you as a person. "Failure is an event- it's not personal." It is the same with God. There are days when I have failed miserable in my walk with Christ. There are times when I seem at the bottom of the rollercoaster and wonder how I can love God the way I am supposed to. We must develop persistence. There is no single event that will change the way God feels about us. You only fail when you quit! We only fail when we quit trying to grow closer. There will be obstacles and failures in our lives, but Coach Tressel states, "Every obstacle presents an opportunity."

Your life and your walk with Christ is not defined by one event. If you ever get the feeling that you're defined by one failure, don't believe it for a second!