My Motorcycle Injuries

Sometimes I feel that I have far too much time on my hands. For what, you ask? Philosophical thinking, self reflection, and generally useless ponderings. I was thinking a few days ago about my life. Not in a big picture way, but rather in an "accident that occurred years ago" way. My thinking centered on the subject of "purpose". I sometimes feel that this accident of mine was more of a directed blessing, as opposed to a random and tragic event.  To explain...there are some positive things that would not have occurred without the accident. One of them involves heart health. I lost fifty pounds as a result of the accident's aftermath. I have a lot of heart related issues in my family history such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglycerides levels, mini strokes, etc. I feel that I would be in fairly bad shape with my heart at this stage in life if I had not lost the weight and started to monitor my heart health years ago after the accident. My blood...

I've told the story before on this blog, but my motorcycle accident occurred, in part, because my car was not running well and I chose to take my bike to get a haircut. A few days before the accident I had gone to a mechanic to have some work done on my car. On that day I took a backpack full of books in order to work on a sermon while waiting for the repair. A short time after getting settled I was told that the repair couldn't be finished until the following day, so I shoved everything into the backpack and trekked my way back home on foot. It involved several miles of walking, but no biggie.  A few months after the accident I started to think about that little journey that I had taken just a few days before the accident and I sadly thought to myself that I would never be able to do something like that again. I was pretty much convinced that my body was so heavily damaged that I was finished with any kind of walking that involved longer distances. Well...I have for years now ...

I fell a couple of weeks ago. I was unloading some things into the garage from the trunk of my car, but it had been raining and I slipped on the garage floor. My one leg is neither strong nor stable enough to hold me up when something like this happens and I went down like a broken elevator. I could have landed in several different ways, but me and fate decided to land on my bad knee while attempting to break the fall by also landing on my bad hand. Yes, life is a cornucopia of exciting and wonderful events. I just noticed this morning that the pains associated with this little tidbit of fun have finally gone away. There's still pain at each location, but only the regular stuff. The potential to fall has always been one of my greater concerns since the motorcycle accident occurred years ago. It has happened to me a few times over the years, but the thing is that I'm learning to fear it less as time marches on. I know that a fall can lead to some serious damage, but it's jus...

This is one of the years in which the day and the date of my motorcycle accident match the day and date in 2013. It was November 29th, the Friday after Thanksgiving. Early on I would attempt to commemorate the event each year by doing something unique such as attempting to donate blood. After a few years I determined to celebrate the anniversary of the accident by just living my life and having a normal day. The best proof of victory involves living well, yes? So, today I attempted to live well by doing what I ordinarily would do. I started by cleaning a little around the house and then taking care of a little bit of banking business. I then spent some time visiting a church member who is in the hospital. Next, I headed to the church property in order to get some work done within the church building for the services on Sunday. I spent the remainder of the day at a family event that involved eating, football, and playing various games. Nothing exciting or innovative, just...a normal and...

So yeah, today marks ten years since my motorcycle accident. I've gone from the start of my 50's to the start of my 60's since then. I've gone from never really thinking about my body to focusing on my physical health daily. A lot of changes have occurred in my life, and I could regale you with all kinds of stories, facts, and trivia concerning my existence this past decade. Instead, however, I'll tell you that the accident happened ten years ago some time around eleven this morning, and it doesn't really matter to me. I almost didn't bother to post this entry on my blog because it's been a busy day. I'm living my life and enjoying God's grace daily, while also enduring a bunch of hassles because of the aftermath of the injuries caused ten years ago. And...it's all OK. Good or bad, easy or hard, it's all a part of the dance. I'm thankful for each day, and I figure that I'll go to bed tonight thankful and satisfied with the life th...

Today I took my niece for a walk around the block of the street on which I live. It's roughly a mile in length, but she likes to look at everyone's house, chase after birds, and attempt to touch anything we run across as I say "no". About three quarters of the way through the trip she asked me to carry her, so I sat her on my shoulders and carried her the rest of the way home. She probably weighs about 30 lbs. It made me think of something that happened nine years ago. A few days before my motorcycle accident I took my car to a mechanic for a repair. I took a backpack full of books and study materials with me in order to get some work done while waiting for the repair to be finished. It turned out that it was going to take the full day for him to get it done so I decided to grab my heavy backpack and walk home. The trip was a few miles, but I made it back without any problem. Incidentally, this was the repair work that led for me to eventually have to take my bike on ...

I read on the local news today that a guy died this morning in a motorcycle accident not too far from where I live. He rode into the back of a car and died at the scene. I’ve thought about it from time to time throughout the day. The thing is that when I hear of something like this it causes me to question my existence a little. In truth, I can’t explain or understand why it is that I didn’t die six years ago, and for whatever reason it troubles me a little. I’ve been told countless times by medical professionals that I should have died, but I don’t really have an answer as to why I’m still here. I really don’t have a clue as to why it is that some people live and some people die. I’m a theologian by calling and profession. I can understand and use terms such as divine providence, mercy, grace, and fate. I have listened while others have told me that “God wasn’t finished with you yet”, and “He still has something left for you to do”. Still, I really have no idea why I’m alive while a g...

I headed out today for a while in order to do a few things at the office and run a few errands for work. One of those errands involved the need to visit a member of the church in a hospital. As the pastor of a church I’m called upon to make my share of visits to various hospitals in our county. The hospital that I visited today is located near my church and as I drove toward the visit I experienced a slowdown in traffic that was the result of an accident up ahead. It turned out to be a motorcycle accident. The road that I was on is the same road on which my accident occurred, roughly a mile away from the exact location. It looked as though there were no other vehicles involved, and the rider didn’t seem to have serious injuries. He was sitting up on the road while speaking to someone and his bike was upright on its kickstand. It looked to me as though he took a sliding dive on a turn. He was banged up, but he seemed to be “OK” in general. Several people, including a police officer, wer...