My Motorcycle Injuries

  A few nights ago I was getting things ready for our Wednesday evening service at church. I always arrive before anyone else with my wife and daughter in order to get things fully prepared for the service. My knee started to bend backward as I was walking at the front of the main auditorium and I came to an abrupt and painful halt. I steadied myself on a communion table and sat for a minute. This has happened to me before over the years, but not to the extent of that evening's near collapse. The stranger thing was that it happened two more times within the next half hour. It's never done that before. The sensation almost feels as though there's nothing holding my leg together at the center and it will fall apart in two seperate sections. The pain goes away soon enough, but the uncertainty that comes with every step taken after this happens lingers for a while. The stranger thing is that I've done a lot of work involving my legs since then. I've been walking, kneeli...

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 occured 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 tha...

The holidays are coming soon, and on my wife's side of the family this means that everyone will be busy with countless details in order to get things like food, homes, and event details ready. It's all a little excessive, but why be all Scroogy about it on this blog when they get enough of it from me in person. Anyhoo, the whole planning thing caused me to think a little about the things that have been going on for me these past couple of months. I'm taking a trip overseas in early January (Turkey, Israel, and Jordon... don't ask). I've been exercising like it matters because the trip that I'm taking will require a lot of daily walking and I also have an A1C test coming up in late December. Also, I've been super careful about my eating in order to keep my blood glucose level in good shape. I often feel tired in an almost groggy way by midday, but I really need to be prepared for everything that I'll be going through within the next couple of months. Thes...

Time marches on. I had slacked off a little over the past several months concerning my exercise routine, but I’ve been back on track with all of it over the last month and a half. I started slowly, but I’ve been methodical about how I advance with it all because I’m no longer just a guy with a bunch of old motorcycle accident wounds. Yeah, I’m also a guy who turned sixty this summer. I feel that physically I’m pretty much fit and capable, but I find myself sometimes describing my abilities now with the term “for a guy my age”. Next up is me finding the need to use the term “in my day”. Uh-huh, there better not be any neighborhood kids wanting to mess around on my front lawn or I’ll go all Clint Eastwood on them. I still walk roughly five miles a day while also doing upper body work with weights, pushups, stretching, and some boxing equipment. None of it is very complex, but I try to keep things going for myself in a way that keeps the aftereffects of my injuries under control. It will ...

This morning in church one of the members came to me and said that she had to share something with me. She then told me that she and her family had just gone through the same intersection in which my accident occured and they came very close to hitting a red light runner. I said, "yeah, people can be dangerously careless", and I moved on with the morning. Although I didn't make too big a deal of it, one thing sort of bothered me.  The thing that set me to thinking was the fact that she and her family actually considered me after having something like that happen to them. I mean, why should something like my accident or my injuries be important enough to her that she would think of me while her own safety was jeopardized? I realize that I'm the pastor of the church, so my positioning is maybe a little more prominant, but really? I feel so very much insignificant, and this accident, along with the ensuing injuries, sort of proved it to me. So what is it...have I made su...

My life and schedule continue to change as things evolve and I move forward. My body isn't changing all that much these days. It's always the same old stuff...soreness, pain, and fatigue. Still, I'm getting plenty of things done at home and around the church property. I have no great restrictions in what I'm able to do, but in the end I pay with a body that feels as though it needs to be replaced, repaired, or rejected.  Still, after all that's been said to me by multiple health care professionals regarding the fact that I probably should have died in the accident because of the combined injuries that I sustained, I feel that each day is a gift given to me. I had no spinal damage, brain damage, or loss of limbs in the accident after being hurled onto a windshield and then thrown to the ground while riding at 40 mph. That in itself should leave me thankful each day as I awaken and actually get myself out of bed. But even greater is the fact that I have, since the acc...

 I'll turn sixty in a couple of days. The motorcycle accident occured when I was fifty years old. Ten years ago I was roughly 50 lbs. heavier than I am now and I had stopped exercising with any level of consistency. To be honest, none of that mattered to me. I was happy enough with everything in my life. However, I now keep my weight at a healthy level and I eat within fairly healthy standards because of the diabetes that was brought on by damage done to my pancreas in the accident. I also exercise regularly and it involves walking, stretching, pushups and weight lifting, along with some work on a punching bag.  I sometimes wonder what things would be like now if I hadn't been in such a horrific accident back then. I mean, would I be a heart attack waiting to happen? Would I be a plump guy who has trouble fitting into a booth at a restaurant? Would I have to resize my clothes every two years and wind up falsely claiming that jeans companies are making them smaller now?  I...