Buffet

I had a thought awhile ago. A creep-out, actually. A being-creeped-out that there are days when I never get my heart rate up or use my muscles for anything but walking, sitting, standing, walking again.. laying down... Augh! Jibbly jibbly jibbly.

Sitting there stagnating when I'm 23 years old!

So Sunday was a good day for buffeting of the body, and I went for it headlong.

A group from church--the elder 4(!) Calvettis, Taylor boys, Graham guys, elder 2 Q's, Kevin, Dad and myself--convened in the sunshine and breeze at Quinlisk Park eager to get the disc flyin' in a Providence Church ultimate frisbee game. We putzed around at first, and took a break to drive to Wendy's after an hour, but we still logged plenty of foot-pounding, lung-pounding action over the grass and through the sky.
I tell you what - football could never compare to frisbee. You can't bend a football throw around three people and have it lift up higher, hang in the air, and float down to a receiver right in the middle of defenders.

Round about 4 o'clock my legs were starting to tell me I couldn't go on much longer, and I was relieved to find that that was the general feeling. So a couple more goals, and we were done. With frisbee, that is. I've been itching to play basketball, and I had Mike Q bring a ball from the Q's house, so I headed right over to the hoops. An over-inflated ball with double rims makes for tough shots, but Brian, Mitchel and I still got some good 21 action in. Then the Hetricks came, Mrs. Bodine picked up Brian, and the games continued. Till I rolled my ankle. Not good. It hurt so much at first I didn't think about much but getting through it, but pretty soon I saw the weeks ahead looming with ace bandages, ice packs, limping all over work for 12 hours.. just like the last time this happened.

But this time I knew without question that we should pray for it. God is stirring things up here at Providence, and moving, and I could totally see Him healing this and having mercy on the consequences. So Jeremy prayed, and from then on it has seemed like a one-fourth as serious accident. It calmed down greatly, and I walked around a bit, although I could tell it would get jazzed up if I did much. I drove home with the stick shift, took a shower, and pretty much went on with my life! It's been a bit sensitive, and now it's mildly sore.
...after playing basketball for two and a half hours yesterday! So praise and thanks are due to God for straight-up mercy on my weak joint, making it heal way faster than is normal for me.

That was an abrupt end of the action Sunday (for me), but yesterday (Thursday) was an off day on my shift schedule, and I met Jeremy at the BP community center at noon for some more Bball, which was sweet. It was a great day off. Basketball at the cool new community center gym, then a big lunch at Chick-fil-A sitting out side, then a stop at the church office for some youth camp stuff, and lastly, another hour of basketball at Quinlisk Park. Running around dribbling and sinking shots, with Good Charlotte pumping out of my car and the warm air and occasional sun breaking through... it felt good, man.

I like Bethel Park, I like basketball, I like days off on the shift schedule, I like spring weather turning warm, I like exercise, I like my subwoofer and sound system, I like Chick-fil-A, and I liked Thursday. It was a good gift from God, and I'm grateful, and I don't deserve it.

May the body buffeting continue.

--JPB