I thought I was a little more behind than I actually am; I really though it had been a month since I last posted something. Three weeks is not bad, considering the craziness of the holidays! No excuses though, the first of the year should bring more consistent postings.A few weeks ago our team experienced some sad moments and really happy moments. On December tenth Jenica told the team that she would not be continuing on with us to Ipswich. She had many reasons why. It was really hard to see her go, but I think God is already working the situation out to His glory. The day after that came the good moment, Gregory graduated from college! We got to spend the evening with his parents and sister, and had a blast celebrating that big milestone with him.Our team spent the seventeenth through the twentieth at an amazing lodge on Lake Brownwood. This was our last (and longest) module! It was spiritually, emotionally, and physically exhausting, but it was amazing. I cried everyday we were there, what is that about! I think I'm getting more weepy as the days go by. The timing for the module was really good, our new three person team got to talk about how we felt about losing Jenica and all the implications that go along with that. I also had the amazing blessing of growing closer to the women of the team that is moving to Chile in 2011. I have a new love for each and every one of them!Our Christmas was a bit scrambled; our schedule got a little messed up. As my sister said when I told her we would not make it to see them in Bastrop, "This is turning out to be a very untraditional Christmas!" Amen sister! We will be seeing them later in the month, so that will be good. At least we were not stranded on I-20 for eleven hours on Christmas eve like some of our friends! You know who you are. :)On a totally unrelated note, I read this article about Ipswich today and thought it was interesting.http://www.qt.com.au/story/2009/12/30/council-say-they-can-cope-with-population/
Monday night was quite a new experience for me, I was punched in the face and broke my nose. I didn't block a punch at kickboxing, and the rest is history. However, the entire night was graced by the presence of God so I'd like to share some of that history. Although I don't consider this graphic some might, so read with caution!
Let's start with the punch. It came rather quickly, so while it didn't hurt at first I knew something was wrong. I had just enough time to pull off my gloves before my nose started bleeding all over the floor. The initial shock of it all led me to stand there and bleed all over the floor much longer than I should have, sorry about that to my instructor and owner of the school! He encouraged me to go into the bathroom and get some paper towels. I went into the bathroom breathing quite heavily (that's what I do when I experience traumatic physical pain, I heave), and my instructor quickly followed after me with a cold pack. I sat in the bathroom with the cold pack for just a few seconds before the guy who hit me in the face ran into the bathroom with a HUGE bag of ice! In freak out mode (and probably a little bit of dad mode, he has little ones at home) he wanted to get some ice for my nose, and I guess that's all they had at the gas station next door! He filled a bag with ice and gave it to me for my nose. In the meantime one of the other students at our school came in to ask a question about cleaning the blood off the floor. Granted he works there part time, but did I mention he is a pro MMA fighter offering to clean up my blood?
Next came the real issue...how I would get to the ER. My instructor and the above student I just mentioned suggested that I get to the ER as soon as possible so I could get my nose reset. You can imagine that a lot of those guys have had their noses broken before! My instructor got my phone for me so I could call my husband to come get me...but in the midst of the chaos I forgot that he does not have a vehicle right now. He's driving a huge fire truck around to show to customers, and picking me up in that would not work very well. My instructor offered to take me to the ER while Matt found a way to get there, but then the guy who hit me insisted that he do it instead. Everyone got my stuff together and he took me down to the ER. As I walked out the door all the guys were sure to give me some sort of "hope all turns out well" goodbye.
I'd like to stop here for a moment and share how I saw God working at the school that night. When everyone saw that I was hurt, they jumped into action. My instructor stopped teaching class to come and help me. He even offered to reset my nose for me, which he did with kind of a scared, "I don't really want to, but I can if you need me to" look. Definitely a no, but it was a nice thought! The guy who hit me had nothing on his mind but making sure that the bleeding stopped and that he got me to the ER. Even my friend and fellow student came to check on me and ask how my nose felt before he finished cleaning the blood up off the floor. Monday night those guys were my family, taking care of me until my husband could be there. They didn't judge or make fun of me, they helped me. God was showing his love through the care and concern of those guys that night.
I have another family that would have done the same thing though (besides my obvious birth family), and that's the group of people that I share my relationship with Jesus with. I know that if none of the guys from the school could have taken me to the ER, then any one of the people I participate in house church with would have dropped what they were doing to come and get me. The thing I love about my martial arts school is that anyone and everyone is welcome. Your skill level, age, or athleticism don't matter, what matters is that you go and try your hardest. However, there is one thing missing. Although I am very close to a few people at my school and know the most joyous and painful parts of their lives, I do not have a relationship with each and every student. There is no encouragement to share life outside of the martial arts world. Do I think that's a bad thing? No, not really. If people could find all fulfillment in a relationship with the martial arts world, then there would be no need for Jesus. However, they can't. I can't, or else I would have quit participating in my house church a long time ago and would just go work out all the time! My family in Christ shares one thing that my marital arts family does not, and that's the encouragement to bring the really dark corners of our lives out into the open so that Jesus can flood them with his light and love.
Now for part two of God's story. The guy got me to the ER and decided to stay until Matt got there. I sat down, and there was one other couple in the waiting room. Their situation seemed much worse. The woman was rocking back and forth crying and saying, "I can't lose a baby, I'm halfway there!" It was obvious she was there because she thought she was having a miscarriage. I'm sitting there in almost no pain, with a little blood on my clothes, and she's experiencing a life or death moment with her husband and unborn child. I sat there and prayed for them, asking God to save their lives. After just a few seconds the nurse came to take her away. I lost some money on a trip to the ER and a few extra hours of sleep that night, but there is a very good chance that a husband and wife lost the life of their little baby. It was very humbling. I partially think that I got punched in the face because I did not block, but even more than that I think I got punched in the face so that God would have someone crying out to him on behalf of that family Monday night. I think if you look in the Bible you will find many instances when people who give their lives to God are put in hard situations so that they can bless other people, and I think Monday night was one of those moments. There's nothing special about me, but what makes me special is that God wants to include me in his work in this world.
Since I am on the topic of family, there are a few other people I need to mention from this string of events. I need to give a huge thanks to my father in law and Matt for coming to take care of me. Scott got Matt to me at the ER, waited on me, and then took us back to my car which was at the karate school. He stayed out super late with finals to tend to the next day to be there for his family. Also, Matt is ridiculously sick right now, and he drove me to the pharmacy at midnight to get medicine after my ER visit. He is an amazing husband! Lastly, my mother in law and grandmother made us dinner tonight so that Matt and I would not have to be busy in the kitchen after I got my nose reset today. I am really blessed!
