Don't Call it a Comeback

I don't know if you saw the Broncos play the Atlanta Falcons last Sunday but it was a dire and desperate first half for the Broncos. I went to bed in exhausted disgust, leaving Rob to cheer on the home team.  Next morning, the headlines showed the score narrowed to 27 - 21 (not in our favor) and Rob observed, "the Broncos almost staged a comeback."  At which point our six year old started to rap, "Don't call it a come back, don't call it a come back."  He has the lyrics to 80's rap song "Mama Said Knock You Out" apparently on speed dial in his brain.

The gut-busting laughter that followed was a great moment but even more than that, Daniel's rap got me thinking. Am I staging a (lengthy) comeback or am I headed in a new direction? On Sunday (well before the game) I went to 9:00 services at church and heard a great sermon on how "passion plus vision equals transformation."  I've been long on passion in my life but not always strong on vision. Reverend Millard compared passion to a car's engine and vision to it's steering wheel. With a lot of passion and no vision, your car goes tearing around in circles. With vision and no passion, your car is pointed in the right direction but never gets anywhere. For the past eighteen months I have approached short-term goals (mainly in athletics) with great passion but with no long-term vision. I circled off onto a specious road-ramp, away from the main highway and purpose of my life.

So I wouldn't say my prayed-for return to health is a comeback. I need to restore both my energy and passion as well as install a long-term vision for how I can best serve my family and friends and community. That's a lot of work to do, and sometimes I think my healing is slow because I have so much spiritual and mental work to do as well as so much physical damage to repair. As always, I struggle to be patient and trust any timeline that is not my own. But a little music and laughter goes a long way.