Stay the Course

In the middle of all of the health problems, I need to continue on with my commitment with the GT Dirt Coalition and finish what I started. I did not take in account how much the Army would take out of me physically while in training. Some of the races I had scheduled while in SC did not come through and I also had some other responsibilities to take care of while training. I did participate in a couple of road races in the last two weeks before my family came down. The first one I was not ready for and ended up somewhere in the pack after being lapped. Not my best day of racing. The next race was to be a time trial in the morning then a circuit race that same evening. Time trial went great, I was 4th. The circuit race never happened for me. The race was to start at 5 p.m. Long about 3:30 p.m. a storm came up and never went away. I had never seen so much rain. The parking lot was a river! I walked from my car to the registration tent to ask what was going on and the course official said part of the course was under water. Needless to say the race was not going to happen that day and we were instructed to come back in the morning. Unfortunately, I had an obligation on that next morning. Being Sunday, I had to go be in Chapel service.
I did race another Criterium this last weekend in Dixon, IL. It was part of the city’s yearly festival honoring former president Ronald Reagan. He grew up near Dixon and was this was his hometown. The race was sponsored in part by no other than Jelly Belly (Reagan’s favorite snack). It was the first time race for the organizers, but one of the best run I have ever attended. I hope they run it again next year. I took 10th place in my race and really was the best road race I ever did.
Thank you to all who have given prayers and support during this time. We are keeping our faith in Christ as we stay the course.

In the Midst of Trials

It has been some time since I last updated the happenings in life here at the blog and it is well past time. I have finished my time in the Army for the time being. I still need to get a few ends tied, but all in all I am ready to go the next level of accessioning into the Reserve and actually being a chaplain. The last week of my time down in South Carolina Joy and the kids came down and we camped out in the hotel all cozy and sick. The night I went to pick them up at the airport I was running a high fever and coughing up a lung. This was not a good way to see my family after 6 weeks. The kids were ale to not get as sick as me, but Joy was not as lucky. We were both down for a couple of days, but not at the same time. It has only been recently that I have stopped coughing and really started feeling better.
Much of what has been happening since I got home has been dealing with some mystery virus that Joy came down with a little over a month ago. While visiting her sister, she started loosing the spatial relationship of her legs; kind of weird I know. It came on very sudden, or what seemed to be sudden. She began having difficulty walking by not being able to control her legs. She has gone to multiple doctors to include a neurologist with no diagnosis other than it is some kind of virus that needs to run its course. So in the meantime, she is going to physical therapy as the only course of action. There is not another treatment recommended, because the cause is unknown. We are basically waiting for this to go away or for something else to happen…sounds like fun doesn’t it?
It has not been easy to deal with because there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to when the periods of difficulties happen. Some days are good some days not so good. We do have a great support system both here at the church and with family with many giving help and prayer. I never discount the power of the faithful praying. It often seems that our prayers go unanswered, but sometimes what seems like silence is God wrapping His arms around us and giving us comfort; even crying with us through the pain and frustration. Our prayer is absolutely that Joy would be cured; but in the midst of the trial we are looking for peace and understanding. Our next step is to put one foot in front of the other.