Coming Back Stronger

I confess I was more interested in talking with my friend than watching the Super Bowl this year. Had I known Chris was going to work on a book with Drew Brees, I might have paid more attention.

Chris worked on Drew's story during a low point in our recovery. He would emerge from his writing closet and encourage me with parallels between Drew's shoulder injury and our story. He would remind me how long it takes to rehabilitate a torn labrum, the part of the shoulder that dictates the ability to throw a ball. He also reminded me how long it takes to rebuild a city ravaged by a deadly hurricane.

"It's just like us!" he would say. "We're going to come back stronger!" Sometimes he would grab my shoulders, look into my tear-stained eyes, and believe it for me.

Chris is speaking this weekend. About the book and about our story. Here's an excerpt from his blog:

I’m going to talk about the parallels between my family’s story and the Drew Brees book. When I was asked to help write that and then went through the interviewing and writing process, I couldn’t help but think that God has a sense of humor and timing. What we went through with our home, our health, mold, and all the setbacks and bills, uniquely gave me the vision to tell Drew’s story. I'm still surprised I got to do it. There are so many better writers out there.

There were moments when I was talking with Drew when I just had to laugh. I couldn’t hold it in because the things he was talking about regarding adversity were things I had lived in a totally different way. In a sense, writing that book was my Super Bowl experience after what should have ended my career. God had a different plan.

I’m going to tell the guys tomorrow what happened to Drew. I’m going to rehearse what happened to us. And then I’m going to try and help them apply that to their own adversity, whatever that is. I believe God lets us go through these things to help make us stronger. But he also has another item on the agenda.

In Psalm 119 I was struck this morning by these verses.

67 Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I obey your word.

71 It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I might learn your decrees.

As hard as it is to see it this way, I’m grateful for mold. I’m grateful for the difficulties we’ve faced. What happened has brought me closer to God than I even wanted. In another verse it talks about God being “our portion.” I know that from experience, not just from reading it. And I've learned that when I have him as my portion, no one can take that away. And I have a future. And I have unlimited hope."

Timeless truth for anyone with a torn labrum, or a tattered heart.