One of the greatest things about getting older is that you get to experience so much more that this life has to offer. One of the worse things about getting older is that your body does not keep up.

Last night some of the youth wanted to have open gym to play some basketball. I have not been playing much this summer because of all the things that have been going on, but I figured that I would come out and show up some of the students. To my surprise I was doing fairly good for about an hour…..then I started Feeling It. I’m sure you know the feeling: Sweat is dripping from places you didn’t think sweated, muscles are starting to cramp, the water fountain can’t produce enough water, and your feet seem like they are about to fall off from the throbbing pain.

At that time I figured I better take a break a sit down in a chair that was on the stage. After a few minutes I made the decision that I was not going to play anymore and began to unlace my basketball shoes. That’s when it hit me. A sharp pain went up through my back and I knew that something was wrong. By the time I arrived home and walked through the door I had become completely stiff. Nicole then said, “suck it up old man.” That really encouraged me to throw the first thing I touched at her. Just kidding.

My morning would be fairly easy as I would spend some time in the office editing video and working on my sermon for Wednesday. I tried to fly in under the radar, but as I walked into the church office Bro. Jerry quickly said, “What is wrong with you?” So then I explained that Nicole thought it would be good idea to hit me with the car. He didn’t believe me so I gave him the truth and he told me the worst is yet to come. I’m glad that I have encouraging partners in ministry that give me a hope for a future….

Though my experience with back aches are not over I understand that I need to exercise more than ever now. I’m not a pill popper which makes it worse at times, but hopefully it’ll remind me in the future to take it a bit slower and realize that if I don’t want to “feel it” the next day I need to spend some time preparing my body for activities with youth.

Thank you Jesus for a hurt back,
Chris