I'm cured. How are you?

I've thought it more times than I've said it when people ask how I am. It is a little quick and even flippant which is why I've restrained from saying it frequently, but it couldn't be more true. A year ago this month I took a day off school to get a blood transfusion so I would be ready to coach a middle school match that afternoon (note that I took school off and not wrestling). Now, I'm worried more about how long to marinate my steaks than I am about my health. Incidentally, three days in a teriyaki, garlic, and sesame oil marinade is magic with rib eyes and flanks.

Last night we celebrated a season finished as the Squalicum Wrestlers, their families, and the coaches participated in our end of the season banquet. This was no ordinary season with a changing of the guard for a head coach and my full return to coaching as an assistant. I made this season more about me than I will ever do again as a coach, but my selfish ambitions were robbed by a group of wrestlers that reminded me why I coach in the first place. This was a year of exceeded expectations, capped by a young lady that made it to the state finals when her season goal was just to wrestle on day 2 of the tournament and simply place in the top 8.

Not to bore you with wrestling details, but there is an indescribable feeling as a coach to be in a pressed shirt, a tie, and a pinstripe suit waiting for your wrestler to battle for a state championship.When I traveled to Baltimore, MD to visit with my doctor in January for a standard 6 month check up, I did my best to describe to him this feeling of coaching in the finals. He listened and patiently responded.


He told me that seeing me in his office...cured, is the same feeling we as coaches feel when all the months of hard work and preparation, sweat, and tears produce a champion.

So here I am, cured! I am back to teaching and coaching which means long hours and caring too much about my students and my athletes. It means that the precious few hours I spend with my family are in fact few, but God is faithful in guarding those times so my girls can enjoy a healthy dad and Kelly can love a healthy husband. It means that plans for our future contain fewer "ifs" and more "whens".

My life is very seasonal as a teacher and a coach, and unfortunately my walk with Christ is seasonal as well. There are times where I am committed to reading my bible daily and praying constantly, but now is not one of those times. I could blame it on schedule or the emotional recovery of an intense wrestling season but they are just excuses. A second lease on life should mean a renewal of faith and commitment to living for Christ, but I think I am still riding the emotional high. Anyone that has experienced an amazing season of redemption, whether physical, spiritual, or emotional, can ride the waves for a while but eventually the waves crash on the shore and the ride is over.

I need to renew my daily walk with my creator. Time in the word, time in prayer, time in worship, grounding myself for service, seizing opportunities to act in faith, praying for more opportunities. God allowed me to be cured because he is not done with me on earth, and that is the ONLY reason he didn't take me. Those that know, know how close it was.

I tell my athletes that practice is the most important time and place for success. You can only perform as good as you practice, and unless you have rehearsed winning in practice it will be nearly impossible in competition. It's time to take my own advice, and program my spiritual muscle memory to respond when the wave dies and the ride is over.