Do You Believe in Answered Prayer?

No pictures today.  I started one with photos, but decided to switch gears.  I had something happen to me today that just doesn't happen to me every day.  The story starts two weeks ago when I woke up for church.  I almost couldn't get out of bed.  I absolutely felt like a 90-year-old woman.  I had to kind of slide over to the edge of the bed and swung my legs over and quite gingerly sat up.

My back went out like this maybe a year ago.  It was so painful.  I couldn't stand up, sit down, walk, lay down.  It was awful.  My incredible chiropractor and deep tissue torturer (I refuse to call him my massage therapist...230 pounds bearing down on a poor little know is torture plain and simple) were able to get me all fixed up after a couple of visits.

So, this time I went, went through the torture treatment and got better, but not totally well.  I went again later in the week and felt even better still, maybe a lot better.  Of course that led to doing too much over the weekend.  That excess led to a third visit left me able to walk fairly well, but twisting and sitting  were still tough.  

Enter my friend, Susan.  Susan is the woman who put a chip in James when he was four years old that was programmed to make him want to go to Guatemala when he turned eight.  I don't have any proof of that, buy I am convinced of it nevertheless.  We've been with her on mission trips five times and she's been countless other times.  (Maybe not countless but more than I can count on my fingers and toes.)  She decided that she and another friend needed to come prayer for back this morning.

Bright and early at 9 AM Susan and Stephanie show up our house.  After reading some verses from Psalm 119 beginning around verse 20 about delighting in God's law, they prayed.  And guess what?  When they were done my back felt better...a lot better.  It still had a little catch to it, but I could move around so much better.  I got so much done today, but I was so aware of God's mercy and how I hadn't been able to do any of my to do list for the past two weeks.  I was like a new person.

If you're not sure about this pray thing, you should definitely try it.  I'm "walking" proof.

It Was Grueling

I have fallen down a bit on my commitment to post regularly...hopefully every week.  Maybe I can give you a little color on what's been going on for us during late summer.

The last week of July is always the Georgia Cycling Gran Prix.  It's a series of 6 races over 5 days.  It's hot, it's hard and did I mention it's hot?  Grueling is a much better word and I'm not even talking about the cyclists.  That's just for the parents that are lugging them to all those races.  I noticed there weren't a ton of spectators for the men racers - they were much too smart for getting out.

These races were part of an omnium, meaning that there were points awarded for each race (with winners for each races).  At the end of the races, the person with the most points would win the omnium.  This picture is the beginning of the last race.

When James came around after one lap, he and his closest competition were at the back.  I mean the way back.  I mean like minutes after the younger, smaller, weaker kids had passed.  They looked like they were out for a Sunday afternoon ride on cruiser bikes.  Maybe I should explain a bit.

The first race didn't count in his omnium because it didn't have any junior races, so he and his friend/competition raced category (or against men).  The next day they raced a crit.  I've only been to this one particular crit once.  It's in the parking lot of the Gwinnett Arena.  On that blacktop it was hotter than Hades.  (I learned my lesson and my sweet husband always takes him.)  Any way, it was close, but the competition beat him by about a half wheel maybe half bike length.  The race was on.

The next day was a road/circuit race.  They make really big loops and the race is generally a longer distance.  This photo catches James just as he's about to cross the finish line.  The competition?  About a bike length and a half behind.  They had each won a race.

The next day was the time trial and the crit in downtown Covington.  We were pretty sure James wouldn't win the TT, but he felt good about the other races.  We were right about the time trial, but he was feeling good and ready for the crit later that same afternoon.

It was really hot again.  Miserable.  We watched those guys go round and round.  James took that crit pretty easily.  His sprint has really gotten a lot stronger.  The competition was ahead by only 1 point since the TT didn't count as much as the other races.

So we come back to that last race.  Another circuit.  Those guys played cat and mouse until the very end.  They knew that it would come down to whomever finished ahead of the other.  It was sooo close, but in the end James lost by half a tire.  He was ahead and got caught right at the line.  Nevertheless I was so proud of how he raced over 5 grueling days.