ankle angels

We do not know the thousands of times a day God allows His angels to intervene, to protect us, to keep a kid out of the path of a careless driver, to prevent the transmission of a deadly disease.  But we could use a few angels assigned particularly to ankles on our team.  Sarah sprained hers on Sunday, after Jack, Scott, and Doug in the weeks before, all pretty mild.  Ashley had a severe ligament tear a few months ago.  And the latest to fall was Luke, playing with his old friends at Christ School Monday on the first day of his break.  For months he has been talking about how he looks forward to coming back here to play every day, to run and kick the ball, to get in shape for the Fall soccer season at RVA.  So when he went down in a slide tackle on the FIRST DAY BACK, and nearly passed out from the pain as his ankle quickly doubled in size . . it was a huge loss.  Today the xray does not show a fracture, but it could still be weeks to a month, or more, before he's playing again, and will potentially impact his ability to play at RVA.  For those who remember how hard he worked to get on the team last year, and then missed almost the whole season with a knee injury, you will appreciate just how sad this is for him, and by extension for all of us.  The spate of injuries relates to hard play, rough fields, and gripping cleats.  And to the general background of trouble in this world.

About an hour before his injury, Pat and I had been talking about parental faith, about Abraham and Isaac, and praying specifically that we could believe in God's goodness even when our kids are not well.  I find the timing pretty amazing, that God put this on Pat's heart and mine, that we actually were prepared by prayer to accept this from His hands.  Jack piped up at dinner that we can't know God's plan, and maybe the immobility of this sprain is saving Luke's life in some other way (as in the aforementioned road risks).  Out of the mouth of babes.

So we plod on in faith, hoping for a miraculously fast healing of the ligaments, praying that Luke would not be discouraged, that he would find other ways to relate to his friends, that he would rebound by September.  And we ask for continued prayers for the thriving of all our kids, who often seem to be stretched on the altar as vulnerable as Isaac, waiting for the ram in the thicket.