So it's been a while since I have posted on here, for various reasons. One reason is I got an iPad, so I don't do much that involves a lot of typing anymore (this was definitely not typed on the iPad). Another is that I have two little boys and am just plain busy. The biggest reason, however, is that I have had a pretty horrible last month and at points was physically unable to sit down and type. I'll just warn you now, this is going to be a long one.

A couple months ago, I strained my lower back playing basketball. It felt like muscle pain, so I hit up the chiropractor to get it fixed. The muscle pain was pretty easy to fix, but as that went away, a sharp nerve pain started showing up. Fast forward a month and I had nerve pain shooting down my entire leg to my toes which was causing the muscles in my left hip and leg to clench up and be extremely painful – like a permanent leg cramp in almost every muscle in your leg. Come to find out that my L5 and S1 discs are bulging out and pressing on my nerves, thus the pain.

X-rays, an MRI, and a cortisone shot later (about another month) and I am finally back to functioning like a mostly normal person, except that it is going to take a long time to actually heal. I'm just glad I am not in a ton of pain anymore. I am definitely not out of the woods yet, but I feel like I am finally on the downhill side of this thing (except I have another shot scheduled in a week and a consultation with a surgery doctor next month so we'll see). That being said, I am not blogging about this for sympathy. I just wanted to share that because I have learned quite a bit through this experience.

The first thing I learned was just how blessed I am. Unless I have blocked something from my memory, I can say that there was a period of two weeks (culminating in my birthday of course) that were probably the worst two weeks of my life. I could barely walk. I couldn't get comfortable. I had pain that no amount of drugs could get rid of. I have two little boys that want to wrestle with me and be picked up all the time and I had to keep telling them no. And probably the worst part was I had to watch my wife (who is absolutely incredible by the way) basically be a single mother while I was unable to help her with anything. It was horrible. But then my cortisone shot finally kicked in and I detoxed from Vicodin (really, I had three days of withdrawals when I finally stopped taking it) and I gained some perspective. If the worst thing that has ever happened to you is chronic pain, no matter how excruciating, then you are pretty blessed. I have a wife that can handle taking care of two little boys and a handicapped husband. I have two little boys that actually want to play with me. I had food on the table every night. Nobody died. There are a lot worse things that can happen to you than having chronic pain.

Not only that, but I learned that we have an amazing church family that was totally there for us. Without even asking for help, I had people ask to help with whatever we needed. Some friends came over and helped us finish our garden before it was too late in the season. Other friends cooked us dinner and fixed our drip system. Another friend took care of mowing our lawn, which was totally out of control. This past month has definitely taught me just how big of a deal the little things are to someone who is in need. Honestly, I don't know how anyone survives without sharing their life with other people. I cannot imagine going through life without having awesome friends that I know would do anything for me, just like I would for them.

The most important thing I learned though (or I guess you could say I realized the magnitude of something I already knew to be true) is that I worship a God who understands suffering. On possibly my darkest day of the past month, I read a devotion by Greg Laurie that was discussing that topic. Jesus suffered way worse than I did this past month. He understands our suffering. He gets it. Because let's be honest here, life is amazing and beautiful and fun, but life is also brutal and painful and cold and it beats you down sometimes. In many ways, the better life gets, the more painful it can be. What a joy it is to know that the God of the universe not only loves me and cares for me, but he understands exactly what my suffering is like because he has been there. What a friend I have in Jesus.

So, with thoughts of great friends and family on my mind, I will leave you with the beautiful sounds of Sugarland. (I think these lyrics videos are totally cheesy, but the song is awesome.)