Baron Batch Blog - Detour

Our pastor shared this blog post by Baron Batch yesterday in church, it is worth passing on. 

Lead Strong,

Shawn

 

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Detour

The funny thing about all roads is that at some point they all have potholes, speed bumps and detours. However, the durability of your vehicle is what allows you to reach your destination regardless of your traveling conditions.

Friday I was supposed to play my first NFL game. That won’t happen. Today I tore my ACL. I’m not sure why I’m writing about this right now except for the fact that God put it on my heart to do so. I probably should be devastated at the fact I wont play my rookie season but… I’m not.  After my season ending injury my freshman year of college I promised myself that I would never ask God “why?” again and I’m not about to start now. It’s during the tough times that we are able to grow. I’m excited to hit another growth spurt.

I’ve never been so close to something and then have it pulled away. I felt like my NFL career was within grasp, I could feel it on my fingertips only to have it pulled away and postponed. As I was being carted off the field today I could clearly hear my mothers voice whispering, “Have faith son, have faith.”

Faith is something that I will once again have to lean on more than ever as I begin the rehab process.  It won’t be easy by any means but rarely is that the case with life. One thing I can assure everyone is this.

God will get glory from this and I am more than happy to be his instrument. By no means did I see this happening to me or could have possibly planned for something like this. However, I have learned time and time again that if my plans and Gods plans stayed in sync I would never be challenged to grow because I would not willingly put myself in tough situations such as this.  Trying to understand Gods plan will bring insanity, trusting it brings peace.

I’m excited to see how this will be used.

How Ironic...

Several weeks ago a colleague asked me to speak to her team of co-workers whose grant had not been renewed. She knew that I had deactivated (closed) 3 programs in the last year and a half and thought I could address the process and all that is happening within their lives (hers included as her job was done away with as well), and maybe bring a new perspective. I was honored that she asked, maybe a little hesitant in that as an administrator I can easily be seen as the enemy and the one responsible for people losing their jobs, even though in this case I had nothing to do with any of it. So, this afternoon I will address these great people who have given their time and energy to make their program successful. Now they have lost their jobs, no fault of their own, victims of a recessed economy and reduced educational funding. However, ironically, today I'll bring a new perspective that I hadn't had until last Friday at 12:30 PM. You see, it was then that Rochelle received notice that her grant, which had been approved for another year on July 1, had now been rescinded by the TEA and she too is unemployed as of August 31.

Rochelle quipped this morning that maybe she should attend this healing session of sorts today.

It's a funny world we live in isn't it?

Lead Strong, appreciate what you have and don't take it for granted.

Shawn