As homecoming festivities commence on high school and college campuses across the country, I was reminded of a nightmarish event this morning. During my sophomore year of high school, I gathered up enough courage to ask one of my cross country teammates to our upcoming Homecoming Dance. However, there was a problem, I didn’t know how to dance and I wasn’t old enough to drive. Since I really liked her, I didn’t have the foresight to consider any of the obstacles until I received an answer.
Unfortunately, I received 3 different answers over a 4 day period. I felt like a ping pong, still up in the air, but ready to be hit back and forth. I went from a maybe to a I’ll meet you there to a gut wrenching “I’m going with someone else from school.” Running 8 miles for practice is hard enough, yet when you add this devastating news to my mind, I became emotionally unstable. After running 5 miles along the Brandywine River, with my thoughts racing back and forth, I finally crashed in the form of an anxiety attack.
This emotional breakdown, while frustrating at the time, was a turning point in my life. Up to this moment, I was trusting in myself. Although I owned a Bible, I never used it unless I was in church listening to a priest read from the Old and New Testament. A few weeks following this incident, I finally accepted an invite to attend a Fellowship of Christian Athlete’s Bible Study, rejecting offers for the first 15 months of high school. Then, on December 3rd, 1983, I publicly professed my faith in Christ, Romans 10:9-10 at another FCA event. God used this rejection and preceding breakdown to lead me toward heaven’s door, Revelation 3:20. If you are having one of those days, remember that the storms of life strengthen you, helping you to become mature and complete as a person, James 1:2-4.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 