sore

by

Why The Older You Get The Harder It Gets To Keep Going

This post is republished from January, 2014. I hope you enjoy it.

This morning I played hockey at 6:30 am and, as I reflect on it, I am feeling older. Both my elbows are sore. I’m not sure whether I have tennis elbow or some other injury, but I think I just have to live with it, if I want to keep playing.  

older

This was my first game since before Christmas so I’m still a little winded right now, lounging on my couch in our family room writing this blog. I haven’t done anything active for a while (except shovel snow) so I wasn’t at the top of my game.

There were younger guys playing who had lots of energy. I used to have energy, loved to skate hard and could go forever. Now my hips get tired if I go for too long, so I have to coast a bit or go back on defence.

I notice I’m playing defence a lot more these days. I used to hate being a rear guard, working behind the play, throwing the puck up to the forwards and watching the play develop.  

I was always in the middle of the action. I was quick to break out and always went to the net. I still play with that sense and urge, except now I don’t mind taking a turn initiating the play and watching it unfold as I coast up the ice catching my breath.  

Don’t get me wrong, I would never want to be a full-time defenceman – that’s not me. It’s just that I need a change of pace from skating hard and crashing the net. 

I was a little surprised this morning that my knee felt pretty good. I wear a custom-made carbon fibre brace on my left knee, to give it support because of a torn ACL. I’ve been wearing this brace and it’s predecessor for the past 23 years.

This thing has been a lifesaver. With it, I’ve been able to play baseball, hockey, snow ski, and water ski. Without it, I doubt I would have been able to do any of those things.  

But even with my brace, in the last while my knee has not felt as stable. It feels like it is deteriorating a bit and I may need to have it scoped again some time.  

Being a pastor, I’ve done my fare share of visiting people in the hospital who’ve had hip replacements, knee replacements, and open heart surgery, and their stories stick with me. I hope I won’t be in their place one day.

However, with all my aches and pains, I can’t rule that out. I never saw myself as having parts that would wear out. Now I wonder about that.  

My right elbow has regressed, it feels like it did about two weeks ago. It hurts to even bring my hand up to my face. Oh well, I’ll play again on Monday and try to get myself back in shape. Once I start playing I don’t really think about my aches and pains. 

There’s something about being in the action that dulls all those twinges of discomfort.

Here’s the thing: It’s easy to let little annoyances and pains stop you from doing activities that are good for you. They can become a great excuse, and justify giving up. You find the same thing in your spiritual growth. Little things will try to keep you from continuing on the path of growth. Don’t give in, keep growing.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you find gets in the way of you growing spiritually? Leave your comment below.

by

What To Do With Mystery Pain

For about the last four weeks I’ve had a mystery pain in my elbow that I couldn’t explain.

In my last post, I wrote about an injury that I had. Well, it’s not the only thing that’s hurting me right now. 

Over the last month or so, I noticed that my elbow has been getting sorer. I didn’t fall on it, bump it or do anything I can think of to make it sore.

But it has gotten increasingly more sore. 

I felt around my elbow to see if there was something that I could identify as being the cause of my pain. It looked fine from the outside.  

You could not tell there was anything wrong; it wasn’t swollen or red. It looked exactly like my elbow on my other arm.

But the pain is real. 

It feels like the bone is sore, right at the tip. It’s even sore to touch. If I move it in a certain way, it hurts.  

I couldn’t figure it out, but I started wondering what the problem might be. 

Some of the thoughts I had were not good, and it put a little worry in the back of my mind that this could be something serious that needs immediate attention.

Several years ago, I had a dark growth on my temple. It started as an itchy patch of skin and then developed into something that looked like a mole. 

Over time it got bigger and Lily thought it might be cancer. She wanted me to get it checked. 

Other people noticed it too and said I should check it out. I hesitated going to the doctor because I didn’t want to hear that it could be cancer. 

After much prodding, I went to my doctor who said he’d noticed it and it wasn’t anything. He put some dry ice on it and within a week it had flaked off. It has never come back since. 

When it comes to my sore elbow, I guess there is some of the same fear. I don’t want to find out that there is something really wrong with my elbow.

This Sunday I was telling a friend how it felt. Really quickly he said, “Oh, that’s tennis elbow.”

Well, I haven’t been playing tennis, but tennis elbow is the result of repetitive action that causes pain in the area.

I think my repetitive action is taking wrist shots in hockey. I’ve been putting a lot of torque in my shot and maybe that’s what has caused the pain. 

The problem is, it’s hard to rest an elbow – you’re always using it. Now it’s even tough to hold things. 

Though it’s gotten me out of doing the dishes, it’s also going to keep me out of playing hockey until it feels better. 

I guess the mystery has been solved. I’m going to have to curtail my hockey until the pain in my elbow goes away. 

Here’s the thing: There can be times in your life when you feel distant from God – like He isn’t really there to listen to you. It can be a mystery and hard to put your finger on anything in your life that would create a barrier between you and God. That’s when you should seek out a friend, and tell them how you are feeling. They may see something in you that you’ve become blind to, or through their own experience have an idea what you can do to get close to God again.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What mystery in your life may a friend be able to solve for you? Leave you comments below.