"SIDELINED"

Who would have guessed that just half way through the Otter Football season these two young men would be comforting each other on the sidelines. Nicholas tore his MCL last week in practice and Adam fractured his Tibia during the second game of the year. So tonight they enjoyed watching the Viking vs Packer game together.

It's been said that "misery loves company". These two have demonstrated this more then once. In ninth grade they both had pnemonia in their left lungs at the same time and now....they both injure their left legs! We may need to separate them.

The coach has had enough of this. Who says it takes this long to heal a fractured tibia?

Do you think he might be serious?" Could we at least remove the rust from the saw first?

Darin, Adam and Nick or "The Three Muskateers". This was Nick and Adam's response when Darin came downstairs complaining that his leg hurt. With Darin's leg in their grip, they are trying to give him something to really complain about!

So, what does a mother say to her senior son when he hears his season is most likely over? As mother's we have an incredible need and desire to fix a hurt and yet the truth is that sometimes we can't do the fixing. So, as I wash Nick's maroon and gold uniform for the last time and know this is way too early, I wipe my tears. I grab his football shoes and begin to remove the dried mud caked on the leather. I see letters coming through the mud that spell "SCHU" . It is an abbreviation of Adam's last name. It was written by Nick on his shoes after the second game when his best friend fractured his tibia. I keep chipping away at the shoe and a bible reference that has been on all of Nick's athletic shoes for as long as I remember appears Philippians 4:13. "For I can do all things thru Christ who gives me strength". Then I am reminded that it will be His strength that will take our adversity and setbacks and make them building blocks rather then stumbling blocks. That God takes no pleasure in our misfortunes. He doesn't want to see us beaten down in life. But, God does expect us as His children to be overcomers and to achieve His will on earth. So, the first "Friday Night Lights" arrived after Nick's injury. It was more difficult then I imagined. I was sitting by Adam's mom as Nick and Adam were "sidelined" and it was with blurry eyes that I smiled as I saw Nicholas pat his team-mates backs, offer them encouraging words, and "coach" from the sidelines. It was then that I knew the healing process had begun and I was witnessing a true champion's heart.