Embrace the Mystery
The mystery of life never ceases to amaze me. Somehow, and some way my mom chose to move from Atlanta, Georgia. It just so happened that the town we planted our roots in was home to one of the greatest high school football programs in America at that time. And still to this day.
Football was very important to our community so we were afforded many opportunities that neighboring athletic programs weren’t. I for many reasons recognized the significance of being in this town at a young age. Bobby Bentley, the head of our program put us on a plane my junior year to Oregon. My memory is spotty as I try to recall the entirety of the trip. But what is vivid, and what is clear is the scenery from an aerial view looking outside of my window on the plane just moments before we landed. It is ingrained into my being. Stepping off the plane in awe of how green and clear the atmosphere appeared. A new place with new people. New sounds, sights, and smells. Foreign to what I’d known my whole life. It was exciting. It was magical.
At that time I was unaware, but a seed had been planted. We didn’t win the tournament. There were a lot of great teams we competed against and a bunch of those guys went on to play in the NFL which is pretty cool in itself.
Ironically enough, at the age of twenty eight my wife and I live in Portland Oregon. And I often wondered why or how. Why did my mom move to Duncan South Carolina out of all of the places she could have gone? Why was I blessed with a unique opportunity to travel, by plane, for the first time to a place so beautiful? And how did I end up here twelve years later?
These are things I don’t worry about anymore. Life is by nature, out of our control. A mystery full of unpredictable possibilities and potentialities. A mystery that only allows us to respond. With this fact, I just try to do my best to play the hand I’m given. Enjoying the ride, and accepting the wrecks that are inevitable. And if we’re being real, we don’t have a choice. This train will keep moving with or without us so let it take you. And in those times of suffering know that this too shall pass.
Embrace the mystery.