Last Sunday morning, I was excited. I was excited because I was going to do something that I have not done in several years; Sing a song with my wife in church. You see when we started our family nearly 6 years ago with the birth of our oldest, Charlie, my wife Ashlie took-on the “mom” roll full-time, and bowed out of being involved in the worship team. That was until last week, when I saw an appropriate opportunity for us to reunite. She agreed to come out of retirement to sing one of our long-time favorites; a duet of “Before the Throne of God Above” as part of the final Sunday in our church’s marriage sermon series. It was the perfect plan. We even stayed up late Saturday night practicing after the kids went to bed, and while Aaron Rogers was hurling “Hail Mary” passes to bring the Green Bay Packers back to force overtime, we were harmonizing.
Then tragedy struck.
I left for church early Sunday morning to prepare for our worship service. When Ashlie arrived a couple of hours later on a cold, snowy morning with our children, she slipped on a patch of ice in the parking lot, and in trying to absorb the impact of our 8 month old Piper’s car seat from hitting the ground, she twisted down, and broke 5 bones in her left foot.
Several people in the church rushed to my family’s aid immediately. All of the kids were fine, but when I arrived on the scene, there was Ashlie, sobbing into the chest of one our friends holding her up, and I knew right away, we wouldn’t be singing…
There was still about an hour until church started, and the hospital is only a couple of blocks away, so with the help of all of the Kings men, we gently put her back in our car and I drove her to the ER. She was in a lot of pain, but in true fashion she did not miss her opportunities to make jokes about the situation. I left her in the care of the hospital staff and when back to church to lead our people in worship.
I couldn’t help thinking on my way back church, of the night before. I had actually planned to practice our song when she arrived to church on Sunday morning, but she insisted that we stay up late and practice Saturday night so that we would have supreme confidence that we would be completely prepared. I even whined, and tried to convince her that I was too tired, and that I needed my rest… But she was an unstoppable force. I’m so thankful that she is. Had we not stayed up and sang together for hours that night, we would not have gotten the opportunity to sing at all.
Don’t pass up opportunities. None of us are promised another day in this world, nor are any of us promised that things will ever actually go according to plan. They in-fact rarely do.
She has a long road of recovery ahead. She will not be able to put weight on her foot for at least 6 weeks. We have three children, (one a baby) a two story home, and she is in her final semester of Law School. We would certainly appreciate your prayers for fast healing, provision for our childcare and home needs, patience for all of us, and encouragement for Ashlie. She’s pretty upset that this is going to limit her so much. Limit her roles as a parent, a wife, and a student. Thank you.
It’s so easy to build a life around relying on yourself, or your family, or your work. When things happen out of our control, it’s an opportunity to rely on God. An opportunity that we should embrace.
-Cody
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