When your life experiences such an event that you wonder,
“will life ever be the same again?”
That's when you truly come to know God.
That's when you truly come to know what matters in life.
I was on my way to a doctor’s appointment, and
I was hit by another car. Something rare to many,
but for me, by this time
I had experienced three other brain injuries in
the last 12 months. The pain was so excruciating.
Every day was so hard.
There was so much confusion and brain fog and memory loss,
that honestly, I felt like my life was done.
And that's when I really started to question God,
“What is going on?” I thought: “Well, if He loved me,
he wouldn’t let four of these accidents happen. Why?”
One day I was outside running and I had music playing in my ear,
and while running I heard this really loud voice say,
“Go in and ask if you can play the piano.” I took my music out.
A little shocked by how loud the voice was,.
and I turned and I saw an assisted living center. And
I was like, “Oh, OK, I need to go in there and ask to play
the piano. But I said, OK, I'll go tomorrow.
I'm still in running clothes. I'm sweaty.
I’m in the middle of a workout. I’ll go tomorrow.”
So I put my music back in and I took a few more steps,
started my run, and the voice came again, even louder,
and said, “Go in now and ask if you can play the piano.”
So it’s not my run. And I go in the care center. While
I was playing, in walk,
this sweet gentleman with little pep to his step with this walker,
comes over to the piano, and he says, “Hey,
when does the show start?”
And he sat on the piano bench, and we instantly became friends.
This man intrigued me so much; he was so funny, so with it.
So I asked him, “How old are you?” And he goes, “Ninety-nine.”
I said, “When do you turn 100 years old?”
Kind of got a little quiet.
And he said, “In six months.” I said,
“You don’t even act like you care to turn 100 years old.”
And he said, “I don’t care.”
I said: “I’m going to make you a deal.
I'm going to come every week and play
for you until you are 100 years old.”
I was like sitting there, “What did I just promised this man?”
It was so hard every day just to get out of bed.
But I would drag myself out of bed because I had made
a promise to this man.
I have to keep him alive until he is 100 years old.
I can't let him down.
So I'd get out of bed, drag myself over there,
and every time I went over you to always be like:
“Where have you been? We’ve been waiting for you.
I started going every week,
but that quickly turned into every day.
I stop in on the middle of
my run and go and visit him and the residents that were there.
And I start playing music for him.
He taught me so much during that time,
lessons that I did not realize
but have such an impact in my life.
He said, “We can decide to move forward in life with our trials,
or we can decide to let them hold us back.” Mac always had a motto.
He said, “If you have a pulse, you have a purpose.”
When you’re in such a deep, dark hole, and you think life is over,
it doesn't make you want to come closer to God.
It doesn't want to make you try again.
So it was very gradual that I came to know God.
And sometimes would be just a simple thing.
And one day that I'd start to feel that little hope again,
but gradually it continued on.
And it was little steps that you find His grace through those
moments in your life, through the little interactions of people.
And it was through those moments that I was able to feel God
and help pull me out of that deep, dark spot.
And at times, sometimes it would be a lot;
sometimes it would be a little.
I know God puts people in our path when we need them
and who we need. Sometimes it's at
the most random times in our life.
I was running outside on
the street, music playing in my ear.
But if there's anything I've learned in my life,
it’s that we are never abandoned; we are never rejected.
And that God is there for us. But we can also be there for others.
Why would I be feeling this way if I had served?
Or why would I be feeling this way if our savior and father.