Really getting hit upside the head!

In my last post I talked about the first time God slapped me upside the head. Now I'm going to talk about the second time I got hit upside the head. In this case I truly got hit in the head. It happened a few days before Christmas 0f 2006 and at the time I was 30 years old. I was outside trying to take down the old garage door at our first house. I thought that I could do this on my own. Let's just say that when forty pounds with a metal end hit you on the head it does not turn out well.

We were at the ER in South Bend getting my head checked out when I told my wife that my heart felt like it was racing. She is a OB nurse and tried to check my pulse. She could not count as fast as my heart was beating. When the ER nurse came in we told her what was going on. It is amazing how fast people move when you say that you are having problems with your heart. To make a long story short I spent the night in the Heart & Vascular area of the hospital. I was diagnosed as having a heart condition called atrial fibrillation. It is not a life threatening issue and can be controlled through medicine. Also, it is something that normally happens in older people.

Looking back on it I believe that God was showing me two things that I needed to learn. First is that you can not always do things on your own. As I get further in my walk with Christ I have gotten to this point with the help of a lot of different people. From pastors at Nappanee Missionary Church to people within our small church and to friends and co-workers. I appreciate all of the conversations that I have had with these individuals.

The second thing that I believe God was trying to show me was that I still needed to make changes in my life. It was another year and a half before I realized that I needed to start hearing God's word again. Another change that I had to make was in my eating habits and what I was truly living for. I needed to take into consideration what effect my actions had on my wife and two kids. At this point in my life I was still not where I needed to be. I was making changes to help get me where I needed to go. There are two more times were God slapped me upside the head and I will talk about those in future post.

First wake up call from God

As I talked about in my last post I believe that there have been multiple times were God has slapped me upside the head. Although I did not realize it at the time I believe the first time that God did this was in December 2002. This is one of the hardest things for me to talk about for two reasons. One is that I have to admit that I had an addiction and two I lost my Grandma at this time.

First is my addiction to alcohol. I was at a point in my life where I was spending too much time in a bar. What hit me was that when I walked into the bar the bartender had my beer waiting for me when I got to her. This was a sign to me that I was spending to much time at this place. I had my first drink when I was fifteen and I continued to drink throughout high school. The college years were worse, but I always told myself that I could stop. I would stop for awhile and then pick up right were I left off.

Second is the loss of my Grandma. She was one of the strongest persons that I have ever met. She had a battle with Ovarian cancer that lasted longer than most with that type of cancer. When she was first told she had cancer she said that she had lived a good life and she was ready for whatever was in store for her. She ended up seeing three of her grandchildren married and also her first great-grandchild.

This is where God slapped me upside the head. The night that my grandma passed on I was at the bar doing what I was normally doing. I could not drive myself home that night and had to have my sister and brother-in-law come pick me up and take me to my parents house. At this point I realized that something had to change. Ten days after my grandma passed I went out with an amazing (hot) girl for the first time. This girl happened to have a three and a half year old daughter that was so cute. They are now my wife and daughter. God took one angel from me and replaced her with two.

I have always believed that everything happens for a reason and that there is a God. At the time that this all took place I was not ready to accept Christ into my life. It took me a long time and more head slaps before I started to follow Christ. I will write about more of these head slaps in the posts that follow.