I USED TO BE less a human being and more a "human doing." I always had to be doing something. Besides working, I played and coached sports, participated in community events, clubs, special interest groups, family activities, and gardening projects, and the list goes on.
For the first few weeks after my wife, Jodie, and I moved house early last year, I kept up my go-go schedule. The new house needed a lot of fixing up, so I found it easy to fill my time. Then, out of nowhere, I came down with a painful back condition.
At first I tried putting my work aside for a day or so at a time and then resuming my schedule. My back would get a little better, but the pain would quickly return. All my old tricks of hot showers, stretching, bending, and going for long walks failed. When I turned to prayer — which I admit was not my first response — I could do little else than focus on the pain and notice the jobs that remained untouched.
