Are you the “me first” type? If you’d asked me that question during my teens and early twenties, I probably would have said no. After all, I loved God—a lot. And I was trying to put God first. But in a subtle way, my life was still very much about living for me and what I wanted to do. I wasn’t doing anything terribly bad. But in little ways, I often tried to get away with stuff that wasn’t exactly right, just because I thought it would be fun to do. And if it didn’t hurt anyone, then why not?
One evening in college, I was participating in one of these off-limits but “harmless” activities. It was a game of tag in one of the school buildings. And no, we weren’t supposed to be there, but we felt confident that we could run away if campus security showed up. I took a dive while chasing someone and slammed my knee into a sharp metal corner. I tried to get up, but my knee could barely support my weight, and I was in a lot of pain. I excused myself from the game and managed to slowly hobble back to my dorm.
To make matters worse, I was in the middle of choreographing a piece for my school’s annual dance production and had been really excited about the opportunity. But now I could barely walk, let alone dance. I also didn’t know if I could pray about the injury; after all, it had happened while I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing. Could I really pray when I hadn’t been putting God first?
