What's the Big Deal?

In the last few weeks in addition to the Olympics the sports new coverage has focused on the announcement by Michael Sam that he is gay.  After the NFL draft in May he will be the first openly gay player in the NFL.  This weekend the NFL combine was in Indianapolis and Michael Sam was the darling of the press.  In one of his interviews he said “I just wish you guys would just see me as Michael Sam the football player instead of Michael Sam the gay football player,”

Being a woman who has never played professional sports I keep thinking "what is the big deal?"   What business is his sexual orientation to anyone?  I would rather see a gay man in a loving relationship play football than a man who ran a dog fighting operation who later went to prison and then went back to playing football.  There is something just wrong about someone who electrocuted non-performing dogs as part of his "business".  The NFL has welcomed abusers of animals and women yet is all in an uproar about a gay man playing on a team?  

So one night at dinner I asked the two hockey players who live with us what they thought about playing with an openly gay teammate. They are players for the USHL and are considered to be part of teams on which some of the elite American hockey players play.  One was fine with it.  He said he really wanted to play with someone who was a good player and helped the team succeed and sexual orientation did not matter.  The other player was totally appalled about the idea of playing on a team with, and being in the locker room with, an openly gay teammate.  He could not give me a reason, it just made him feel creepy.

I asked either of the boys if they had heard of the You Can Play Project (www.youcanplayproject.org) and neither had.  I was a little surprised yet they are teenagers and not that aware of anything outside their sphere of reference (hockey, workouts, food and girls).

Their response did give me a chance to reflect about frame of reference.  I, as a middle aged women, can't see what the big deal is about the sexual orientation of someone playing professional sports.  They, as someone who may face this question directly, found it more of an issue.  Yet both said that the real goal is a winning team.  

As one coach said in an interview, football is an outcomes based business.  If someone can help a team win then almost everything else is secondary. 

 

A Lucky Penny or a Miracle?

Last week my husband purchased a used truck for our son in Nashville TN.  They are starting a business there and needed a truck to haul audio equipment.  The truck was here in Indiana, Franklin to be exact.  So once it was purchased my son made arrangements for a friend to bring him to Indiana from Tennessee to drive the truck back.  His friend picked him up on Saturday morning and he arrived here late Saturday afternoon to pick up the truck.  We met him on the south side of town and drove to the location of the truck, which was parked on the lot of an auto repair business. 

The truck started right up but since it had been sitting in a grassy area for two months it would not move.  My son let the truck warm up but still it would not move.  Between the deep snow and the ice the wheels were mired down and he could not get the truck moved onto the pavement.  Time was passing, it was dark and we were getting frustrated.  My husband called two tow truck operators to move the truck off the grass but neither would come and help. 

I suggested to my son that we go home and he try again the next day, when it was daylight.  He could not do that since he was scheduled to work at two major events in Nashville the next day.  Since it was getting late and we had not had dinner my husband and I decided to drive down the McDonalds and get something to eat.  When we were sitting at the table he looked down and saw a penny on the floor, face up.  Now my husband always picks up face-up pennies believing they are lucky.  At the same time the penny reminded me that we needed a miracle to get out of this situation.  So I said a quick prayer asking God for a miracle that would solve our problem. 

As we were driving back to the lot where the truck was parked the snow was starting to fall.  When we approached the lot we saw that a tow truck was there dropping off a car.  My husband walked over the the driver and asked if he would pull the truck off the grass/snow/ice into the lot so we could get it going.  He checked with his dispatcher and said he would do it.  It was a AAA tow truck so my husband gave him our card and number so he could turn it in for reimbursement. 

He pulled the truck out of the ice, it took maybe 5 minutes total.  It was not much to him but to us he was an angel in a red tow truck who turned our night from a disaster to a victory! 

Was it the lucky penny?  Was it a miracle from God?  In thinking about this after all was done and we all got to our respective homes I am convinced that God sent us a miracle that night on a snowy lot.  Maybe lucky things, such as the penny, help us to remember that with God miracles can happen when all seems to be lost and our lives seem darkest. 

So I am grateful that God answers prayer and sends us those answers in the most unlikely ways.  For us it was the angel in the red tow truck on a Saturday night.  For others it may be an answer to prayer in other unlikely ways. 

How have you experienced miracles in your life? 

The Kindness of a Stranger

Right now Indianapolis is on pace for a top four snowfall, if not record breaking, winter.  So my husband and I have had lots of practice shoveling the white stuff from our driveway and sidewalk.  This last snow we got about 8.5 inches overnight and at about 3:00 AM the morning of the storm we heard the snow plows clearing the streets of our neighborhood. 

Now I appreciate the streets being cleared but it seems like every time the plows come through they deposit the snow that was cleared at the end of our driveway.  This snow was no different.  On Wednesday morning we walked out of our house to find a mountain of snow packed into the end of our driveway.  It was about 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide of hard packed snow and ice.  There was no way our cars would get over the embankment.  So we started digging to clear a path. 

While I was working on the snow a pick up truck drove by with a snow blade on the front.  After the driver picked up someone in the next block he was driving by our house again.  I waved him down and we asked if he would take a few minutes to clear the mountain of snow at the end of our driveway.  We were happy to pay him for his time. 

He lowered the plow blade and with about 4 swipes he had the snow cleared and stacked up at the corners of our driveway.  Those snow mountains at the corners of our driveway are about 5 feet tall now.  This good Samaritan saved us hours of work and lots of body aches and pains. 

When he was done we asked him if we could pay him and he said no, just enjoy our day.  He did not have a company name on his truck so I can't even thank him by name in this blog posting.  I was so grateful that this stranger came along and took a few minutes to help us out. 

So this is a story of the kindness of a stranger, and the gratitude of the person he helped.  To honor his kindness I plan to "pay it forward" and do something kind for a stranger the next time I have the opportunity.