I get to do so many amazing things because of Jerry being a former college football player as well as a pastor. One of them happened last week. Jerry and I found our seats only a few feet away from the head table
for a meeting of an organization that supports college football. Jerry is their
chaplain, but I had never been before and was really excited about the event.
The group usually invites college or pro football coaches, players, or
sportscasters to be their speakers, but tonight was different. ESPN reporter, Holly Rowe would speak―the first woman to do so in the gathering’s seventy-three
year history.
The circumstances were so remarkable, Holly took a selfie with all of
us.
She regaled us with her stories of college football players and coaches.
But for me, her most inspiring words were what she shared about her cancer journey.
Diagnosed with melanoma three years ago, she had surgery and chemo. During the time of
losing her hair, she kept going to games. She didn’t stop when she had a
subsequent tumor under her arm removed. She did sideline interviews with
drainage tubes and bags taped to her chest. No one she interviewed ever knew.
She just kept showing up.
As a cancer survivor, I understood the whole drainage tube thing, which
I have had to deal with several times. It’s tricky business to hide them so no one knows.
Then tumors were discovered in her lungs.
She chose not to tell her employer, afraid she might be benched because
of liability issues.
She didn’t miss a football Saturday that fall while in treatment and
went into the women’s basketball season. She followed that with being a
commentator for women’s gymnastics teaming up with now Georgia women’s gymnastics
coach, Courtney Kupets. She offered the insight that if she had sat down, she
would have missed getting to know Courtney.
Again, she just kept showing up.
All of this reminds me of a book I have read dozens of times―Healed of Cancer by Dodie Osteen, Joel
Osteen’s mother.
Diagnosed with metastatic cancer of the liver in 1981, doctors gave her
six weeks to live and sent her home to die. Instead of accepting the diagnosis,
she kept going. She meditated on scripture daily, visited others who were sick,
continued with her household duties, and refused to accept the dire
prediction. She kept showing up in every
area of her life and she is still doing that today, thirty-seven years later.
One of my favorite quotes, which you’ve heard here before
is from Oswald Chambers. “…our Lord came . . . taking the spiritual initiative
against . . . despair and said, in effect, ‘Get up, and do the next thing.’ You
may feel weak, inadequate, discouraged, even hopeless, but do the next thing as
much as it is possible for you. In every small way you are able to do this, God
will meet you there.
So, thank you Holly Rowe for the reminder to keep showing up.
“I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians
4:13).
The Key to Everything has just released as an ebook. Available HERE.
A key can open more than a door.
A story of forgiveness.