It’s been a long few weeks, ya’ll. There have been so many mountains and valleys packed in the time since my last post that my brain seems to overload when I think about them. Lessons, some easy, some hard (but all needed) have been abounding in my house. It hasn’t been just one, or even 2 but all 3 of us. My husband, my son and I have all been in positions to either make divine appointments or walk away from them. We have been given the choice to either fight or take flight. Moments for momentous bravery have taken root in our paths giving us the opportunity to either become lion chasers or run in fear.

The most recent journey was for me and my son. My husband was involved with the preparation of it…but the journey was just for 2.

We have been looking at colleges (parents, I know you feel me here….finding your kid’s place can be unfathamable torture, lol). My son decided only about 2-3 months ago that he wanted to continue to play football in college. So, there we were, at the end of his high school football career, smack in the middle of his senior year, and we had to jump on the recruiting train because we missed our boarding and are about 3 states behind everyone else on these tracks. We decided to utilize the services of a recruiting agency to help us get a little further than we might have on our own. To be honest, not one of us know a whole lot about the recruiting process and we most certainly had no idea where to begin. The company we used helped build a profile, collect and produce game footage and connect with coaches who might still have openings in their rosters.

About a month ago, we got our first nibble. An offensive line coach from a school up north started following the profile we had set up. At first, my child was not interested at all because (1) it was 7 hours away and (2) “He’s a defense player. Period”. We let it slide and kept looking forward to the next contact. Once his profile had been completed and his game film had been edited and uploaded, we started heavy emails to different schools in the area. One of the emails we sent was to the School Up North. 3 hours after that first email was sent, we received an email from Head Coach saying he had a strong interest and that he was extremely impressed with the film he’d seen. He wanted to call and talk the next day and then drive down to meet my son at his high school the following Wednesday. From there, we really started to gain speed.

Within an hour of them meeting, Coach had sent my son an official offer giving him a secured spot on his team. The application for enrollment was completed that night and transcripts were requested. They continued to stay in touch over the next week and our mailbox began to overflow with School Up North material. There was soon to be an open house and without hesitation, we scrambled up plans to go.

We headed out just the 2 of us, thinking we were prepared for the road. Ummm. We were not. What was supposed to be a 7 hour drive turned into 11 1/2. We drove straight into a blizzard ya’ll. I dont know if any of you reading this know anything about Southern folks but WE CAN’T DRIVE ON SNOW. Especially when it starts to get wet and packed down. We slid about 3 times and Jesus really did have to take the wheel because I didn’t know what to do with it in that mess. On 2 different occasions, we almost got smacked in the side by a semi trailer swinging out of control and I lost count of the wrecks at #7 because I got to the point where I couldn’t take my eyes off the road. It was during this time that I called my husband because I was just becoming a ball of nerves. (There is something calming about hearing the voice of the person most important in your world. The other half of you that remains up when you are down, is calm in your chaos and has the ability to reach the places inside your heart and mind that no one else can. And that’s exactly what he did.) Once I had been steadied, we disconnected and I carried on, carefully and slowly, to the irritation of all those driving around me, I’m sure.

Before the snow hit, my car had been full of laughter and jokes. I guess it really is true, what they say about the bond between mothers and sons because we always seem to have the best time when we are together. After the snow hit, after the phone call with my husband, the car was still held laughter but it was most certainly of a different kind.

My son and I have been in discussion recently about a book that we have both been reading pertaining to being in a pit on a snowy day. As we traveled along, he says well, mom….we are definitely in the pit. And I couldn’t have agreed with him more. There were literally moments when I didn’t know how we were going to make it the rest of the way. My eyes were heavy, my body was tense, my eyesight was way less than par because I’d never looked at so much white at one time before and darkness was thick around us, swallowing what light we had.

We gratefully reached our hotel around 4:30 am and relief flooded through us. By the time we got checked in, we had just under 4 hours to sleep, wake up, shower and get to the school.

Now, at this point, on any other day, I’d be telling myself that we should have just stayed home. This is sooooo not worth it. But as soon as the words entered my mind, I thought about all those cars in the ditch along the way and the danger we seemed to skate through as the miles passed us.

We entered the pit. We leaned on the Lord and we fought. We won. That’s the beginning of what made it worth it.

When we got up the next morning and got to the school, we honestly didn’t know what to expect. School Up North’s coaching staff had been blowing my son’s phone up since the moment he told them we’d be there.

We were impressed by what we saw. The people were nice. The campus was beautiful. The staff was helpful and polite. It was everything you’d expect in stepping onto a campus during one of it’s “first impression” moments. We sat through the panels and lectures, gathering all the information we could. With every word spoken, with every nugget of knowledge gained, we were catching glimpses of something . We just didn’t quite know what yet. One of the coaches text and wanted us to let him know when we moved to the next part of the day because Head Coach wanted to meet with us. We were escorted to his office and as the discussion began, the victory of the pit was realized. Our divine appointment had been made.

Coach started out by telling my son his skill got him noticed but his character got him recruited. He then told me that no one would ever curse my kid. No one would berate him, publicly shame him, grab his facemask and scream at him. He would be treated with the same respect he was expected to give. It was at this point, he reached for his bible and pushed it forward and told us they coached a certain way because the team was led by Christ. Every coach (but 1) knew our Lord and Saviour and had a personal relationship with Jesus. Imagine that. You listen to a man who played in the NFL on 2 different teams, won a superbowl with one of those teams, trains athletes in his personal life to be drafted to the NFL and knows countless disciplined players and men say that your kid has the kind of character he is looking for and that he is going to coach your kid and lead your kid the way Christ leads him because that is the most important thing in life, following Christ.

DIVINE APPOINTMENT.

We have spent the majority of the past year praying that the moment we stepped on the campus he was meant to be on, God would fill us with discernment. We have spent hours praying for a coaching staff that can lead our son and teach our son in a way that would be most beneficial to him. We have asked God for an environment where he can thrive and grow and have Godly influences in his life, nurturing him as he makes his way into the world. I would be lying to you if I told you that moment didn’t hit me hard. I was mortified as I began to cry sitting in Coach’s office.

At this point in the conversation, my son reaches out and pats my leg and smiles. He tells coach that we are a God fearing family and have been praying for certain things and that my tears are because I am seeing those prayers being answered in the most beautiful and straightforward way. Coach understands. He just nods and smiles and begins to talk about the legacies we leave behind, the stands we must take on earth, how we must fight when things get hard, even when it seems impossible. He is describing the pit on a snowy day. He is describing being a lion chaser. His words line up with the book we’ve been reading, the things God has been showing us through it. His words mirror our talks.

Later on as we eat lunch, my son asks me if I remember the first day we visited our home church. Remember how it felt like home, he says? Like we had always belonged there? Remember how we knew there was no need to look further because that was where we were meant to be? Absolutely, I say. I remember. He smiles. Well, mom, that’s how I feel here. That’s how I felt in Coach’s office. School Up North is where I belong.

I swear I think at that point my heart exploded. There are so many other things that happened while we were there that seemed to be small whispers from our Lord, confirming the shout he had already given us. I knew what he meant when he talked about that feeling. I felt it too. I had asked for peace, confidence, and a complete knowing when we found where he was meant to be….and that’s exactly what I got.

We left the school and made our way back home, flying high. I’m not positive that our feet have touched the ground yet. School Up North was not what we wanted. It was not what we had planned.

But it was and is what God had planned.

I’ve prayed over my children their whole lives for God to take them into the world, away from home and use them. It seems that prayer has been answered too.

Every moment, every decision, has led us to where we are now. Every turn, every lesson, choice and opportunity has been a divine appointment that led to this one. I see the ripples going out and coming back in and I think I’ve began to understand this life is not my own. It has trials. It has hurt. It has glory. It has beauty. It has purpose. It is divine…especially when I crawl into the pit and make sure the appointments ordained for me have been met.

*the book referenced in this blog is In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson