Jacob Bembry, Editor
I had played tennis on a team in high school and I played for myself in college. I was amazed Sunday afternoon as the swing and the grip came back to me. The fellow across the court was not hitting the ball very hard or very often, but I was burning calories. Everything was going fine until he hit the ball and it traveled to the out-of-bounds marker.
In high school or college, I could have easily hit the ball back to young J.W. Phillips. I made a move that back in the day would have been balletic, even poetic, as I hit the ball and followed through; not this time, however.
What should have been a graceful, athletic move turned into disaster. I must have looked like a whale trying to beach himself. Somehow, as I saw eminent disaster looming, I had the mental state to remind myself to dive for the grass and not fall on the court. I managed to get most of my body on the grass with only my feet and the lower half of my shins on the court. If I had not done that, it would have meant broken bones, including probably broken ribs. I survived with a few scratches and minor bruises.
It was at my church’s Family and Youth Day at Lee Town Hall and my pastor, Retis Flowers, said that I had taken the chain like fence on the side out. I think the fence was like that before and I do not remember hitting it. He fixed what I think had already been leaning over.
Jacob Everhart, the church’s youth director, jumped the fence to help me up. I just wanted to lie there for a moment because I had no breath left. I don’t think it was from getting it knocked out of me, though. I think it was because I had exhausted all of my energy hitting the ball around. It felt good, though; even the pain from the fall.
It is so hard to take time to get the physical exercise one needs. This past week, I’ve had to run from one end of the county to the other covering things for the newspaper. I spent last weekend working and I spent a couple of nights this week doing things for the newspaper. By the time I get home, it’s hard not to just sit and chill. My mind hurts and my body aches. I know the tonic for both problems, though.
The remedy for the body aches is to exercise and the remedy for the mind hurts is to pray and read God’s Word, to meditate on Him and to find quiet time alone with God.
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