For all of those who have been depending on Ryan to boost your points for Fantasy Football this year, you will be dismally disappointed as he was placed on the injured reserve list late last week.  As we were relaxing for the evening, we heard an unfamiliar cry.  As a parent you know your children’s cries, and yet this one I hadn’t heard before.  Maybe I’m the only parent that feels this way, but my initial thought was . . . “oh that’s too bad for those people . . . good thing my kid didn’t do that.”  And yet, we came to realize that Ryan was laying on the ground in agonizing pain.  Having attempted a 360 spin after jumping off a rock, he somehow landed on his foot and cracked the 4th metatarsal.  Of course we didn’t know that at the time, but came to realize it a few days later when he was still in a great deal of pain.

What has struck me as a little absurd throughout all of this is that I was really concerned for him primarily because I didn’t want him to miss the rest of the football season.  I knew he would be let down, and I know he wouldn’t want to let his team down . . . and all of a sudden the pictures of grandeur came crashing down around me.  Ryan won’t be scoring any more touchdowns this year, no more interceptions will he experience, no more yelling “Ryan” as I see him run down the sideline with a myriad of other children racing after him in vain.  It’s all over . . .

And then . . . my Sunday evening Bible study came crashing into my mind, and I remembered that God is sovereign and providential.  Not only does God control the big picture events in history but as well the seemingly irrelevant ones.  After all, is it not true that the significant events in history are most often made up of the sum total of a host of seemingly irrelevant events?

So I rested in God’s sovereignty . . . for some purpose, greater than himself, Ryan’s life was being guided by the powerful hand of God.  You may say, “Goodness, it’s just a fractured bone in his foot.  Aren’t you being a bit dramatic?”  Simply, No.

This evening, Ryan stood on the sidelines as Dakota filled his spot and scored his first touchdown.  I was able to yell “Dakota!” as he ran down the sideline with a myriad of other children racing after him in vain.  Was Ryan’s injury for the sake of his brother?  I have absolutely no idea, but I do know that God’s sovereign plan involves two twin brothers.