Marge at Large

Lying on my back, strapped-in tight to the orange paramedic sled (fondly referred to as the “burrito bag of shame”), pain searing through my back and legs, I found myself thinking only one thing as we tobogganed down the mountain to the paramedics waiting to rush me to the doctor:

“Dang the alps are beautiful from this angle.”

And they were. But that didn’t change the fact that my fall from the A frame box at Villars cracked a vertebrae, ending my snowboarding season before it had even begun.

But I wish it were that simple.

The break put me alone in the hospital for three days, unable to stand, sit-up or communicate with the French-speaking nurses, with nothing to do but wait for the brace that would become a part of my life for the next three months.

Nothing like learning humility through a bed pan.

While I was lying in the hospital, I missed the last day of preparation and arrival day of the students. And I thought I would never be able to make it up. Especially since now I couldn’t snowboard. 

And what good am I without my athletic abilities?

But right there, in my moment of greatest weakness and vulnerability, God met me, and gave me an indescribable peace.

I know He didn’t break my back. But I know that He can take this bad situation and make it good. And I am worth so much more than my body. So take that Jane Fonda.

When I finally entered the chalet, on my feet for the first time in days, I was greeted by a house full of the hippest, most outgoing  new students I have ever met. I was immediately welcomed and made right at home, and it was barely hours before the back brace jokes started and everyone was comfortable with asking me about my new square accessory.

Yes, I can make even a back brace fashionable. Don’t be surprised if H&M comes out with a new line for spring.

Although I am stuck at the chalet tomorrow while they all leave to the mountains for the first time, I have a peace with it. I truly believe that God is God and God is good and therefore capable of making something good out of this not-so-good situation.  Which is great.

And my job for the next six months will be getting to know, disciple and lead a group of hungry youth from all over the world, and then taking them to places we’ve never been to serve the Lord, just in time for my brace to come off. So life is good.

Even from a sitting position.