 |
| ATHLETE IN TRAINING |
| Overcoming personal handicaps. |
| Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 4:7-8 |
| Brad Lauwers was in the locker room, showering after a grueling football workout, when he first noticed the lump. He bent down and fingered his ankle gently, cupping his hand around the swelling. He felt no pain or stiffness. Perhaps it's just some fluid, he thought. It will disappear in a few days. But the swelling didn't disappear, and a month later Brad lay in a hospital bed awaiting amputation of his left leg. The lump turned out to be a malignant tumor that was sending runners out in several directions in Brad's foot. The next day, a surgeon removed Brad's leg just inches below the knee. Of all the adjustments to his new life - including one-legged jokes, the awkward reactions of friends, and learning to walk on an artificial leg - Brad most feared the loss of athletics, his main love in life. He had been a standout on his high school baskeball and football teams in Alaska, a sports-crazy state. His doctor, also an amputee (from a war injury), tried to be encouraging: "Remember, Brad, there's nothing you cannot do." Against All Odds Four months later, Brad visited UCLA for a prosthetic leg fitting. Even before fully learning to walk on his artificial leg, he sought out a basketball backboard and began tossing up reverse layups. The designers had warned him against subjecting the leg to the jarring stops and turns of basketball and had vetoed football outright, suggesting he take up swimming or water-skiing instead. But Brad never gave up his dreams of returning to his favorite sports. As he trained, his artificial limb rubbed his leg stump raw and covered it with blisters. Undaunted, he ran until the |