Hurdles

I remember a time in gym class, when our teacher took us out to the track so that we could learn to jump hurdles.  A friend of mine happened to be on the track team, and was familiar with jumping hurdles.  Knowing this, our teacher turned to Dave and asked him to demonstrate for the rest of the class how to jump hurdles.  Dave quickly established a rhythm.  Step, step, step, jump…step, step, step, jump…or something like that…Dave ran from one end of the track to the other without knocking over a hurdle, tripping, or breaking any parts of his body.  I am not sure how many classmates tried and failed before I had my opportunity to make a fool of myself.  I stood at the beginning of the track looking at what looked to be a thousand hurdles (I think it was about ten hurdles, but you get the point).  I start without any problems, but then of course the first few yards are only running, which I was doing since diapers.  Then came the first hurdle.  With all the coordination I could muster and all of the jump I could find, I threw out my leg hoping to clear the bar.  My foot hit directly in the middle of the hurdle, knocking it down and throwing my balance completely off.  There was no saving face at this point, and there was no chance for me to recuperate and make an attempt at the second hurdle.  In fact, by this point I was hoping the ground was softer than it looked.  I stood up and looked at our teacher.  There was no grace to be found, just those kind words, “Come on Crossgrove, get up and jump higher!”  I usually enjoyed gym class.  Needless to say, I did not enjoy this one.

I share this story because I had the feeling of staring down the track at a series of hurdles that I wasn’t sure we would be able to jump over.  This past Saturday, we received the contract to work with our adoption agency.  The contract needs to be signed and returned with the first large sum of money required in this process.  I was home alone, looking at all of our bank accounts and bills.  I paid the bills, and looked at the hurdle again, and then back at the accounts.  Step, step, step…Alicia returned home and I informed her that we would be able to send in the contract in early March.  We were excited to see that the first hurdle was in sight, and it looked that with a few more steps we would be able to clear the hurdle.  Later that evening, a friend called and offered us a generous financial gift toward the adoption.  Step, step, step, jump.  With the help of a friend, we were able to clear the first hurdle.  We received another call today with a gift of financial help.  We know that the course before has many more hurdles, but when we began this process and I shared my concern over the financial hurdles, one of the elders of our church reminded me of the fact that Psalm 50 tells us of our father in heaven who owns the cattle on a thousand hills.  He can and does provide!

We thank the Lord for His great provision, and for His children that are providing us with encouragement, prayer and support.