Floored

You think I would have learned by now. This is what? The third or fourth time this has happened in the past two almost three years...so seeing as how this happens to me relatively often compared to the normal healthy middle class person, I decided I should clue the rest of you in on what it feels like. Cause you know, I'm sure you all have wondered at some point in your life what it feels like to be faint, with nothing in you to keep to you going, to keep you on your feet...

Staring at the muddy half-dried sidewalk littered in large brown wet leaves, I gasped for air, hoping that by some miracle, someone, anyone, would help. The world spun and I begged my green splattered vision to clear. I was floored, unable to get up after having collapsed there after running a few laps. Holding myself up with my hands, the only thing that kept me from completely sprawling out across the pavement was my bare dignity. It was my last ditch attempt to preserve the cleanliness of my sweater. There was no hope for my shoes and jeans, but the least I could do was attempt to recover without lying down in the filth of the world...

You know the thing that's nice about being floored is that you know where the bottom is. No matter from how high you fell from, you know that at the very least you can't fall any further. The ground becomes comforting, your only stability, the thing you can lean on...

I've been reading Mike's account of this time on the streets, living as a homeless person. What does it take for them to get back up? To get up off of the floor. Without food in their belly, without anyone to give them a hand, without a home to go back to, without family and friends to encourage and support them, without Christ to give them a purpose...I was floored because I was missing only two of those things. Food and a helping hand. After about ten or so minutes I was able to get back up and walk slowly back to my house, but what about them? What about all the broken without a home? If I didn't have anywhere to go would I have been able to get back up at all? Would I have even tried?

Chances are, I think not.