My Worst Nightmare Come True

Sometimes life just throws you into a wall.

Last Tuesday night, I had an injury that I had always feared would someday happen.  It hurled my life out of balance and threw up an enormous obstacle in front of me.

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Sneakers squeaked on the dusty court as the late night Tuesday basketball camp came to the last drill of the day.  One on one match-ups.

The ball rotated seamlessly in my hands as I looked at my defender.

"In'n out dribble, right hand finish," my mind told me.

The sound of the ball hitting the floor echoed through the gym as I began my move.

Suddenly, my shoe hit a slippery spot on the floor, and my right leg slipped out in front of me.  I lost control of the ball, and as I was falling, my defender came up aggressively, his knee smashing into the inside of my right knee.  I felt a pop, and immediately found myself on the floor, clutching my knee to my chest as I gasped for air.  Pain shot through my entire leg, and I lay there wishing that it would stop, wishing that this never happened, wishing that this was all a figment of my imagination.

Doubts rushed through my head as I suddenly had questions about everything: my leg, my future, my career, my life.

"How badly am I injured?  Lord why did this have to happen to me?  Is my bone broken?  Are my ligaments torn?  God I need you right now!"

I could only hope that my leg had a superficial injury, that it was all nothing, that it was just a scratch.

Minutes later, in what felt like an eternity, the pain eased up and I was able to slowly make my way to the bench, but I was still struggling with my doubts.

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The next day, I went to my chiropractor.  He took 5 x-rays of my knee, and assured me that all my bones were fine, but he wasn't sure if the reduced mobility in my leg was due to a ligament tear or just swelling.

We waited a few days, then I took a MRI, wishing for the best, wishing that somehow God had miraculously saved my knee from all serious injuries.

--

Friday at 4:46 PM, I received a message from my dad.

"Bad news Aaron.  Your ACL is torn.  I will schedule you to see an Orthopedic doctor for an assessment."

Suddenly everything became a blur.

I couldn't believe it.

"Me?  No.  It can't be.  There must have been a mistake.  It can't be true!  What now God?  I thought you were going to do amazing things through me. And now THIS?  I don't understand.  This was my love, my passion. And now it's gone?  How long Lord?  How long till I can play again?  How long till it will all be back to normal?  If it ever goes back to normal."

Basketball was my ticket, my pass to a successful future.

And it was ALL gone.

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But the one thing that I will never lose, the one thing that no man can ever take away from me, the one thing that I will put all my trust in, is my faith in Christ.  He alone is my rock and my redeemer.



Aaron Chan - 88

Stay Hungry

The sun rays pored into my skin early one summer day as I faced off one on one against my neighbor, an athletic man in his early 40's.

Halfway into the game, he stopped and asked,

"Wait, are you left or right handed?"

I turned to him in surprise.  I stood there stunned as thoughts rushed through my mind like a full-blown Tsunami.

I had known him ever since I began playing basketball, so he definately should know my game inside-and-out, most of which, my dominant hand.

Suddenly my mind flashed back to a recent encounter I had with a staff member at my gym who was watching me train.  He had asked the same question, "Which hand are you?".  I had quickly brushed him off, attributing his ignorance to the fact that he didn't know me well, that he just hadn't watched me enough.

Yet this time the question came from my neighbor.  There was no excuse, no reason for his asking.

It was then that it clicked.  I had been training my left hand for more than a year, almost to the point where I was ambidextrous.

While I couldn't shoot three's left handed, you wouldn't be able to tell which hand I was 15 feet in.


"I'm right handed", I said with a grin.

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Little moments of success like these keep me going, but as the famous proverb says, "Complacency breeds failure."

In everything I do, I must stay hungry.  I can't ever be satisfied.  I must keep striving for more.


Success is not a final, it is a decision you must make every single day.


Aaron Chan - 62

Thank You

It's hard sometimes when I think about all the what-if's in my life.

What if I had started basketball earlier?  What if I had the best coach in the world?  What if I played for school growing up?  What if my parents valued basketball as much as I do?  What if I was 6 foot 5?

I could sit and complain about my situation in life, but that won't change anything.

All in all, the bottom line is that life is never fair.  It sucks.  At times I want to quit, to say it's too hard, that it's impossible.

I want to say that in those times I fall back into the arms of God.  I want to say that I think of some inspirational quote that helps me get through.  I want to say that I think towards the future and forget the past.

But I can't, because I don't.

Although I do know that God gives me strength to fight through those lows in my life, in my daily life I see him the most in the presence of my brothers and sisters in Christ.

They support me, they reach out to me, they give me hope.

So today I want to thank all of you who have been my supporter in any way(A.K.A. reading this blog).  I obviously can't list out everyone who has helped me in some way or form, but I want to extend a very personal thank you to a few people(besides my family) who have really been by my side through some of my hardest times(my day 1's).

Thank you Clement, Joseph T, Daniel W, Alex S, Ian H, Daniel K, Joshua C, Melody B, Ella B, Rachael M, Anna R, and Coach Drake.

Thank you God for your abundant grace, mercy, and sacrifice on the cross.

And last but not least, thank YOU!  The very fact that you're reading my blog is encouraging in so many ways.  I hope I'll see you again next week, but for now I have Independence day celebration plans with my family, so I'll talk to you next week!


Aaron Chan - 44