The Best Christmas Gift Ever

Our family received the best Christmas gift today at about 3pm with a phone call. To understand the impact of that phone call, you need to hear about the phone call I took Monday night.

Monday night's phone call is the one all adults dread late at night. It was my wife's brother in tears telling me his dad went into cardiac arrest. My father in law had collapsed, and his heart stopped (an artery was completely blocked). My brother in law performed CRP until the paramedics got there, which they said was an eternity. Miraculously, they were able to get a pulse with defribulators. This all happened with my brother in law, his mom, and his son watching.

He was unconcious and unresponsive, but had a pulse. They were not sure if any brain damage was done.

Today at 1pm he woke up, 3 hours after we booked a flight for all of us to go be with them (Los Angeles). My wife had begun speaking funeral language, and now her dad is pissing and moaning in a hospital bed. What great news.

Everything has changed and been put on hold.

On the bright side, I get to do some awesome trail running less than 3 miles from their houes (2,000 foot vertical in the Santa Monica mountains..... mostly reserved for mountain bikers.... screw them.)

But most importantly, I get to apologize for the horrible things I said to him two years ago. He was not an easy man to get along with, and 2 alpha males in the family made it really tricky.

I totally lost my cool a few year back, and said some pretty nasty things to him. I felt they were justified at the time, but it was definitely not something Jesus would do. Enough said.

We somehow made our peace as men do without saying anything, but that was the one thing I realized I screwed up this week. I missed the opportunity to be humble and admit I was an asshole.

I get that chance now.

I don't see it a coincidence that he woke up at the exact moment that we arrived to our church for an early Christmas Eve service.

GOD IS GREAT

I hope everybody enjoys their Christmas, or any other holiday you celebrate.

Right your wrongs and don't let grudges tear families apart.

Thanks be to god.

Amen