what is life?

what is life without changes,
without new things and challenges,
without strangers becoming friends and relationships growing deeper,
without new thoughts and ideas,
without seasons and phases,
without mountain tops and valleys,
without days lived through fires and weeks lived through warm summer days,
without bluesy mondays and thank goodness its fridays,
without love and loss,
without hope and despair,
without times of great joy and times of great pain,
without greater depths and deeper understandings,
without tasting new foods and smelling new smells,
without hearing new languages and seeing new faces,
without seeing the earth wither and then come alive again?

for how do we truly know joy without knowing pain,
or know what we've missed without seeing what was missing all along,
or know how good fridays can be after living through mondays,
or know what true hope is without living through those months of despair,
or know what new growth and life is without seeing the sadness of death,
or know that we are standing on the mountain top without walking up the steep climb from that valley?

this is life. and to know its true greatness, you must go through its hardships. i welcome life. but am i ready for it?

sometimes biographies speak loudly...

...i'm sitting here flipping the television and i ran across a special biography (interview montage) on david beckham on espn. just recently i've become intrigued by the beckham family. and that continues upon hearing more about his story and his journey as a football player.

david beckham is one of the greatest "footballers" in the history of the game. yet, he has not always been "wanted by all" as we think. after not only playing wonderfully for the england team, but also acting as captain, beckham was sitting on a plane waiting to take off when he received a phone call. the new manager of the team was calling. unaware of the reason, beckham was taken by surprise when his new "boss" informed him that with new managers come changes to teams and there are always "causalties"--and unfortunately beckham was one of them. as strong as beckham is, he is also emotional and this news led to many tears.

but following those tears were days spent with family and close friends. together they assessed the situation and tried to determine how beckham could get out of it. shortly thereafter, spain asked beckham to play for them..and so he did, with all of his heart and strength, as he always does.

as the country of england, as well as the "big guys," saw england lose match after match and the poor management of the new guy, they decided changes had to be made. beckham recalls sitting in front of the t.v. and watching an england match and hearing the crowd beginning to chant his name, calling out for him to come back and play for them. and so, the "big guys" responded to the crowds and asked beckham back.

beckham, strongly and courageously, returned to his home country and team and held his head high, holding no grudges and showing no wounds. and he played. hard. not long after that he was named captain once again and given the second chance that he longed for.

but this was not the only potential set-back of beckham's career. while playing for spain, he faced hardship. after announcing to the team that he had decided to play for the l.a. galaxy, the coach decided that he would no longer let beckham train with the team. keeping this from the press, beckham was forced to train with the team for the first 15 mins while the press was there, and then after they left, he was asked to go off and train by himself.

beckham recalled how tough this was. he said that it was not only hard for him as a football player and teammate, but it hurt him "as a man." this only grew more difficult after beckham received a call that the coach had announced on a press conference that beckham would train with the team, but he would not play out the season with the team. this moment could have been devastating to beckham. but he took this hardship and used it to grow stronger.

beckham began training even harder. he may have been training alone, but he was training as if he was the captain. he grew stronger and better and sure enough, he was asked back to play in the matched for spain. he stated that it was not in spite or revenge or for any other reason that he trained harder, but rather it was for his "love of the game." and beckham played out hard...through the very last game.

and now he begins a new phase in his career, playing for the galaxy. he is embracing the change and excited about what the future holds. and although he hopes for success, his desire is that everyone will know that he has always "played his best."

how amazing his story is! with two potentially devastating points in his career, fueled by bad decisions and poor leadership (actually admitted to by the very leadership that made the decisions), beckham didn't let it get him down. although he felt depressed at moments (as his wife recalls him sitting on the coach watching matches that he wasn't playing in and being completely depressed), he never let it deteremine the fate of his career. he stayed strong. he continued to train strong. he fought harder by being the best at what he knew and determined he could be. he knew he couldn't change the leadership's mind or decisions, but he knew the one thing he had control over was what he did. his reactions and his actions. his attitude and his discipline. and now as he sits, waiting to start yet another "new beginning" (as his tattoo reads!) he can truly say that he has absolutely "no regrets."

i don't know about you...but that is inspiring. may i always be able to take potential set-backs and continue to train hard and do my best at being who i am created to be for the game that i love and the God that i serve.