High Speed Crash - Just A Thought #59

Though never officially diagnosed, I always believed I was a bit ADHD.  Growing up I was the kid who fidgeted constantly.  I would tap my hands while reading a book, watching tv, etc...  I moved around when talking on the phone and could never sit still for long.  As a kid I was called hyper...as an adult, annoying!

I just always seemed to have "nervous energy" and was in constant motion.  I talked a mile a minute and could have given an auctioneer a run for his money.  For those who have taken the True Colors test, I am a high Orange!

"Slow down", was something I heard a lot as a child.  Well, ok--I heard that as an adult as well.

When I preached I would walk around constantly and talk as fast as I walked.

One friend talked to me about using concentrated movement when I spoke.  I tried to apply it with limited success.  A management course I was in the last couple years taught me a lot about personality types, etc... It helped a bit.  Then I had a "high speed crash" and my life has never been the same.

A little over a year and a half ago I had a concussion--my 6th--and it left me altered in some ways.  Mostly in my speech and the speed of my responses.  I have been forced to slow down when I talk or else I stumble over my words more.  Sarah says that my speed now is normal for most people but for me it feels as though I am swimming through molasses!  Yet this slower time has allowed me to process more what is happening around me.  Suddenly all of the stuff I have been hearing the last couple years is jelling together.  The concentrated movement, the personality stuff and the concussion have all combined to make a ....new Rick in some ways.

I am more contemplative, more aware, more reflective and at times a bit more emotional than I used to be.  The old "speedy" me crops up from time to time but when it does, I usually say something silly....like pointing at a snowman picture and repeatedly calling it Santa Claus or telling my daughter to "have good", when she is going to a friends house, instead of "have fun."

However, I take comfort in 2 verses.  They have taken on new meaning to me.  One is found in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." The other is found in 2 Corinthians 5:17 and says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

I am aware that my behavior and the way I interact with others has changed somewhat.  I am also aware that, as we go deeper with God and press into Him more, He changes us as well.  I believe that He has used this concussion in a way that allows me to be more dependent on Him.   I am trusting that the change He is bringing runs deeper than how I operate post-concussion. 

Many want to change things in the new year, but the challenge is to let God be the one to work the change in us.