One of the most monumental moments, ever, in the history of mixed martial arts (MMA), was the night that UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva knocked out Vitor Belfort with a front kick to the face, when the two fought at UFC 126, in Las Vegas, on Feb. 5, 2011.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check this out:
It wasn't the first time someone has been knocked out in the UFC. It wasn't the first time someone's been kicked in the head either. But the timing and precision of the way it came together made it a thing of beauty.
But not for Vitor Belfort.
For Belfort, it was one of the worst moments of his career. No fighter trains for months, spends countless hours away from his family, denies himself the pleasure of the food and beverages he loves...just so he can get knocked out by a karate kick in the very first round.
Sometimes life can be like that.
Think about it. Who works somewhere for years, with the thought they're going to be randomly laid off, left with nothing but a pat on the back? Who is ever really mentally prepared for a natural disaster? Who is fired up and ready to find out they have cancer?
But that's how it happens.
Sometime life just karate kicks you in the face. With no warning and totally out of nowhere. In front of your friends and family -- leaving you unconscious on the canvas, trying to figure out how you got there and, more importantly, how you're going to get back up.
Praise God, only one of those things happened to me.
As most of you know, I found out in late March that I was not going to be offered a teaching contract for next year at the school for which I've worked for the past six years (due to low enrollment and the school downsizing).
I won't bore you with all the details, because most of you already know them, but if you'd like a brief recap of how it all went down, click HERE.
I've been sharing with you guys some of the vague generalities of the struggle that I've been living, since that day in May, but I never really got into specifics, for two reasons:
1) Truthfully, it was uncomfortable. I wanted to keep some things for myself. Having a blog is vulnerable anyway, but airing everything, out in the open, well that's just scary.
And
2) I didn't think anyone would really want to go that far down the "rabbit hole," so to speak. My life's not that interesting, right?
Here's the thing: Maybe it IS that interesting.
This is my story. It's my family's story. It's a story that God already knows the ending to, yet I'm currently co-writing it with Him, making it up as I go.
Maybe you can learn from my struggle and my pain. If that's the case, then I'm truly being selfish if I don't share this with you.
It would be too much to include it all in one blog post. So I decided to break it up into multiple posts and make it a series.
It's a story, and I'm in the middle of it. It's scary to write about this. It's scary to live this. But I'm excited about what's going to come out of it all.
I'm looking forward to sharing with you the story of a 32-year old man, who lost his job (and seemingly all his security) out of nowhere. It's a story of how he and his pregnant wife learned and are learning to cope with the disappointment, and how to adjust and set new goals for the future. It's a story about chasing dreams and following God's will, whatever that may be.
I hope you guys will check in later this week for Vol. 2. In the meantime, let's gets some discussion going in the comment section.
When I'm down, there are several movies I like to watch to help cheer me up and take the edge off. One of my favorites is Talladega Nights with Will Ferrell. It's stupid, and it makes no sense, but it makes me laugh.
What movies do you watch when you need to be cheered up?
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