When Life Throws a Curveball

Ahhh,  the dreaded curveball. I’m not much into baseball anymore, but when I was a kid, it was my least favorite pitch, and I know that is not just the case for little league. In life, it’s those times when things are looking good, but then, they take a turn and leave you swinging at nothing but air.

Last night was the night. There I was, making significant progress on my thesis, halfway through writing when, all of the sudden, the inevitable happened – the curveball. To make a long story short, here is what happened:

When I originally started my thesis, years ago, I was told I could write in whatever style format I chose. Since I was most familiar with MLA, that was my choice. Unfortunately, the administration at the school changed, which also meant rules change. Somehow, I missed that memo, and after turning in two chapters, and about halfway through my third, I find out I need to switch everything to Chicago/Turabian format. As you can assume, I was devastated. I literally felt the wind knocked out of me.

You know what? Even though we have a hard time with curveballs, they are God’s specialty. Those times when we have little to no hope are the times when God loves to show up and shine. After some prayers by my wife, other family, friends, and myself, I started my late-night reading a Chicago style handbook. Slowly but surely, things began looking up. Not only were the bibliography styles somewhat similar, I began realizing that this new style would probably be better in the long run. Sure, I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but I’m not swinging at the air like I was last night. Thanks to my Heavenly Father, I’m still in the game!

So, when life throws you a curveball, just remember we have a God who LOVES the curveball, and is ready to knock it out of the park!

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To keep up on the status of my M.A. thesis, check out my “Thesis Update” page.