I woke up at 6:45 and felt pretty good. I had an incredible quiet time with the Lord. I went back and reread every email that friends have sent to encourage me over the last week. I read each verse, looked them up and then wrote them down. I wrote out prayers and read them over and over. I focused on the Lord and asked Him to ski with me. I have read so much and so many people have sent me emails reminding me to “ski in His power” to “give it everything I have for Him” to “Hold on Tight and know He will uphold me.” I also spent time visualizing myself skiing well.

 

I wasn’t fearful today, I felt confident and had peace. My body felt strong and I knew that God was taking the pain away. Ty and I went out to the lake around 11 and the women were just starting.

 

My turn came around 12:30ish. The water was beautiful, all the jump buoys were out of the water so I had no chance of over shooting the gates again...ha! I felt strong in the Lord. My first pass, 28 off, was shorter than the rest were starting. The announcer made quite a big deal about my return to the water. I tuned everything out to the best of my ability and entered the water with ease. The pass was amazing. I felt strong, I was at peace. The ski was working great and the entire pass felt much ‘slower’ in my mind than the day before. It was just like years ago!

 

I came in for my second pass, still a warm up pass for me, and around 3 ball at 32 off, my left hip gave way when I pushed to turn. I tried to stay with it and stay in the game. I turned 4, headed to 5 and when I pushed on the back hip to turn 5 ball, the hip collapsed again.  I couldn’t get over to six ball. Even if I had, I don’t believe I would have gotten past 1 at 35 off. It was just like when I tore the ligaments around my hip in 2003 that ended my career.

 

To say I was in shock is a bit of an understatement. I skied to the shore, away from the dock and just tried to gather my emotions. The first question that came to my mind was “Why????” Why call me back to the water and put my body through all the pain over the past two weeks? Why was I allowed to ski good all week, scoring scores well enough to win, and this happen? Why did it have to be a ‘hip’ blow out...it was like I didn’t even have a chance out there before my hip snatched out from under me. After my few ‘why’s’ I just said, whatever the plan Lord! But I do have to admit the plan was hurting.

 

So many people are on ski chat rooms and are talking bad about my coming back (while others are so supportive). I don’t understand why people have an opinion one way or another in a negative sense. What is it to them if I come back to do something that has been a huge part of my life? I cannot answer it but there are some who think this is ridiculous and I have no business on the water. I made the mistake of reading these incredible posts and have to say I am hurt. I don’t understand why someone would write such negative things, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Didn’t God say something about people treating you poorly when you are His?

 

More than anything today on the water I wanted to give God the glory and allow the world to see what He could do! I wanted to be on the podium bringing Him glory. I guess today I was to bring Him glory in trials and I feel that I did in my reaction to what happened. But what I had envisioned was being able to stand on the podium   I wanted to be to use this experience in my speaking engagements and say this is how you go out there and be strong in the Lord and accomplish the impossible. Obviously the skiing victory wasn’t part of the plan. My first thought, couldn’t this have come about some other way? But would I have come to Austria any other way but for skiing? Probably not. Would I have come to Austria if I had been skiing poorly? Probably not.

 

I got over the skiing thing pretty quick but I can see that it still has the power to bring a ‘sick’ feeling over me. Again, that performer in me really would have loved to performed to what I am capable of. I came back to the hotel room and was reminded through an email from Kreg K. that I am more than the buoys I run. It was a timely reminder as I was falling into that ‘trap’ of feeling like I am only as good as my last ski ride. Perhaps this is what God wants to remind me of. I know that I am loved by Him regardless of my ski ride today. Today, I didn’t feel afraid and I don’t feel like I held anything back. I gave it my best and that was all I could do. I can not go back and change what happened so I will just continue to keep my eyes open to opportunities God has for me here.

 

After I skied, I was talking to two men from Lebanon...they are here skiing at the worlds. They are extremely nice and they mentioned liking Andy Mapple because of his humility and because He loves God. I thought that was interesting especially since their country has many Muslims. We talked for awhile and I shared with them about In His Wakes and that I too loved God. They shared that they are Christians. It was really neat. They love kids and work with kids like In His Wakes does. He took a brochure and seemed interested in finding out more. I also passed on two dog tags to them...so Kenny Vaughn....your dog tags are once again crossing international lines!

 

Later I saw these two men sharing the brochure with a fellow Russian competitor who I had witnessed to through email years ago. Pretty cool. I was also able to talk to the Russian captain about one day coming to Russia. He seemed very open and is going to bring me his card tomorrow. In addition, the first night at dinner, two Mexican friends wanted me to explain about In His Wakes. They brought it up and I had the opportunity to share about it.

 

Forget all that is behind and continue on....pressing forward. That is what comes to mind right now. I am ready to get on with whatever is next but in the meantime I am going to enjoy my bouncy 9 year old as we go have dinner in a castle up on the hill!