The Boxing Battles

I like boxing.  I haven't watched much of that new full-blown fighting stuff, so I am more familiar with boxing.  I haven't watched too much boxing in the last several years.  However, I did when I was a kid.  My neighbor had HBO.  HBO had Fight Night.  My neighbor, like a grandfather to me, would pop popcorn.  He would air-pop popcorn.  Kids would not know today what an air popper was, if you showed it to them.  What a shame!  He would pop enough popcorn to fill a grocery bag.  Not those plastic things, but those brown paper bags.  Dad, me, and him and sometimes my brother, or some other 'guest' he let in, would sit in his living room and watch boxing and eat popcorn and probably spill Pepsi. 

This was in the early days of Mike Tyson.  Iron Mike was something to see before he bit Holyfield's ear, got knocked out by Buster Douglas, or went to prison, or tattooed his face, or married several women.   It was just he, his coach, the streets he was raised on, and that poor guy across the ring.  We would watch a couple of preliminary fights and then Mike would knock a guy out in a matter of seconds.  I have seen his uppercut drag the mat, come up like an engine piston, nail a guy under the chin, propel the guy INTO the air, and watch him drop seemingly lifeless on the mat.  That was all it took.  He was like a machine.  He fought about every six weeks ( a break-neck schedule in boxing) and was contracted to HBO for every one of them.  It was full of  memory makers. 

Every now and then, some guy was foolish enough to last through the first couple of rounds and Mike would continue to batter the boy around the ring for several rounds.  Have you ever felt like you have been in the ring with a brute like Tyson, battered around the ring?  How about spiritually, emotionally, mentally?  Those days are rough.   It seems that you do not know which way is up or when the bell is going to ring.  I have seen those days in a lot of people recently.   The last half of July has been pretty rough on a lot of folks.  Yesterday, it hit closer to home as my in-laws are suffering.  My wife is escorting them through the toughest days of their life and it is a tough toll.  One simple verse spoke volumes to me today and I really cannot tell you why, except to say I believe it, I rest it, and I proclaim it.
Psalm 62.11-12a- Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,
¹² and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.

Thank you for your prayers.  Dawn and her parents journey will not end soon. We rest in the 'power' that 'belongs to God.'  I hope you will today as well.