A Smart Dummy, The Power Of Prayer, and Getting What you Asked For

Marrom

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Bad Rib, Bad Elbow, Good Submission

Weight: 201.0

Well I was always a smart kid...Graduated first in my class in HS, in fact never made less than a B until college...My uncle, whom I love but feared immensely as a child because he was mean as hell in his discipline to all of us nieces and nephews and seemingly me more so; always told me I was the smartest dummy he knew...
Well I've worked hard to try to get rid of that but more often than not it has borne itself out to be true...doing things I know damn well I shouldn't, trusting people who I see treat others like crap with my most personal details and expecting them to be stable with me, in general just living kind of on the edge.,..
Welp, I did it again....but...in a smart sort of way...I don't think I was putting God to the test, as that doesn't line up with what I believe, but I wanted to show myself that what I believed works...Went to visit my boy Whiz (Glad you're home and well man!) in the hospital after his heart attack, and his girlfriend had a lady form her church visiting...In talking my competition came up and she asked if I was in pain...the sternum/ribs etc showed on my face I guess...she asked if she could pray over me, and asked if I had any aversion to her laying hands on me...I said no, and it was the most beautiful thing I've had a feeling of in a long time...I was moved nearly to tears (was tryna be hard b/c of Whiz and Knes being there! though! lol) ...I felt 1000% better then...
So that night I went in to class...Knowing I had to take precautions and listening to everyone I know say don't do ANYTHING, if I wanted to compete...I also knew I had to see what I could and could not do to have a decent game plan going in...The lady told me and said in prayer that we are given pain, but it has no dominion over us...Well, that night, it had none over me...I worked top game and guard game even more effectively than I'd been doing to date in practice..some discomfort was there muscularly but the searing intense pain was there, but not there when I went to do things...God is GREAT!...
Anyways, I went got a check up the next day and it's still as it was but I know in my heart I will be able tp push through it...It bothers me at all times except when i step out on the mats...anyway...Went and taught class last night and things are going great..It feels so good to have my own students and help them to see the beauty of what the gentle art is...
I am just hoping my skills are up to the task of producing results on the greatest BJJ stage in the world pretty much...
For the record...I not only will be doing the Int'l Masters & Seniors World Championships in weight class and the open...but I will Also be entered into the Rio Open (i.e. the young diesel cats who've been studying BJJ for like 15 years) in weight class and the Open...
Brazil is ahead of my timezone by two hours..so I will be competing on
Friday - Brown Belt - Super Heavy - Adult - 3:30pm
Friday - Brown Belt - Absolute - Adult - 6:00pm
Saturday - Brown Belt - Super Heavy - Senior 1 - 2:30pm
Saturday - Brown Belt - Absolute - Senior 1 - 6:20pm
those are the starting times and based on Brazil time...
so I will get a lot of competing in, and hopefully be able to contribute to points for the team in each...Hope the body holds up!
Oh, and there's a damned hurricane over the gulf/carribean etc
hope we fly clear of that...Love flying but that shit scares me...anyways..Pray for ya boy...I will be hitting up updates from there as much as possible when I can get some wireless connections...Hopefully I will be able to get plenty of pictures and video...I hope I do not let any of you down...I will do my best not to...I fight on...

Thought for Today:

Invictus
by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of Circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of Chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find me, unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.