Job 20:20
Because he never had respite from his cravings,
He will not escape with anything he desired.
When I read the number of the verse, I thought I would make each of the next few pieces about a retrospective. The good thing is I know a bunch of things about cards from these years. The bad thing is I have never been good about placing memories in a timeline nor at doing anything remotely retrospective. 2020 is dominated by Yordan Alvarez’s rookie cards, one of which I picked up this weekend was a nice pick up. 2020 was also the year of the COVID shutdowns when I lost almost all muscle mass after an injury. I did have to look up when that was to make sure.
‘From his cravings’ was also ‘in his belly’, ‘in his heart’, and ‘within him’ (and one I did not get about his kids). ‘Respite’ was also ‘quiet’, ‘not tranquil’, ‘peace’, and ‘rest’.
‘Anything he desired’ was also ‘greed’, ‘treasure’, ‘wealth’, and the opposite of ‘nothing’ (and one I did not get about his kids).
The earliest memories of 2020 were of the big kid getting sick. She never got sick, and it was so strange. We had no idea we should have been scared too. We had some scares and lost some friends, but the damage imposed by the threats impacted our lives more than the actual disease.
The pop in my right knee and the concrete feeling in my left knee in the midst of being afraid to go to the doctor were life changing. I was always active, and even at my heaviest I was active. Being in the midst of it, I did not make all the right decisions. Looking back I should have had the MRIs done right after each injury made itself known. On the bright side, I eventually got MRIs and found out how bad they were and how bad off my shoulder was, but it would have been nice to not lose all my muscle in the process.
2020 was also the first time I worked for the client who is now dominating my life. It was a small request that I almost passed on, but it was for a friend and now here we are on a life changing adventure. Once I can beat it into a box, it will be more fun than stressful, and maybe I can get to feel good about going on vacation again. But really, this verse asks me how I am different.
In reality, I often have trouble sleeping. When I was younger, I would envision becoming a baseball star. After that was not realistic by even a long stretch of my imagination, I used to envision real ways that I could make me rich. Once I realized that was a non-starter, I used to envision real ways that God could make me rich. Eventually, I realized God had already provided me the blessings I needed, and I gave up the visions of being rich. That ranks up there with the highest blessings one can ever get. And no, I did not do that by myself as God gets all the credit.
Written 3/9/26, Posted 4/21, Job 478/~1070