Amos the churchmouse — Nov. 14

Editor's note: Amos is a churchmouse, unable to use the keyboard shift keys and unschooled in the art of punctuation.

bobby s turnaround breakdown

boss i ran across bobby

badger the other day you

remember bobby one of

the greatest soccer

goalkeepers in church pew

underworld history

it was awesome boss in fact

i not only saw bobby but i

actually got to interview him

at the height of his athletic

career boss

bobby led the north american

bug-and-rodent soccer league

with a point-90 goals-against

average for several seasons and

held the title of goalkeeping

champ a record number of times

bobby attributes the turning

point of his career – and life – to

an unusual incident – a nervous

breakdown

i wouldn t wish a nervous

breakdown on anybody says the

star goalkeeper but it was

probably the best thing that

ever happened to me

how can that be says me

it was the turning point in my

life and career the british-born

badger says it all started back

home in britain i was living at

home not particularly going

anywhere says he i was just one

of hundreds of other soccer players

in england who wasn t making

a very good living at the game

but it was the only thing i knew

and the only thing i wanted to do

although bobby had never been

bothered by nerves before boss

he reached a point where he got

nervous and shaky – and even

under medical care his nervousness

only seemed to worsen

i eventually had a complete

nervous breakdown says he

and i lost a lot of faith and

confidence in myself – i came

out of soccer – virtually out of

life – because i reached the

stage where i couldn t even

talk to anyone

boss he began to sink into a

deep depression that

swallowed him up

after spending nine days in a

hospital he began to take

stock of his situation

i sat down and told myself –

i have clothes i have money i

have good physical health –

the only thing i don t have is a

belief – my family always told

me to believe in god but i just

didn t want to says he i was

very rebellious – i won t say i

was an atheist – i would say maybe

an agnostic – i just sat down and

said well if there is a god i

need him to help me i prayed

and asked god to forgive me

for all the things i had done

the next morning bobby says

the doctor noticed a remarkable

change in me and asked me

exactly what it was

however bobby felt it would

be wiser not to say exactly

what it was

i just didn t think i should

come out and say i ve had a

religious experience or that i

suddenly believe in god says he

he probably thought i was crazy

anyway and that would have

made it worse

now life has taken on a richer

deeper perspective bobby says

i feel twice as strong as i did

before i went through all this

says he a lot of folks couldn t

understand why it happened to

me but it happened it s in the

past now – it s history – it s not

a thing to dwell on – it s a thing

to grow from

i know it would have been quite

easy while in the breakdown to pack

it in that s what i wanted to do –

but jesus christ made a claim on

my life and that s what s important

amos

p s – boss this column was based

on an interview done several years ago

with dallas tornado star ken cooper