I wanted to share a personal story about what happened to me this past erev Shabbos (Chanukah) and I attribute every bit of it to my perusal of GYE. My wife works until about 1:30 on Fridays and I come home to babysit the kids from about 12:00 until my wife gets home. Most of the time I'm busy with the two year old and helping get ready for Shabbos, but this week my two year old went in for a nap earlier than usual. My insides were churning as the two month old baby was sleeping, as well. I reviewed certain things I had read on GYE a few nights earlier (Some posts that people wrote and the Attitudes), but I was still ready to give in knowing I shouldn't. I told myself at 12:40 that on Erev Shabbos Chanukah there HAS tobe some sort of shemira for these aveiros and told myself that I would put together the menorah and Shabbos candles just to "wait five minutes" for the Yetzer Hara, hoping for a[nother] Chanukah miracle. Trust me when I tell you that my insides were churning and I was looking out the window at the passerby as I prepared the oil and the wicks, hoping upon hope for a miracle. When I finished, the baby woke up and started screaming. I knew that all I had to do was rock him and I would still have time to fall, chas v"Shalom. At 1:05 I was still fighting myself, so I went to listen to my phone messages. At about 1:10, my wife called to say she was leaving work and would be home soon. I knew and could sense the Ribono Shel Olam right there cheering me on, but knew not to trust myself "ad yom moscha!" I fiddled with the candles some more, still looking at the passerby (
) knowing it was only a matter of time before my wife would come home. About 10 minutes later the door knob turned and I had escaped victorious! B'Chasdei Hashem. I was reminded at that moment about a Super Bowl video I had as a kid where they interviewed a quarterback named Terry Bradshaw, who apparently got knocked out as he threw a game winning touchdown. In the interview, and I'll never forget it, he said when he came around to his senses, a teammate was standing over him saying, "You did it big guy. You did it!" Whenever I have a victory, I always pump those words into my head. "You did it big guy, you did it!" Did it come from a holy chassidish master? No, but who doesn't like sports analogies!?
B'Chasdei Hashem another Chanukah miracle was added to the growing list. And I pray that there be many more for all of us who are the real Maccabees (if I call them the Maccabeats one more time, I'm going to shoot someone!!
) who are actually trying to fight and win this war. Rabbosai, CHAZAK V"EMATZ!!!
