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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe collision injured Marquis, and Sawyer sustained severe injuries, including a cerebral spinal fluid leak, leading to a race against time for medical intervention. Isah jumped before the impact, swam to shore, climbed the rocky embankment, and flagged down a car whose driver called 911. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marquis went home from the hospital seven days later. In intensive care, Sawyer\u2019s recuperation hinged on carefully managing the healing of fractures and controlling the continuous fluid leak. Finally, after 17 challenging days, Sawyer returned home, scoring a hard-won touchdown in his recovery journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a score the Lovvorn family attributes to the hand of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe way the community rallied around those boys, the things that happened behind the scenes, and the stories that came from it \u2014 it was horrible, but you see God\u2019s hand in the whole thing. Isah wasn\u2019t hurt, but he is the hero in the story because he was 13 years old, and he went up there and flagged somebody down. With all that happened, he didn\u2019t freeze up. He just did what needed to be done,\u201d said Sawyer\u2019s mom, Chastity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat was one of the incredible things about the accident \u2014 just the amount of prayer from our community. We felt those prayers. We know that God hears our prayer,\u201d Mike said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sawyer\u2019s brother, Sanders, wasn\u2019t with the family the day of the accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI love my brother very much, and I always have. The accident made me realize just how much I loved him and would have missed him if he hadn\u2019t made it. Our relationship is even stronger now; he\u2019s my best friend,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sawyer missed the 2018 football season but played the next season and each after. Also a baseball player, Sawyer missed most of his sophomore year of baseball with a torn UCL, the Tommy John ligament, in the fifth game of the season. Last summer, a Vanderbilt Children\u2019s Hospital doctor diagnosed him with superventricular tachycardia (SVT), which is when the heart beats fast and is induced by adrenaline. An ablation corrected the SVT, and Sawyer hit the football field running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lovvorns, a sports-loving family, have boldly weathered each medical issue, buoyed by their faith and the community\u2019s support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sawyer said, \u201cOne of the biggest things the accident and some of the other injuries taught me is that nothing in life is guaranteed. You can\u2019t take anything for granted. Every day, you have to make the decisions you know you need to make and that you know God wants you to make, and do it to the best of your ability because you don\u2019t know how much longer you have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although his life is packed with sports, Sawyer maintains a 4.0 grade point average. It\u2019s another side of the competitive coin. But as important as those things are, they\u2019re not everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs much as I love playing football, baseball, or basketball, and as much as I love competing, I love making good grades. There are so many things I love to do. But at the end of the day, none of it really matters as much as having a relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I sometimes lose sight of that because it\u2019s hard when you\u2019re competing, and you love it so much,\u201d Sawyer said.\u201d But it\u2019s so important to stay grounded in your faith and let that be the main goal, and then sports. It\u2019s just a blessing you get from God that you use to give glory back to Him. At the end of the day, have fun and play sports. Do your best at it, but as Colossians 3:23 says, \u2018Whatever you do, work heartily as to the Lord and not to men.\u2019 It\u2019s hard to make this the main focus, but I try to give glory back to God in everything, to know where it comes from, and try not to take the glory for myself because I know I don\u2019t deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chastity said, \u201cWe just know God\u2019s got a plan.\u201d Mike agrees. \u201cThe verse that comes to mind for us as a family is Romans 8:28. \u2018And we know that all things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose.\u2019 We know that everything we\u2019ve been through hasn\u2019t been good. But we look back on it now, and we see so many blessings \u2014 even how good things came from the bad times. That gives us even more faith in knowing that the creator of everything looks at us, and He sees and cares about us.\u201d The Lovvorn family faces life headon, fortified by unwavering faith and a strong family bond. As they continue to lean on their belief that God has a plan, Sawyer\u2019s unshakable spirit serves as a testament to the transformative power of faith and perseverance as he moves the chains further down the field of his journey into adulthood. He knows who\u2019s making the calls! GN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE RIVALRY of the hometown teams charges the Friday night air. The center snaps the football, and the quarterback slides the ball into the running back\u2019s hands, consistently moving the chains downfield and into the end zone. For 16 carries, No. 19 picks up yardage and charges head-on into his opponent. Cascade High School senior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":21349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/shelbyville\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/01\/3-1024x683.png\")
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