Tonight, story six, is one I didn’t expect. When I sent my high school baseball coach, Ryan Wolfsheimer (Coach Wolf), the scoop for doing a story, I didn’t even think about this piece of his life. But I certainly remember it vividly. As much of a figure Coach Wolf is in the community, people don’t always realize the humane side of such figures.
We all go through spurts of time that we can’t control, but here’s how Coach Wolf turned to faith to build his family…
“My cell phone is ringing at 5:15pm on Friday March 11th, 2016. It’s Ashley, my wife, calling me as I’m finishing up practice and preparing for a scrimmage the next morning at Patterson Mill High School. I say to the coaches walking off the field with me, “Why is she calling me??? She knows I’m on the field. So I answer the phone even though part of me wanted to decline the call and send her to voicemail. “Hey dear, what’s up? I’m heading in from practice, what’s the deal?” That’s when I heard Ashley say, “The baby’s heartbeat stopped…”
Proverbs 3:5-6 states, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
As much as I would love to say that I’m very polished in books of the Bible, the truth is I can run you through players, coaches, games and practices over fifteen years of coaching high school baseball like Dustin Hoffman in ‘Rainman,’ better than I can tell you about Abraham and Isaac or the walls of Jericho. However, Proverbs seems to always find its way into my mindset. I even put Proverbs 27:17 on back of one of our Dulaney baseball shirts a long time ago. I did modify the verbiage a bit so I could keep my job…for the time being.
Where to begin about faith…
For some reason, ever since I was a little knucklehead kid running around Essex, I’ve had a strong faith. I believed with all of my heart that God was with me in anything and everything I did. I was never a person that said, “Why me?” when something didn’t go my way or if something bad happened in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t always handle things the best way, but I never questioned why good or bad things happened to me or the people around me. I knew there was a reason for it. I guess that’s where FAITH comes into play. The book of Hebrews has a lot of FAITH references. In 11:1 it states, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Over thirty-nine years on this earth has blessed me with enough sins for many lifetimes. I’m always a work in progress and feel I’m better today than I was yesterday. At the end of the day I think what keeps me focused is my faith.
Ashley is an OBGYN certified Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer. Short and simple phrase, she administers prenatal ultrasounds. She does this at our business that is booming right now. However, she spent years in hospitals doing this prior to opening up our own facility and that’s where the first story begins.
Ashley and I have two daughters (Ava 6, Ella 3) and one child that we never had the opportunity to bring home. During our second pregnancy, Ashley was at work when she decided to have one of her colleagues do a quick scan to check on the baby and make sure everything is progressing the way it should. Once Ashley looked at the monitor, she knew right away that the baby had passed away. She called me right away, and you know how that conversation went.
What does this story have to do with me and FAITH?
There are many stories I could share about me and FAITH, but I picked this one because it had such a tremendous impact on many people lives. It was a physical tragedy that I could do nothing about and had no control over it. The only thing I could do was to be there for Ashley emotionally, physically and spiritually. Emotionally, I provided all the love and support I could. Physically, I was there to hold her and listen to her. As for spiritually, I put all my faith into trusting god’s plan. Can I see the plan? NO. Do I know the plan? NO. Sounds crazy to a lot of people in this world. How can you believe in something you’ve never seen or touched? Easy for me to do and let me tell you why.
Long story short…during my journey as a follower of Christ I recognized that my way wasn’t working. I would take two steps forward then three steps back. So, one evening I said, “Lord, I’m here, I’m ready, I can’t do this on my own. Please come into my soul and guide me the way you see is best.” Then it was like I got zapped by an AED machine! I’m telling you I could feel it distinctly. It was like I got electrocuted by a million volts of love. I felt like there was a warm blanket covering me up on the couch and everything was gonna be okay.
During the miscarriage, which completely changed Ashley’s career path, there were many times that I had to be the rock for our family. My faith kept us believing that there was a reason why it happened. That event led to Ashley changing her work schedule to a lighter load so she can be home with Ava more and eventually guided us to starting our own business. It motivated me to buy the home we live in now (which is perfect for us) while still keeping our townhouse as a rental property. But most importantly…Ella Marie Wolfsheimer was born a year and a half after that tragedy…and she completes our family.
“Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.” -Mahatma Gandhi”
Wolf has transitioned from baseball coaching to life coaching, and has since started Gaining Ground Coaching, a company to give people an outlet for advice in most aspects of life. He and his wife Ashley have also founded Love at First Sight, a 3D/4D Ultrasound company.
They can be found @gaininggroundcoaching on Instagram and on respective Facebook Pages.
The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.
Until tomorrow…
-B.F.
Super 8 