“O.K. then, let’s do it again.”

Ten years ago, I was throwing the baseball with my son Spencer, then age 6 and in his second year of “T-Ball”. He was just learning to throw and catch. Although his dad was sure he saw a rocket arm, for all practical purposes, Spencer was still on the learning curve.

Although he was doing a good job of catching overall, one of the “pop flies” bounced off his glove and hit him smack in the face.

He fell down crying. Ouch, that must have hurt.

I immediately ran to him and clutched him in my arms in an attempt to comfort him. He placed his arms around my neck and continued to cry. Then the following dialog occurred:

Spencer: Daddy, why does God let things like that happen? It’s not fair.

Dad: I don’t know, Spencer. I think sometimes God uses stuff that hurts us to teach us things.

Spencer: What is he trying to teach me?

Dad: Maybe he’s just trying to teach you to keep your eye on the ball.

Spencer: O.K., then, I’ll do that. Let’s do it again.