Catch

I was recently watching family videos of me when I was younger. I found a video of my dad, brother and I playing catch. I remember being scared of my dad throwing the ball at me. It wasn't that he threw too hard, because he didn't, it was that I knew he could. I had watched my dad throw the ball around at ball games with older people and new he had an arm. I watched myself lay my glove open, as he lobed it into the air gently. I would put the glove out in front of me as far as I could, to avoid all chances of getting hit. I remember that fear quite well.

As I grew older, my father threw harder. It was either catch it or get out of the way. I loved playing catch with my dad, but sometimes the fear got the best of me. My dad was very good at putting the ball right where I could catch it and only throwing it as hard as he knew I would be able to handle. I remember probably one of the last times I played catch with him. He was putting everything he had behind it. When I would catch wrong, it would hit the palm of my hand flat and it hurt with a sting that lasted well past the initial impact. Even though he was throwing it harder, I was staying in front of the ball. I was catching it and throwing it back with as much intensity as I had. I began to enjoy the sting and the pain because I was lost in the experience. The fear wasn't there and he knew I could take his hardest throws.

He always new how much I could take. From tossing it up in there air, to hurling it at me with a speed the Road Runner would be jealous of. I realize now that him playing catch with me wasn't about teaching me to be able to handle more, but teaching me how to deal with what was being thrown at me at the time. He knew what I could handle and it showed in how he threw it at me. Life is the same way with God. He knows what we can handle and adjusts his pitches accordingly.

There is two ways to fight through struggles that seem overwhelming.

#1 Without God
This puts the weight on you and you alone. Fear is more overwhelming knowing that you can only do what you believe you can do. There are no miracles, no saving graces and nothing to gaing, but the chance to do it all over again when you fall. Whether it ends good or bad, you are solely to blame and ultimately are all alone.

#2 With God
If you know that God doesn't put you through any endeavor that you can't handle you will feel ok. Reguardless of the situation, you will come out victorious. you know that God will provide and thus, nothing seems out of reach or improbable. There is a sense of security and wellbeing that can be gained from finding joy in a failure, knowing they can't get the best of you.

All in all I learned a valuable lesson from playing catch from my father. He didn't teach me to fear or hate the ball, but to understand it. In life and all its failings, I've learned no matter what comes my way, always stay in front of the ball, because when God is with me, there is no safer place to be.