May 6

Some games are easy. And some are messy. Tonight's was of the latter variety.

It was filled with baserunning oopsies and weird strikeouts on pitches that, to the casual observer, didn't look particularly strike-like. (A ball that bounces in the dirt before it reaches the plate is never a strike, in my humble opinion. But... yeah. It was one of those games.)

Yeah, it was a dirty one.

But in the end, Brady's team pulled ahead by a fairly comfortable margin and maintained that lead until the last out was recorded, bringing their season record to a robust 9-0.

Although no one likes being put into uncomfortable circumstances, it's good to face unexpected challenges because they remind us that we're not really as great as we sometimes think we are. Those challenges may not feel like blessings when we're wading through them, but they are because they provide the gift of humility, which in turn increases our understanding of and compassion for others. And I am grateful for those lessons and for the fruit that they will eventually produce in my kids' lives.