Jesus is Enough

The one dark cloud during Ryan's final game was a painful one for him and, honestly, for Mommy and Daddy too. It's so hard to watch your kids being treated poorly, especially by adults who should be looked up to and modeled.

During the season, almost everyone on the team wanted a chance to pitch except Ryan. He was content to play all the other positions and let the other kids jockey for a chance to pitch. However, for some reason during the last game one of the coaches asked Ryan if he wanted to pitch, and Ryan was excited and said he did. The coach told him he could pitch during the next inning, and I braced myself for that (he can't even get the ball to the plate, so I knew it would be tough for him once he got the chance to do it).


However, the inning came and went and Ryan never pitched. Then he was told he could pitch second in the next inning, but again they never changed the pitcher. The last inning was upon us and the coach told Ryan that after two outs, they would bring him in to pitch the final out. As you can guess by now, two outs came and the outfield coach (the current and "star" pitcher's dad) who was standing right next to Ryan ignored Ryan's reminders that it was his turn to pitch. The final out was made. Ryan's heart was crushed. Mommy and Daddy were angry. Ryan hadn't ask to pitch. This coach planted the idea, encouraged it, and then stomped on it.


Ryan, dumbfounded that this adult that he trusted lied to him, couldn't hold back the tears. As the rest of the team was celebrating, Daddy comforted Ryan. It wasn't so much that he was disappointed that he didn't get a chance to pitch but that this coach flat-out lied to him not once, not twice, but three times. I was surprised that by the time I got to go give him a hug he was actually doing pretty well (almost a miracle for my reactive littly guy). When I asked if he was feeling better, Ryan told me that Daddy reminded him that Jesus is the only one who will never disappoint us and He can always be trusted. Jesus is enough!

(As a footnote to this, Ed told the coach that Ryan was upset and asked the him to talk to Ryan, which he did. We didn't get to hear what he said, but Ryan said he told him if he played for him again next year he would let him pitch. An apology instead of another empty promise would have been more appropriate, don't you think?)