Rudy

Rudy was on TV the other day.

Danny "Rudy" Ruettinger was five feet nothing, one hundred and nothing, and had essentially, no athletic ability.

If you have boys like I do, this is a must own movie. Sadly, mental toughness and resiliency are virtues that somehow slip through the parenting process. When the boys were young, I would rough house with them, and yes, sometimes they would get "hurt." I always told my wife "It's my job to hurt 'em and yours to heal 'em." I told her to relish those days since one day they may not run to her. Now that they are 12 and 14, I haven't seen them ask her to kiss the owee in a while.

We lived on a hill, and I had planted St. Augustine grass, which grows super thick and spongy. I would fling them down the hill, and most of the time they would bounce right up. Sometimes they would land awkwardly. Looking back, I guess I'm glad CPS didn't live next door! One day, while on a tree swing, the rope broke and like the long jump in the Olympics, he flew down the Hill before landing a "3.3" on a 10 point scale. Luckily mom wasn't there, but because she wasn't, it took at least ten minutes before he wanted to do it again.

Rudy did what was seemingly impossible; making the Notre Dame Football team. After years of being battered and bloodied on the practice squad, while earning the respect of everyone on the team, he finally got to play the last play of the last game of the season. He experienced setbacks very few ever do. Rudy's dream was for his father to see him play for Notre Dame.

Similarly, we were created to glorify God. To do our best working whole-heatedly as unto God. We want our Dad to be proud of us.