Orrin, You are right; I had to read this excerpt a couple of times to begin to see application. It makes me really appreciate my dad’s stern commands and rebukes, my high school coaches relentlessly pushing us in practice, and many other painful happenings of life. At the time I never associated the pain with character, but looking back it is obvious. I see more clearly how we set our children up for failure if I buy into today’s pampering philosophies on child rearing. What really becomes evident is the cost our generation and future generations will pay for this type of thinking. I just finished reading a book my mentor gave me called, “same kind of different as me” by Ron Hall & Denver Moore. This book parallels so many principles of leadership, and deals very significantly with the subject of pain. I know to quote a famous author, “so many books, and so little time” The authors quoted CS Lewis on the clash between grief and faith: “The tortures occur, if they are unnecessary, then there is no God, or a bad one. If there is a good God, then these tortures are necessary for no even moderately good Being could possibly inflict or permit them if they weren’t.” This book will defiantly change a person’s life as well as introduce them to modern day heroics. God Bless, Mark