Our youngest son is a teenager who has been taller than I am for several months now, but it is still tempting to think of him as a little boy.  So, when he got a sever case of road rash this week, I almost suggested that he sit out the last minute trail race that the boys had planned for this weekend.  After all, he couldn't bend his knee without breaking open the wound.  How could he run 5+ miles on gnarly trails without reinjuring himself?  Well, he didn't.  He fell and tore open several wounds on knees and hands, and added some new ones.  Then he got up and finished the race.  Then he didn't even think that he needed a bandage to stop the bleeding.  He had run two miles with blood running down his legs.  Who needs bandaids after that?  As my daughter and I were talking about the situation, she very wisely observed that this race and the fall in it, were exactly what her brother needed.  He needs to do difficult things that hurt.  He needs opportunities to crash and burn and get hurt and decide that he can still run when it doesn't feel good.  Why have we taught our children that running trail races with bandaged hands that get torn open again is a good thing?  It isn't about the racing or the placing.  It is about building a life of character that says when life is difficult, when I don't want to do the right thing, when I have to stand alone for my faith, I can endure.  We know that God has to be the one to preserve his people, but we also know that he tries the faithful in furnaces to purify their gold.  One way that our family has started to learn the skills needed to endure suffering is to practice on the trails and in the mountains.  After the race, he still wanted to play in the river.  He isn't all grown up quite yet!