My high school son is a varsity basketball player. His team had the first league game the other night and Tad was “in the zone.” Had one of those terrific games–made 12 points, played a sizeable chunk of the game, drove hard to the basket, made two 3 pointers, etc. He was even in the paper the next morning!

We don’t take a minute of this experience for granted. Tad has plenty of games in which he sits on the bench, or is subbed in and makes an error and is quickly yanked. We have a lot of empathy for the benchwarmers. A lot.

But God has a pattern with my kids, which I attribute to years of prayer on their behalf. Just in case “the big head” becomes a temptation, God quickly permits a “zing”…just to keep things in perspective.

So the very next day after Tad’s big game, he was pulling out of the high school parking lot, made a left turn (illegal after 3pm) and was nabbed by a grumpy cop. His first ticket!

And the fun of the preceding evening evaporated, like mist, as a day spent in traffic school appeared.