As a young kid, like many at that time, I loved playing baseball.  I usually played left field and had a beat-up fielder's glove.  But to tell the truth, playing outfield was rather boring since most of the action happened in the infield.  I had dreams of being a catcher since they had a pivotal position in the infield.  I loved everything about it: the cool equipment, the view right behind the batter, the partnership with the pitcher, the plays at home plate coming off third base.  The kids I played with needed a good catcher and were happy to have me play the spot but there was one problem: I didn't have a catcher's mitt and had never even seen one for sale as they were a rare commodity.

Until, of all things, one cold, snowy, slushy, February day while accompanying my mother to Kmart.  There it was, on a pedestal with other baseball gloves-a catcher's mitt!  New, big, rigid, fresh leather smell, expensive.  The price was more than I could afford on my meager savings.  Working up as much pleading as I could muster, I asked my mom to buy me the glove; it was the only one there, the only one I'd ever seen for sale and I absolutely knew if I didn't get it immediately, someone else would grab it.  She said, "We'll see," and let it go at that.  My heart plummeted; I knew all was lost.  We got home and I ran up to my father and pled my case as best I could.  I was sure I'd get a different response from the father figure, who appreciated baseball.  "We'll see," was all he said.  Oh the bitter disappointment of it all!  I kept bugging him for days, sure that the glove was gone.  It was a matter of life and death.  He kept putting me off.  Finally, convinced I would die of depression, he relinquished.  As we drove to the Kmart, my heart raced.  I ran inside and to my amazement, the glove was still there.  My father paid for the glove, I took it home, oiled it up, and dreamed of spring where I'd get to use it and be a catcher, hovering over home plate.

The mitt cost a lot at that time.  Years later, my dad told me he needed to wait in buying me the glove, even if it meant losing the chance to buy it, because he needed both of us to see if this was just a passing phase or if I was really serious about being a catcher.  What finally turned the tide in his mind was the fact I kept hounding him for it; it showed him I was committed to the cause, that it was serious enough for me to pursue unrelentingly.  As an adult, it strikes me that God and life is like that: often it takes consistent, persistent pressure to move things that are really important to us.  And the things that are really important to us-and to God-will be so if for nothing more than we don't take an initial "no" for an answer.

He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’

He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name.
   Your kingdom come.

 
Give us each day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins,
     for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
   And do not bring us to the time of trial.'  And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread

for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.”

And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.”

I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.

For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?

Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’