When I was growing up, I had an old neighbour named Dr．Gibbs．He didn’t look like other doctors I had ever known．He never 1 at us for playing in his yard．I remember him as someone nice and 2 ．When Dr．Gibbs wasn’t saving 3 , he was planting trees．His house sat on ten acres, and his life’s 4 was to make it a forest．
But he 5 watered his new trees．Once I asked why．He said that watering plants would 6 them, and that 7 you water them, each successive(后继的) 8 of trees will grow weaker and weaker．So you have to make things 9 for them．
He’d planted an oak, and instead of watering it every morning, he’d 10 it with a rolled-up newspaper．I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to cause the tree’s 11 ．Dr．Gibbs passed away a couple of years ago． 12 , I walk by his house and look at the trees that I watched him plant some 25 years ago．They are big and 13 now．Sufferings seemed to 14 them in ways ease and 15 never could．
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons．I stand over them and watch their little bodies, the rising and falling of life within．I often pray for them．Mostly I pray that their lives will be 16 ．But lately I've been thinking that it's time to 17 my prayer, because life is 18 , whether we want it to be or not．Too many times we pray for ease, but that's what we seldom 19 ．What we need to do is to pray for roots that reach deep into the earthe, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won't be 20 ．
In my third year as a high school athletics coach, I gave a speech telling students and parents about the benefits of football．I gave the same 1 each year, aimin g at recruiting(招收)new team members．I talked about 2 football wasn't just for 3 athletes and how everyone could 4 from it．This year, a 5 looking couple approached me after my speech．They said their son really wanted to play football．They had tried to 6 him out of it, but he had his heart 7 on joining the team．
When they told me his name, my heart sank．Michael was five feet and ten inches tall and weighed about 108 pounds．He was a 8 boy, the constant target of other kids' jokes, and as far as I knew he had never 9 sports．I knew he would never 10 it through football practice, let 11 as a player．But we told them we could give it a try．
On the opening day of practice, Michael was the first player on the field, we did 30 minutes of warming-up 12 starting a one-mile jog around the track．I 13 my eye on Michael．At 50 yards he fell, and I helped him to his feet．“Michael,”I said,“Why don't you just 14 the mile?”He said in tears that he wanted to run with the others, so I let him go on． 15 he fell, but each time 16 himself up．
The same thing happened every day for weeks, and Michael gained strength both 17 and physically．By the last week of practice, Michael could run the mile without falling, we had 18 only one game that season, 19 the team cheered louder for Michael's run than the victory they had, Afterward, Michael approached me, and I told him how 20 I was of him．
