When I was a kid, our neighborhood basketball court—the kind with the chain nets—was the place where everybody went to play the best basketball. During the summers, top college and high school players packed the court.

Many of us learned the “Jesus Loves Me” song as children, but the last part always bothered me: ”Jesus loves me! This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong; They are weak but He is strong.” To me, displaying weakness seemed to contradict the very goal of competition.

As I was learning to compete in athletics, the idea of embracing weakness seemed ridiculous. I thought that I had to renounce all that I had learned in the gym in order to become weak. I mean, who has ever been chosen for a team for being the weakest player? Who breaks into a starting lineup because she is weaker than her teammates? I wanted to be strong and display that power for anyone who cared to watch.

When problems come into our lives, we all respond in various ways. A “thinker” chews on the problem and looks at it from every possible angle. A “talker” seeks the wisdom and advice of others. A “doer” goes at the problem head-on and works hard to find a solution. A “reactor” has a negative emotional outburst and explodes in the midst of difficulty.

But I believe that God wants our first response to be prayer, though that isn’t often our first reaction. No matter how big or small our problems are, He wants us to present our requests to Him first. As Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will support you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”

The Boston Red Sox saw little potential in their 24-year-old pitcher. He’d had a couple of decent years, but he had showed little sign of improvement. Eventually, the team traded him to the New York Yankees, who decided to move him to the outfield to utilize his strong arm. The Yankees also believed that he could become a good hitter. They were right. Years later, few people remember that Babe Ruth began his career as a mediocre pitcher in Boston!