The bald sniper

David walked by his son’s room just in time to hear Rick yell,

“I wish this game was easier.”

“Having trouble with your game?” David asked, leaning into the room.

“It’s impossible,” Rick complained throwing his remote down on his bed.

“You’ve only had it for a couple of days, it takes time to learn all the right moves.”

“NO, they just made it too hard!” exclaimed Rick in frustration.

David walked over to his son’s bed and sat beside him. “So, you wish it was easier to play, without learning all the game's tricks.”

“Yes, Charlie from school said he has already finished the game, and he’s only had it a month longer than I have.”

“Do you like playing the game?” David asked. “Are the graphics and story boring?”

“Dad, you wouldn’t understand. It’s not one of the games you played as a kid, where you just had to bounce from one pipe to the next and collect coins.”

“Well, that is true, but our games didn’t resemble Hollywood movie productions. Looking at this it’s hard to tell it’s not just a movie, that you control.” David said, picking up the remote and started pushing the buttons.

The characters on the screen began to move through the extremely realistic game landscape. “Oh, this is cool.” But it only lasted a few minutes before he ran out of lives and the game ended. “Oh, that was quick.”

“See what I mean, it’s too hard,” Rick said taking back the remote and resetting the game.

“See what I mean, it’s too hard,” Rick said taking back the remote and resetting the game.

“Did you start at this level?”

“No, this is the fifth level. I just can’t get past the sniper in the bell tower. That’s who shot you, five times.”

“I see,” David said, then added. “Were all the levels this hard?”

“You start easier, and it gets harder as you go through the game.”

“Sort of like life then,” David said. Hoping Rick would take the bait, and he could use this as a teaching moment.

“What do you mean,” Rick asked as he maneuvered his man around the bombed-out houses, and piles of rubble inside the game.

“When I was younger than you are, my grandfather used to say wishes and prayers were about the same thing.” A smile broke across his face remembering sitting on the floor, at his grandfather's feet playing the electronic football game he received for Christmas that year. And having the same issues that Rick now faced.

“I should ask God to make this game easier to win?” Rick asked still focused on moving his man through the battlefield.

“My grandfather told me that when we pray God, does not automatically make our dreams come true. Imagine if you ask God to the game make easier for you. Then you could go through this game in a few minutes, knowing where every enemy soldier was standing, what corners the tanks were around, and just where to aim to kill the sniper in the belfry.

“I’d like that a lot,” Rick said with a smile, even though his character took another hit.

“You’d like it but only for a brief time, then the game would become rather boring. Without the challenge or mystery of the game, you just be punching buttons. It would be no more exciting than ringing someone up at the grocery store.

“So, what’s the difference between a wish and a prayer?’

“A prayer is something you ask God to help with.”

“Charlie says prayers never come true.” Rick

“Well, at his young age, I’m sure Charlie knows everything,” David said with a sarcastic smile. “We don’t always know how God answers our prayers.”

“Then how do we know if our prayers have been answered?” Rick asked.

“As my grandfather explained it me, if you ask God for strength, he will give you challenges that will make you stronger. If you ask for patience, he will give you tests that teach you patience.” David explained. “Like the adage, ‘give a person a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a person to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”

Rick laughed and said, “I’m not looking to learn how to fish. I just want to be able to beat this game.

“Ha, ha, ha. You have quite the sarcastic sense of humor, my son.” David said with a broad smile.

“You taught me well’ Rick quipped back. “So, you’re saying I should wish I was better at this game then, right?”

“That's the funny thing about wishes. Be incredibly careful what you wish for. You must be very clear on what you want your wish for.”

“What do you mean?” Rick asked, putting his game controller down.

“Let’s say I wished for long flowing hair.

“With your hair situation or lack of hair situation, that would be a good wish,” Rick said, smiling at his joke.

“Very funny,” David said smiling as well. “So, before I go to bed I wish to have long flowing hair.”

“And then, you wake up and have hair down to your back.” Rick chimed in.

“That is one possibility, or what if the long flowing hair came in under my arms.”

“Aww, that is gross,” Rick said making as if he was going to puke.

“But what I wished for came true. I would just have to go to a hairdresser to get my pit hair styled.” At this, they both laughed.

David noticed that Rick suddenly stopped laughing and was looking at David’s hairless head.

“Dad, do you think I’ll go bald too?”

“You,” David said as he ruffled his son’s hair. “They say that baldness comes from your mother's brothers. And both your mom’s brothers have full heads of hair. “I think you're safe.”

“Good, I don’t want to be bald,” Rick said then added. “Not that it’s bad, I just.”

“Don’t worry,” David cut his son off. You have years until you would even need to worry about that. I was in my forties before I started losing my hair.”

“Good,” Rick replied then added. “I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

David laughed aloud and then said. “Son it would take a lot more than pointing out the obvious for you to make me mad.”

David then pushed Rick over and fully sat on the bed. “Now let’s see if we can get rid of that snipe and move on to the next level.”

“Really?” Rick said with a big smile and picked up his controller again.

Together, father and son played the game, producing separate ways to make it past the sniper. About 20 minutes later both cheered when Rick threw a grenade and exploded fuel barrels, which caused the belfry to fall over. Taking the sniper with it.

“You know that the sniper was probably bald anyhow,” David said which brought on a fit of laughter from both.

That night at dinner couldn’t stop regaling his gaming feats to his mother.

“So, you both got your wish.” His mother said with a proud happy smile while looking at David.