It's a hard thing to be a little brother. I don't know by personal experience, of course, but I watch Kurt and realize how tough it is to be overshadowed by a big brother. Big brothers are awesome, of course. I don't have any older brothers, but I definitely have big brothers, and I think they're great. But then again, I'm not a little brother.
Kurt has been trying his whole life to beat Friedrich - at anything. The fact that he is four years younger and will never be as big as Friedrich is completely irrelevant in Kurt's mind. He thinks he should be able to run faster, jump higher, hit harder, throw farther, and do everything not only as well as Friedrich, but better. The sad part is that this hardly ever happens. He's just a lot younger and a lot smaller. But that never stops him from trying. No matter how bad he gets beaten, he will come back for more. Every time. It kind of breaks my heart. Every time.
But today Friedrich was away from home, and Kurt was hanging around with nothing to do. The Captain had some students at the house, and for a little while they didn't have anything to do, either. So they started a chess tournament, of sorts. There were three boys that were all older than Kurt by quite a bit, but there were only three of them. So when they found out that Kurt knew how to play chess, they invited him to play chess with one of them while the other two played. I'm sure they thought that the boy playing against Kurt would just play around and humor him while the other two played a real game. They quickly found out that their mistake.
It didn't take Kurt very long to have his opponent in check mate. They played again, since the older boy was sure it had been dumb luck. Kurt once again beat him soundly. That boy was the youngest of the three students, so a boy older than him decided to step in and play against Kurt. That boy also found himself in check mate after only a few moves.
I'm not trying to tell you that Kurt is some kind of chess prodigy. He really isn't. And if Friedrich had been home, he could have beaten Kurt in no time. But I believe the Lord's hand was in our lives in keeping Friedrich away from home this afternoon. Kurt needed a chance to shine, and this was the perfect opportunity. He had been practicing with cousins at the reunion, and had lots of practice. The three older boys really weren't very good at chess. But they were amazed by Kurt's abilities. They marveled and wondered, and told each other again and again that Kurt was still in elementary school. The last student refused to play against Kurt at all because he knew he would be beaten. Hahaha.
Kurt loved every minute, and I could see his self-esteem growing with every amazed comment. I am so glad that the Lord gave Kurt a chance to shine this afternoon - to show off his amazing abilities without being in Friedrich's shadow. He is an amazing kid, but the world doesn't always see it, and neither does he. I'm sure the Lord does, though, and today He gave those students, as well as Kurt, a glimpse of the awesomeness hiding inside of my ten-year-old boy.
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