To see his left-handed swing restored to its former sweetness, to hear the familiar old forceful aluminum ping when bat meets ball and to watch him round first base with aggression is an experience that has inspired those who have seen it.

To ask why this same 17-year-old kid was diagnosed with Stage IV Hodgkins Lymphoma last August, endured months of frightening chemotherapy and radiation treatments, saw his hair come out in clumps, was overcome with agony when he developed shingles on his right leg, was rushed back to the hospital with a 104-degree temperature on the same day he was released just before last Christmas and sometimes wondered whether he was going to die is a question that confounds those who have asked it.

Somewhat miraculously, Chad Langley is back playing first base for Horlick High School nearly nine months after being diagnosed with a virulent form of cancer. Other than his season-opening 0-for-6 slump, short hair that is just starting to grow back and cups of water that are brought to him for his radiation-parched mouth when he reaches base, there have been few hints to show for his lingering nightmare.

But while his cancer has diminished into remission - and doctors have informed him there is an 85 percent chance it won't return - the age-old question persists.

Why does this have to happen to such a nice young man?

It's such a spiritual question and answers don't come easily. And as Langley and his parents asked why, they ultimately realized answers that revealed themselves like shafts of sunshine filtering through dark clouds.

The question already has been answered for Langley. Never one for attending church often, Langley gradually started feeling a spiritual presence that he has come to embrace.

"I definitely got me a lot closer to God," he said. "I started praying a lot more, going to church and Bible studies."

Starting in early January, after the worst of his experience was behind him, Langley attended Bible studies every Thursday night conducted by Racine's Marcus Hanel, who is the Milwaukee Brewers' longtime bullpen catcher. Joining him were Horlick teammates Drew Pearson, Logan Neibaur, Pete Hannes and Taylor Jahnke, all of whom were enlightened by Hanel's wisdom.

"I never really went to church that much and never read the Bible that much," Langley said. "That's why the Bible study was so big. Marcus was able to read all this stuff and explain it to you.

"The thing I remember most was he said you can't bring a U-Haul to heaven. Whether you have a nice car or a big house, when you die, it's all going to go away. So you should really be worried about your family and not the things you have."

Sam Langley, Chad's father, asked the same question and was equally enlightened.

"When this all took place, I had to take a hard look at myself," he said. "I grew up in a family that was very Christian and I had to apologize to my family because what it made me realize was I hadn't done my part with the family as a leader and brought my kids up in church.

"So we sat down and had a long talk about where we were at and, as a family, we started going to church."

The hardest sell has been Langley's mother, Christy, who still struggles with her bitterness.

"I was very mad," she said. "I just questioned why, if God is this great being, why he would do this to any child? My mother-in-law is very religious and she would send me e-mails. I would see they were spiritually-related and I would just delete them."

But as her son regains her strength, Christy Langley is gaining a perspective.

"Now I try to say to myself, 'Maybe God did have a reason,' " she said. "Maybe it was a wake-up call. So I'm trying not to be mad at God anymore."

And with that perspective comes a desire to try and make a difference in her own way.

"What I hope once we're out of the woods with Chad, I hope to be able to devote some of my time to volunteering at Children's Hospital or volunteering at Make-A-Wish Foundation because they've been so great to us.

"I just want to do something in my own way because I know when we were driving to the hospital every single day for radiation, I was working eight hours a day. I was driving home to get Chad, I was driving to Children's Hospital for the radiation and then we were driving home. I would have loved for somebody to have taken the reigns and started a casserole club or something so I didn't have to cook or we had to go to McDonald's every night.

"I want to find other people in the area with kids who have life-threatening illnesses like this and they're having to spend a lot of time in the hospital and I want to do something to organize help for them."

And then there is the positive impact beyond Langley's family. Horlick coach Joe Wendt estimates that nearly half of the school's students wear black-and-red armbands with the words, "Stay Strong" on them.

And Horlick's players have gravitated to an inspirational leader who is hitting .375 with five doubles and 14 RBIs for the 7-6 Rebels. They have followed someone who hasn't struck out in the last nine games after three strikeouts in the first four.

"It's helped me get closer to God like he did," Neibaur said.

"It made me realize never to take anything for granted," Pearson said.

More than anything, it made Langley realize there is a reason for everything, no matter how elusive that reason can be.

"Everything happens for a reason," he said. "I think the reason it happened to me is so I could become closer to God. And that brought other people closer to God, like people on my team.

"I think that was the main reason that it happened to me."