Lessons from the Court

February 19, 2008

The whistle blows, the referee’s fist goes into the air, the game stops as the referee approaches the scoring table. A foul has been called. With his hands he indicates the player’s number that has been charged with the foul to the official scorer. In a well officiated game, play resumes quickly even among the cheers and groans (usually worse) depending on which player and team was cited with the foul.

What about those cheers and groans? We readily agree and applaud the referee’s decisions when their call is to our favor and we are quick to disagree when the call goes against our team. And then there are the calls that are not made. Funny isn’t it- how easily we can spot a foul or traveling violation or a charge on the other team but never see the same on our team? Think about it. Have you ever heard a die-hard fan say something like this when a player from their team drives in for a lay up and scores: The official should wave that off. That should be a player control foul. We shouldn’t get those two points!

Basketball has so many parallels to life. Momentum can change quickly, sometimes nothing goes right; sometimes you’re on a roll and can’t miss. Back to the analogy of the referees- it seems they make good calls when it is in our favor and they miss it when it is otherwise.

Here are a few lessons that I am learning…
- It is hard to see my own fouls.
- Unlike the best referee that will miss some violations, God sees all.
- Not only is it hard to see my own fouls, it’s easy to see those fouls others commit.
- It is safe to say that with our best intentions, we as a church are guilty of committing some fouls that we are unaware of.

I want to say more about that last statement next time.

Pastor Chuck