There’s something quite jarring about unjust situations, especially when you’re in the middle of one. Phrases like “life’s never fair” and “we all make mistakes” feel frustrating when you’re staring down the barrel of a scenario you should never be in.
Those were my thoughts as I started my descent from the stands of my son’s baseball game and toward the exit after being ejected for… well, who knows?
After a controversial call, a coach’s blistering tirade that resulted in his own ejection, and a crowd frustrated on both sides, the umpire decided to quiet everyone down by playing a solid game of eeny-meeny-miny-mo—and he chose me. The guy just sitting there, minding his own business, saying nothing.
I didn’t deserve to be thrown out of the game. In fact, I was categorically opposed to it. I had imagined my first ejection going quite differently—not some lame “who, me?” backstory, but something legendary. The kind of story my kids would one day tell their grandkids. “I’m related to that guy,” they would say with pride!
No cool story here.
But as I’ve reflected on that moment, I’ve noticed some unflattering things surface. One, I place a high value on what others think about me. Two, I love having the last word and staying in control—even in situations where I have very little of it. And finally, I was more annoyed than I’d like to admit that I was taking the fall for someone else.
Now that a few days have passed, it’s time to stop replaying the injustice and start paying attention to what it revealed—a prideful heart, a bloated ego, and a vengeful attitude.
Sometimes the real work isn’t proving we didn’t deserve it. It’s allowing God to shape us through it.
