The Wrong Perspective

The Florida Gators softball team was a contender to win the National Championship (as usual), but a bad call doomed them in the Women’s College World Series. The Gators were leading UCLA 4-1, but the Bruins loaded the bases with only one out. A fly ball popped up near the third base dugout served as the second out, and the runner on third tagged up and headed for home; the throw from the short stop to the catcher was in time, and the runner was tagged out two feet from home plate, ending the scoring threat.

Except the home plate umpire called her safe. The next pitch was a three-run homer that gave UCLA a 5-4 lead instead of a 4-1 deficit. The problem was the ump was way out of position, having darted toward third base to make sure the runner properly tagged up. When the tag at home was applied, the umpire was sprinting towards the action but was unable to see what happened. It was an egregious blunder that spoiled Florida’s season, and college softball has not yet adopted a replay system.

The umpire was trying to do his job, but he was out of position and left with the wrong perspective. When we have the wrong perspective we make wrong decisions. We usually end up with the wrong perspective when we view life horizontally instead of vertically. It is much easier to view life from our perspective, but it takes maturity to see things from God’s point of view. When things do not go our way we may be tempted to become upset, or even blame God, but the wise Christian learns that many of our inconveniences are opportunities to grow, to become more like Jesus, or to minister to someone else.

James wrote that believers should “Count it as pure joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness (1:2).” If you are going through a hard time right now, try to find a lesson that can be learned, or a way to use it to help someone else. If you find yourself having a pity party, maybe you just have the wrong perspective.