Life takes interesting twists and turns. Last week our men’s softball team at Christ the King was one man short and forfeited a game to a team they defeated earlier in the season by a score of 16-9.

This week, they were preparing to have the final game of the season against a team that beat them soundly by a 19-6 margin.

This game was vitally important because our softball team had never experienced a winning season and, with the forfeit last week, they stood at 5-4 with one game to play. It was entirely possible that our team, the Warriors, would wind up 5-5 and, while not a losing season, that record is not quite a winning season either.

That’s where the interesting twist comes in. The coach from the team that trounced us called the league office to say that he couldn’t get enough guys together and, just like that, we were credited with a 7-0 victory, went to a 6-4 season, and garnered third place in the league complete with trophy!

It was then that I was reminded that, on balance, life works out pretty well most of the time.

I’ve been around sports long enough to know that sometimes you get some pretty rotten calls. On the other hand, there are times when your team just quietly rejoices that the other team is the one getting the bad calls.

A few years ago, I was playing church league softball and hit a single to first. The batter following me hit a hot grounder. [There was a throw] to second base in an attempt to force me out. It was a close play. The truth is, the throw beat me to the base by a millisecond but I was called “safe.”

The other team howled in protest. The pitcher pointed at me and said, “You’re a minister. What do you have to say about this call?”

I replied, “I believe in submitting to authority!” and stayed on second base! But there have been times I have been safe and have been called “out.” And, in true fashion, I howled in protest. But I was still out and returned to the dugout fuming.

Life is filled with unfair calls but we tend to recall only those that went against us. Once in a while, one of life’s calls will be unfairly in our favor, but we don’t always remember these. Once, I found a $100 bill in a mall parking lot. Nothing about that was fair. I rejoiced in the fact that I was now $100 richer and, while I realized that some poor soul was now $100 poorer, there was nothing I could do about his or her misfortune. Both of us experienced a “bad call,” he unfairly losing money and I unfairly finding it.

I’ve seen unfair calls in sports and in life break a team or a person. I’ve also seen teams and individuals overcome bad calls and push forward right in to victory. It’s not the bad call that determines our future but our response to the bad calls.

Last week our team mourned their fate in receiving a forfeit while the opposing team that was prepared rejoiced. This week, we rejoiced in our good fortune while, no doubt, the other team’s coach grimaced and groaned. We are 6-4 and not 5-5. We are in third place with a trophy to show for it, and have our first winning season, instead of slipping to somewhere lower in the standings.

Is that fair or unfair? No, it simply just is.

One of the first lessons my father tried to teach me is that life is unfair. He didn’t, however, teach me that sometimes I would benefit from the unfairness. That lesson I learned on my own.

We can’t bank on receiving the positive benefits of bad calls, but we can’t let the bad calls destroy us either. We must just receive the good and the bad and realize that the rain (which can bring either life or death, depending on the amount and intensity of the rainfall) falls both “on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45 NJKV). But we will accept the third place trophy!

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