I Should Have Had More Chewing Gum...

I chew gum at most soccer games to remind me to control my tongue... The obnoxious parents who are always screaming at the refs drive me crazy and I just don't want to be one of them...

But my mom always said when I was growing up, "Be careful of what you're critical of in others... you have done it, are doing it or will do it."

Ugh...did that prove to be true yesterday...

Zack had a soccer game last night and it was intense. It was a very physical and the ref was so out of shape that he couldn't keep up with the speed of the game... He was always behind the plays and he missed way too much. I would say that both teams got away with stuff that they shouldn't have, but I think I can objectively say that the other team played really dirty. There were some fouls in the goal box that were just nasty but the ref was still too far down the field to see them...

You could see that things were headed down a dangerous path and sure enough, with just a few minutes left in the game, it got really bad... We were in their territory, it was tied and their player (who was twice the size of our player) was all over our guy and once again, the ref was too far behind the play to see what was going on...

As our guy went down, it looked like he reached and pulled the other player with him... And that's when it happened... Fists started flying... The other team's bench cleared... It was awful. Of course, as a mom I was watching and praying that Zack had enough sense to stay out of it... Thankfully, he did...

Funny how things happen though... Early on, 3 players had gone up for a ball and when 3 players came down (what goes up must always come down)... Zack was on the bottom of the pile...

Thankfully, even though they came down on his head and neck (yes, it scared me to death) it was only his shoulder that go hurt (and we think it's just a bad muscle strain), but for the rest of the game, he played with his arm pulled into his side... So when the fight broke out, he said he thought about getting involved for a minute, but realized that he would probably get clobbered since he could only use one arm... (See, God can use anything... Although, I still think he would have had sense enough to stay out of it...)

But afterwards, I screamed at the top of my lungs, "Ref...control the game." I was so angry... I entrust my child to the care of the refs every time he walks onto a field... It is their responsibility and the coaches, to watch the temper of the players and to keep things under a tight rein... This ref did not do that and he breached a sacred trust in my book... I understand that refereeing is a hard job, but if you take a paycheck for something, you are agreeing to do the best job you can... If that was his best, he needs to stop taking the paycheck...

Now please know, I am not in anyway absolving the players who got into the fight... They are just as responsible for their lack of self-control as the ref is for how he calls the game, but ultimately, the responsibility of a fight belongs to the referees... If he had been where he should have been, then he would have seen their player all over ours and would have blown his whistle and none of it would have ever happened...

I realize that what I yelled wasn't profane, but I think what is bothering me is the anger with which I yelled it... From the overflow of the heart come the words of the mouth... I think I'm deeply bothered that as a Christian, I didn't look any different than any non-Christian in that stand last night... In fact, maybe I looked (or sounded) worse...

"Whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God..." I can't say that I glorified God in any way last night and that is what has been eating at me since 4 a.m... I know my Heavenly Father forgives me, but what message have I left with the parents? I think I'm going to have to pray harder for more self control next time...and put more chewing gum in my mouth!