“John, if I had it to do over again, as a young man I would be in God’s Word every day. There we find wisdom and the knowledge to avoid all kinds of pitfalls.” Then Ed read the Proverb below. Thirteen-year-old John received more than breakfast on a recent Sunday morning.
It must have been late 2001 that I went in the Dunkin Donuts near our house for a cup of coffee and saw a familiar face. “Ed?” I asked. “Dana, how are you?! Come sit with me.” For sixteen years Ed and I have met for a cup of coffee around 5:30 every Sunday morning. Now eighty years old, Ed is one who encourages me to walk closely with the Lord.
Ed was an excellent basketball referee and softball umpire for many years in the Atlanta area. He regularly came to our gym at the beginning of a season to speak to our players and parents about the rules of basketball. Shortly after we re-connected I felt I needed to confess my own terrible rule violation in a game he officiated.
We were playing away at a region rival who had a very strong team. We were down by at least ten points late in the third quarter when the ball was stolen from our point guard in the corner of the court closest to our bench. I was confident my player had been fouled, but there was no whistle and the quick opponent was dribbling the ball toward our basket.
I still do not know what overcame me, but since my pleas for justice were going unheeded by the three referees, I did a very foolish thing. Standing on the sideline as their guard dribbled by our bench, I reached out and stole the ball. It was a very clean steal and I found myself holding the basketball for an awkward moment before I simply rolled it the opposite direction. The whistle blew and a referee pointed in our direction, indicating that we would receive the ball. No referee saw what happened.
As you can imagine, chaos ensued. The large home crowd started yelling and booing. The player I stole the ball from pointed her finger at me and cried foul. The opposing coach came running down the sideline, loudly objecting to my behavior. Even my own players were looking at me with curious expressions. “Coach, what did you just do?”
Mainly for self-preservation, I called the referees over and asked them to reverse their call. “It is the other team’s ball,” I said. “What?” one official asked. “Just give them the ball,” I replied, not really wanting to go into much detail. Though they changed the call, our team rallied and almost upset a better team. Honestly, I was thankful we lost the game.
When I shared the story with Ed, he just shook his head and laughed. Coaches and referees have an abundance of stories… and sometimes they end up being good friends.
“My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down you will not be afraid; when you lie down your sleep will be sweet. Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared.” Proverbs 3:21-26