Ted Barrett's Humble Strength

Being an umpire is rough. It's impossible to get every call right, and when you don't, everybody hates you. Even the people who respect you hate you. It's easy when taking up that call to put up a similar proud aura; you're running this show, and you demand respect. Ted Barrett, though, handles his business a little differently.

Do not be lead away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace... -- Hebrews 13:9a

As an umpire, Barrett knows he has to have confidence in there or he'll be eaten alive by fans, players, and coaches ready to jump anything close to a mistake. Berating the umpires is one of the great traditions of the game, and any umpire worth his salt knows how to ignore it and run the game the way he wants to. That said, it's possible to do this with humility and quietness. Common wisdom says that the great umpires are "seen, but not heard." They are able to command respect in the game based on their abilities, and keep the game going without making a show of their presence. In umpiring as well as the rest of life, taking direct insults without pushing back is extremely difficult; fortunately we lean on a God who has given an identity which he is responsible for, and he has justified our lives for us.

The vexation of a fool is known at once,

but the prudent ignores an insult. -- Proverbs 12:16

If you let them get under your skin, then they've won that battle. You have shown them that you are placing your worth, your justification, on something which needs your personal involvement to uphold. We don't need to do this. God is perfectly capable of justifying himself. When someone accuses the fatherless, the widow, and the poor, take up their cause. When accusations come from the ungodly, the Lord will defend our cause.

I will bear the indignation of the LORD

because I have sinned against him,

until he pleads my cause

and executes judgment for me.

He will bring me out to the light;

I shall look upon his vindication.

Then my enemy will see,

and shame will cover her who said to me,

"Where is the Lord your God?"

"My eyes will look upon her;

now she will be trampled down

like the mire of the streets. - Micah 7:9-10

God has come out and judged, and Jesus has born the punishment. He vindicates our cause against the baseless accusations of this world. Place your worth in Jesus' salvation and you'll be able to shrug off insults; they're not what you place your ultimate worth in. Be a little bit like Ted Barrett--confident, strong, and humble, but because the Lord has made him that way, not because he has worked for it.