Repentance and grace

Another theological lesson from baseball. Wednesday evening, umpire Jim Joyce blew a call at first base with two outs in the ninth inning, costing Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game. After watching replays, Joyce immediately admitted his mistake and publicly apologized. 

I just missed the damn call. . . . This isn't 'a' call. This is a history call. And I kicked the [expletive] out of it. I take pride in this job, and I took a perfect game away from that kid over there who worked his [butt] off all night.

 Galarraga responded,"I give a lot of credit to that guy. . . . You don't see an umpire, after the game, say, 'I'm sorry.' Nobody's perfect."  Last night, with Joyce behind the plate, the Tigers sent Galarraga out with the lineup card while the crowd gave both of them a long ovation.

Tom Boswell concluded, 

There's a rumor going around that everybody makes mistakes. But it's what you do after you make them that matters most. Perhaps it is equally true that how we react to the mistakes of others, especially when they hurt us, reveals us like an open book.