Who of us hasn't picked the wrong person? Even Jesus had Judas on His team. Now Jesus did not make a mistake, but in the end Judas caused Jesus great emotional pain.
With that in mind, why do we succumb to picking people who in the end simply do not work out? Here are some lessons I learned on the baseball field in high school. Yes, I made an error more than once when picking teammates. Perhaps you can identify, because these three lessons play out in real life all the time.
Three things stand out:
1. Pressure. Let's face it. If someone is your friend you feel pressured to pick them, even if you are not sure they can hit the ball. And then it happens. At the critical moment, your friend strikes out. Yes, that's painfull.
2. Productivity. In high school we had a new guy move to town. Being new I guess he felt like he could snow us, and he did. He talked about all his great expoits, so we picked him, because quite frankly, we felt like he could deliver the goods. He flaunted a great resume, but at the end of the day he could not produce on the ball field.
3. Prejudice. This is all about assumptions. We get in a hurry and look for the most promising person. After all, they look the part. They dress right, talk right, and look right. At the end of the day we make our decision based on outward appearances, and we miss the Davids in life. David went on to kill Goliath, however, on the front end, he did not look the part. So much for our prejudices or faulty assumptions.
No one is immune from making an error on the baseball field or in life. But if we take heed to these three errors we can avoid a lot of emotional pain that comes from picking painful people.
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