Tuesday after my blog posted, I talked to my husband. It was unrelated to the blog, but before we hung up he tentatively said, “Hey, I don’t want to criticize your writing or anything, but you just don’t have the facts straight in your blog today.”

Hmmm…facts not straight? I have an incredible memory so I was a little skeptical, but I asked what I had missed. He gave me a couple of facts to straighten out which turned out to be mostly sports related jargon. I fixed those and then told him to read it again.

He soon called and said it still wasn’t right. “Okay,” I said, “I’ll open it up and you tell me what needs to change.” And he proceeded to edit two paragraphs worth of material.

It only reaffirmed the point of the blog. I am not athletic. I call the players clothing outfits, not uniforms. I tend to generalize all sports with the same terms regardless of individual differences. For instance, hockey doesn’t have a half time, but football does. But they all take a break so, hence, half time.

As I have thought about this interaction, I realized I had a choice. I could see Dave as my adversary or my teammate. What is the difference? An adversary wants to ruin, intimidate, discourage me. A teammate wants to build me up and help me to improve. And both could say exactly the same words, but for different reasons.

I wonder if there is someone in your life that you have in the wrong category? Someone who isn’t afraid to speak into your life. It is quite possible that person could be your adversary and you need to stop listening to them, even though what he/she is saying has an element of truth. And there might be someone in your life who is speaking truth and you haven’t wanted to listen, even though he/she is on your team.

There are many examples in the Old Testament of advisers counseling the king to both help them and to hinder them. It’s important to be able to discern the difference.

Read: 2 Samuel 15:32-37; 17:1-6, 14; Proverbs 27:5-6

Who do you listen to? Be bold in refusing to listen to an adversary, but quick to embrace the words of a teammate.

P.S. I was really glad for Dave’s input even though I still don’t agree on a few finer points. I appreciated his willingness to set me on the straight and narrow which saved me embarrassment with you, my dear readers. In the future, I will have him proofread anything containing sports terminology. My apologies to the first few readers who had the unedited version. Like I said, athletics are not my thing.