In the closing seconds of an NBA game, the home team is trailing by three points. One of its players shoots the last shot of the game from near the threepoint stripe. Whoosh! The buzzer sounds!

But is it two points or three? The referee nearest the player calls it a two-point shot; the home team loses by one point, and the hometown fans leave disgruntled. Their biased eyes saw a three-point shot.

Later in his hotel room, the referee studies the ESPN slow-motion replay of his call. He (and everyone else) can plainly see that he made a mistake and cost a team a chance to win the game in overtime.

He broods over the mistake and the unfairness of seeing it broadcast for public review. He finds little comfort in realizing that he did his best.

Such is an incident related by former NBA referee Earl Strom in his book, Calling the Shots: My Five Decades in the NBA. As I read his account, I realized his dilemma extends beyond the ranks of referees; it is also endemic to my profession, pastoral ministry, ...