Here is a quote from an article by sports writer Bob Kravitz in the Indianapolis Star after the Colts-Lyons game.

” And here’s the thing that made it even sweeter, a thing you may have missed while watching on TV: On a Don Carey interception with 6:40 to play, Ndamukong Suh laid out Colts right tackle Winston Justice, who left the game with a concussion. Worse, Suh and his teammates stood over Justice and laughed and danced.

After the game, the Colts tough-minded right guard, Mike McGlynn, was still spitting mad. In fact, he didn’t run into the end zone to celebrate. He was too busy jawing with Suh and some other Lions.

“Totally ignorant on their part,” McGlynn said. “Just childish stuff. We’re all battling out there; I don’t know if the hit was legal or not, but clearly he was hurt, and they’re out there dancing and pointing at him and laughing. Just blatant disrespect. They’re good players but there’s no room for that. It’s disgusting, really.

“If that had happened to one of their players, we’d never do something like that. But that’s what makes this even sweeter. That’s why they lose. I hope they never win another game.”

This is a team with an edge, a sense of belief, a sense of purpose. “We’re going to fight the way our coach is fighting,” Arians said.

A great story just keeps getting better. “

So, whats wrong with this picture? Did the Lyons players do anything wrong? Was the Colt player’s response  correct?

I have to tell you that the Colt Fan in me wishes McGlynn would have knocked SUH’s block off.

I think most of us, have a built-in sense of fair play. The Lord says on many occasions about our relationship with him that we should …” seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly with our God “.  So there is a part of us that sides with McGlynn in seeing these prideful, disrespectful actions as wrong and calling for justice. However we can be 100% correct in our opinion about a wrong and still be 100% incorrect in how we respond to it.

As husbands and fathers we often find ourselves in a position to exercise mentor leadership with our spouse or children, even other husband, fathers. How we respond to injustice will affect all of these relationships either in a positive way or a negative way. If you look at the reference from the Bible previously quoted, the phrase mercy and humility are tied to how we respond to injustice. That puts our response into a specific perspective, like that of Jesus Christ. Unjust acts solicit angry aggressive behaviour from us. A reaction I believe God put in us to motivate us toward addressing injustice. But at the same time tempering those actions with love, mercy and humility. Because as Christians we want our response to point people to the love and forgiveness of Christ.

This includes times when we are being judged or treated unfairly by our spouse or family member. Taking the time to prayerfully respond in these situations is crucial to building trust and intimacy with them. What could be a show of uncontrolled anger and aggression is instead an opportunity to mentor them, encouraging their spiritual growth and character developement. They have the opportunity to become better people because we prayerfully respond rather than emotionally react in the moment. That is what mentor leadership is all about, making those around you better by showing them a better way to respond in bad situations by being better ourselves. Jesus said to love your neighbor is easy try loving your enemy, that is hard ( paraphrased ). It is in those moments, when we would be justified to go into an angry rage against the one who has done the unjust thing, that we have the greatest opportunity to teach  and bestow mercy, forgiveness and grace not only to the one who is deserving of our anger, but to all of those who see it or even hear of it.