Replacement Refs...and grace

I am a fan of the NFL.  I like to watch football.  If you know me you know that I am a Minnesota Viking fan.  This past Sunday my Vikes played the San Francisco 49ers.  Toward the end of the game there were a few plays where the officials gave the 49ers extra timeouts and extra challenges which led to some pretty exasperating calls going against Minnesota.  However, it didn't cost them the game.  The Vikings won 24-13.
Last night the Seahawks played the Packers.  Now if your a Viking fan your mortal enemy is the Packers.  I always like it when the Packers lose.  They lost last night on a last second hail mary pass by the Seahawks.  Now if you watched the game, even if you are a Seattle fan, you KNOW that the receiver pushed a defender down (offensive pass interference) and that that same receiver did not catch the ball, instead it was clearly intercepted by a defender on the Green Bay Packers.
Usually, I would have been very happy for the completion and the loss by the Packers except that it was a bad call.  Let me rephrase that, a REALLY bad call.  It was blatantly obvious that the refs got the call wrong and that they blew the game and that the Packers got ripped off.  This season has been full of these bad calls but none probably as bad as that one last night and none that cost a team probably as much as it did the Packers last night.
I don't think the replacement refs are up to the challenge of the NFL.  Nothing against them personally, I just think the speed of the players and the game is too much for them.  I wish the NFL and the regular refs would settle their dispute so we could get back to the NFL we are used to.  The one where the refs are only bad instead of REALLY bad like we have now.
But truthfully, the replacement guys are trying.  They are trying to get better.  They are trying to catch up.  I mean it can't be easy trying to call a holding penalty on the offensive lineman and that 6'5" tall, 350 pound lineman is standing right by you screaming and cussing.  I don't like the results but I do understand the difficulty that the refs are having.  There is a reason they are "replacement" refs.  They didn't have what it took to begin with to make the NFL.  Why are we just now screaming at them to get the calls right?  Did we think that all of a sudden they would be perfect?  Did we think that something miraculous would happen once they got that NFL logo on their shirt?
Grace is the call.  Cut them some slack.  They are bad no doubt.  But give them a break.  They were thrown into the fray and told to do their best.  Not a whole lot of preparation or training...just get in there and try not to screw up too badly.
Kind of like being a Christ-follower.  We come to Christ and now we are trying our best to do our best.  We screw up, mess up, and sometimes we mess up REALLY bad.  Thank God that He is not as critical of us as many of us are with the replacement refs!  Thank God for grace.
Take care,
Rod