Lessons in Humility

A few years ago, I was invited, along with my brother, to play in a corn hole tournament. I consider myself to be a pretty decent corn hole player. In fact, my brother and I placed third in a cruise ship corn hole tournament one summer.

We quickly began sizing up the competition as we warmed up, hoping along with the other players to split the $1500 grand prize. There was chatter from several people about a particular young woman who had showed up to play. Supposedly she was one of the best females in the world. Yea, right. You want me to believe that there is actually people outside of the south that even know what corn hole is? And further, that there is a world-ranking for corn hole players? Come on!

The format for the tournament was single elimination…lose and you’re done. We were all talking about how it would suck to draw that girl and her partner in the first round. You figuring this one out yet? You guessed it. My brother and I drew her. It took all of two minutes before we were shaking their hands and telling them what a “good game” it was. A good butt-whooping is more like it!

It was a lesson in humility. Here are a few things I’ve learned in life about humility:

1. Humility does not come naturally for most. It must be developed by consistently submitting to the work of the Holy Spirit.

2. Humility looks and smells a lot like Jesus.

3. Humility cannot be developed without crucifying your flesh, which usually involves pain.

4. Role models for true humility are often unnoticed by those with an infatuation for superstars.

5. Humility positions you closer to God.

By the way, we Googled the corn hole queen after she humbled us. In 2011 she won the world championship of corn hole, which just means we got beat by the best.