Boasting In The Lord...and Other Things....

I am not much of a golfer but it was my husband's birthday yesterday, and he loves to golf. So I suggested we go golfing. It was only about 90 degrees outside with 70% humidity...not AT ALL daunting to someone coming off of 2 weeks flat on her back with the flu.

"Should we do 9 holes?" I suggested.
"Not on this little par 3 course," he said, "It will take us one and a half hours for all 18."

As we crawled into the shade near the clubhouse after the 9th hole, nearly 2 hours later, I hoped the birthday boy was having fun. Because I was ready to pass out with heat stroke. On this "little par 3 course", I was averaging about ten or so strokes per hole. For those of you who don't golf, in layman's terms that means I stink. We sat for a long time in the shade sucking down water. Time for the back 9.

The back 9 was shadier, at least in parts, and something clicked in my non-golfer brain. I actually began hitting the ball into the air instead of just creating trenches along the surface of the pristine grass with my line drives to the center of the earth. And you know, when you hit that sucker correctly, golf IS fun. I could actually see enjoying it on a day about 30 degrees cooler.

Whenever we came to the holes with water traps between the tee and the green, I suggested we forego the optimal club selection, and just toss the ball directly into the water. We all knew it was going to end up there anyway. On the last hole, there was a huge expanse of water. While I offered to just tee off on the other side of the water, my husband said I should go ahead and try to hit it over the lake. I would have to hit at least 70 yards to clear the water. I laughed, but teed my ball, and concentrated.

"Bend your knees, focus on the spot on the ball you want to hit, don't lift your head after hitting, bring the club smoothly back in a straight line, and follow through with a smooth swing keeping your head down." All the instructions of the day danced across my brain. And then I whacked the ball, knowing it would make a loud embarrassing "kerplunk" like it always does when I try to hit across the water hazards.

But when I looked up ( after dutifully keeping my head down throughout the follow-through), I heard no kerplunk. I could not see the ball. I looked for several seconds, waiting for the splash. And then, I saw the ball plop on the distant shore, a good 30 yards further in fact than the distant shore.
"Look!" I cried, leaping up and down, "I cleared the water! Look at how far it went!" It was at least 100 yards, by far the furthest I have ever hit a golf ball.
But the birthday boy missed it, the one and only time in my life that I have ever hit a golf ball perfectly.

Part of our Sunday sermon was about "boasting in The Lord." If you must boast, it is best to boast only about God and how He saved you. Salvation is through grace alone. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was all sufficient to atone for every sin, and by grace and grace alone, when we accept that sacrifice on our behalf, we are instantly filled with God's Holy Spirit and our soul is saved for all eternity. There is no room for self satisfied bragging because we did nothing. God did everything.

But I forgot myself in the joy of that wonderful golf shot. I wanted to shout it from the mountain top, so unexpected and rare it was! It was only later, after my little celebration dance on the golf course and a few emails describing my marvelous drive across the lake that I remembered the pastor's admonition to boast ONLY in The Lord.

I guess I am as lousy at walking righteously before God as I am at golf, but you just never know when you might have a moment of perfect clarity and do it right, so you must keep trying. Where God and Golf differ is Golf is all about YOU doing everything perfectly and you trusting in yourself. God is all about HIM doing everything perfectly and you trusting in Him.

***********
God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:28, 30, 31 NIV)






-save a dog- hollowcreekfarm.org
http://www.amazon.com/Vicky-Kaseorg/e/B006XJ2DWU