I wouldn’t get out of the electric chair to play golf. I think the game was invented by a sadist who was intent solely upon frustrating minds, and torturing the lives of its victims.
I’ve always had outdoor related hobbies like hunting, fishing, water skiing, camping, and the like, and spent innumerable days afield enjoying those pursuits with my various sons, but I never took up golf until they abandoned me each weekend by heading for the golf course. It soon became obvious that if I wanted to spend any time with my sons at all, I would have to take up this stupid game.
Well how hard could it be?
I’ve always been naturally gifted in sports and figured that the game couldn’t be that difficult; I mean many of the players I knew were overweight, (if not fat slobs), and certainly these “cigar-chompers” were not your typical stereotype of a “jock”. I assumed that I would excel in golf as I had in football, basketball, baseball, and virtually every other sport that I tried.
Bonk!
Wrong! It is an extremely difficult game to play and it humbled me greatly. I was however determined to spend more time with my sons who took to it like lab puppies to water, so I decided to bear down. I bought the most expensive clubs and took lessons from the most expensive golf pro and sure enough my game began to improve.
A few weeks later I found that I’d improved substantially and in fact actually shot an 88. It was a tremendous feeling of accomplishment; so much so that I decided to take off work the next day and play again, and perhaps shoot in the 70’s.
The next morning was a glorious beautiful day with strikingly blue skies complemented by a few puffy clouds. It was one of those crisp mornings that make you glad just to be alive. I felt great!
I’d decided to play the exact same course that I’d played so well on the previous day; (I mean why not, I obviously had it down pat). I confidently stepped up to the tee box and landed a solid blow with my driver. The white ball created a beautiful contrast with the blue sky as it soared through the air landing about 200 yards down the fairway ending up almost dead center.
Unfortunately it wasn’t in the fairway that I was playing on, but the one adjacent to it. Worse, my errant shot very nearly hit some guys playing it, in spite of my yelling “Fore” at them at top of my lungs.
It did not get any better from there. By the time I was at the twelfth hole I’d already shot 120. I was madder than a wet hen, but this was an easy par three – 100 yard shot with the green just across a little pond. I teed up one of the few balls that I had remaining and took a nice smooth swing using every bit of knowledge that my golf pro had patiently whispered in my ear. It landed right in the middle of the water.
$#*& – I let out an oath. Steam was coming out of both of my ears, the veins protruded from my neck, I was clenching my jaws, and a wild, insane force had possessed my body. I went over to a tree and hit it as hard as I could breaking one of my expensive clubs in half, I viciously threw the other half in the pond, and growled at my son through clinched teeth that if he wanted the rest of my clubs, he better get them right NOW; otherwise I was going to throw them into the pond.
He smiled, and quickly said, “I’ll take them!” I glared at him as if daring him to laugh. The smile quickly disappeared – He knew better.
I turned on my heel and stalked back to the clubhouse muttering expletives every step of the way. I got in my car and went home and that ended my short golfing experiment and I have not ventured back on the links since.
Golf is a game that cannot be won. Yes, with practice one get better at it, but the very next day you can bomb. Even Arnold Palmer had his good and bad days. There are just far too many things that must be done; keep your head down, focus on the ball, keep your elbows straight, follow through, rotate your hips, don’t lift your head, keep your feet shoulder width apart, swing smoothly, blah, blah, blah!
I was thinking over the weekend about how difficult it is to avoid sin and end up backsliding away from God, and how tempting temptation is. I briefly thought about my golf experiment and concluded that living a Christian life is exactly like playing golf.
Egad! What did I just say?
The Bible tells us that we cannot begin to compete with satan and his demonic fallen angel horde. From what we can glean from the Bible, angels were created higher than us and have tremendous powers that we do not possess. Satan was created second to God and as best as I can determine through my study did not lose one iota of power when God threw Him out of heaven, taking a third of the angels he had convinced to rebel against God with him. Since the Bible does not tell us how many angels there are, I assume that the number is so large as to be incompressible to our limited intellects.
Suffice it to say we face a mighty army and a serious dangerous adversary. Unfortunately satan and his minions know our every weakness and present them to us on silver platters daily. Sometimes we falter and then satan the accuser goes directly to God to accuse us.
There are similarities with the difficult game of golf, and being a Christian, and failing; just as it is impossible for even the best golfer in the world to “win” the game of golf, it is impossible for even the best follower of Christ to “win” the war being waged against them.
Huh?
It is impossible for “US”, and we cannot even hope to win if we try it exclusively on our own! God, however cannot fail or even have a bad day, and will always win in spite of anything and everything; therefore the way to win is to focus on Him.
It is so much easier than golf. Just remember to keep your eye on the Lord and never take it off Him.
It is Christ’s job to defeat satan and not ours and we can know and take satisfaction in the knowledge that He will do so.
It sounds easy, but then along comes satan with your favorite little sin.
We must rely on God but we are told to resist. How do we do that? Pray, read our Bibles daily, have fellowship with other Christians like we are doing now, keep the faith in Jesus Christ through His salvation, and try our utmost to live righteously. It is called “putting on the full armor of God” in the Bible and we need to suit up daily. If you see the sin coming, take the exit door that God will provide for you and run like heck.
What we need is free for the asking; there are no expensive clubs to buy, no fancy shoes, gloves, sporty clothes, super golf balls, tees, marker coins, leather bags, or expensive lessons to take.
God’s love is free to one and all and the greatest Pro of all is with us constantly helping us, prodding us to do better, steering us away from trouble, and downright carrying us when our strength fails. He has promised to never abandon us and He loves us more than we can imagine. I thank Him every day and I look forward to the day He destroys this old world and everything in it, and creates a new world free from satan, his minions, and the game of golf.
Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.