Originally written in 2007.
This past week I was supposed to be in Augusta, Georgia in attendance for the Masters Golf Tournament. Well, at least for a practice round on Tuesday, the Par Three tournament on Wednesday, then the opening round of competition on Thursday. As I said, I was supposed to be there. My life-long dream and I was invited. We had motel reservations, tickets to the events, and a plan of attack to buy passes for the weekend rounds. This had been in the works for nearly a year now, so why did it all fall through?
Last summer I was playing golf almost everyday, including a regular foursome on Sundays. One of the guys from that group had us “hooked up” for this year’s Masters Trip, and boy was I excited at the thought. Each Sunday morning we would meet at one of the many golf courses in the east Tennessee area where we thought we could sneak in a couple of coolers of beer and we’d have plenty of “good-ole boy” fun. Our golf game didn’t see much improvement, but it was “good times” - as far as golfing and drinking goes that is.
Thanksgiving Day was the last round of golf that I played with them, though. An injury to my knee that I had suffered at work several months earlier had continued to worsen, and it reached a point that I just couldn’t play any longer. Finally I had to give in to the idea of sitting out the winter months to give my knee a chance to heal. What took place over the next month was life changing to say the least - for I began to go to church on Sundays rather than to the nearest eighteen-hole escape center. Even though I wasn’t living the life of a Christian, I hungered to be around “good people” and to learn more about what I didn’t know. Unfortunately my knee didn’t heal much though, and by mid December it had digressed to a point where I was barely able to walk, as some of you will remember.
Most of you know, last December I asked God to forgive me of my sins and take control of my life, (we all know that there are many that ask the prior, but not the latter and it becomes a vicious cycle of returning to the same sin that they have succumbed to for years) and this is when several things changed drastically! First of all my heart was healed, secondly my knee was healed, and thirdly my desires were transformed to His desires. Guess what, His desires didn’t include me going to the Masters Tournament, and hanging out with my former golf/drinking buddies. Instead He had a much richer experience planned for me this past week.
The week started out with a Palm Sunday Church service, and a deeply engraved message from God through our pastor. Wednesday night’s service brought about an unorthodox message from the same pastor, and a personal calling for me to do more in His service. Thursday evening there was the Seder Passover meal (a traditional Jewish communion service) and a true learning experience provided by two wonderfully gifted men of God, John and Tony. Friday night, and our LIFE group meeting (Prayer/Bible study) then my participation in the 24-hour prayer service at our Church. My scheduled time was from 12:45am to 2am. On the way to Church to pray, I was simply hoping that I would be able to stay focused for more than an hour of prayer in the middle of the night. At 3:20 in the morning I walked out of the building. I looked at my watch and began to praise God for how much time had elapsed as I had prayed for one situation after another for my extended church family. This may seem trivial to some, but when you go as long as I did without praying, you get a little out of practice. Try this - mentally add 19 years to your age (if you’re 40 now, then say you would be 59 years old) and ask yourself, what it would be like if you never said another prayer until you reached that age. Not a single one, regardless of your circumstances. Tough to imagine isn’t it?
Anyway, back to last week - Sunday came and a 6:30am Sunrise Service, which was beautiful both in song and spirit. The sun rose above the hills and trees around 7:15 despite the unusual twenty-six degree weather that morning. A pancake breakfast, good conversation, and a personal prayer session in the sanctuary tithed me over until the routine worship service began, (which as usual is anything but a routine service). Once home again, I turned on golf and watched a relatively unknown kid from Iowa win the greatest of all golfing events, and declare before a worldwide television audience that Jesus is his risen Savior this Easter Sunday. What a simple, but fearless testimony! We can all hope we would do the same, given the opportunity.
The title of this journal entry is deceptive in a way. “The Masters” not as in the golf tournament, but as in The Master plural, with the recognition that we choose as to which master we serve. What I came to recognize this week was that The Masters isn’t a golf event, but rather a lifestyle, a focus, a direction, a commitment to serve others through Him. The Masters goes on 365 days a year in our lives with the choices we make as to what our priorities are. I heard a pastor recently talk about the trap that he had fallen into with spending so much time watching ESPN broadcast of such things as fishing tournaments, professional poker playing, and reruns of sports news that he had just watched a few hours earlier. Masters!
Our jobs, our businesses, our children, our money, our worries, our golf-game, our televisions, our “religion,” our whatever - all Masters in one way or another that distract us from living out God’s will for our lives. Which will you choose to serve today? As for me, and my household……
Dear Father, help me to be focused on You each day, and not on the many Masters that avail themselves, or thrust themselves upon me. I want to be known by You as a great champion of faith, and deeds to receive a white robe when the course has been completed, as opposed to the green jacket that this world has to offer. Amen
Doug
This past week I was supposed to be in Augusta, Georgia in attendance for the Masters Golf Tournament. Well, at least for a practice round on Tuesday, the Par Three tournament on Wednesday, then the opening round of competition on Thursday. As I said, I was supposed to be there. My life-long dream and I was invited. We had motel reservations, tickets to the events, and a plan of attack to buy passes for the weekend rounds. This had been in the works for nearly a year now, so why did it all fall through?
Last summer I was playing golf almost everyday, including a regular foursome on Sundays. One of the guys from that group had us “hooked up” for this year’s Masters Trip, and boy was I excited at the thought. Each Sunday morning we would meet at one of the many golf courses in the east Tennessee area where we thought we could sneak in a couple of coolers of beer and we’d have plenty of “good-ole boy” fun. Our golf game didn’t see much improvement, but it was “good times” - as far as golfing and drinking goes that is.
Thanksgiving Day was the last round of golf that I played with them, though. An injury to my knee that I had suffered at work several months earlier had continued to worsen, and it reached a point that I just couldn’t play any longer. Finally I had to give in to the idea of sitting out the winter months to give my knee a chance to heal. What took place over the next month was life changing to say the least - for I began to go to church on Sundays rather than to the nearest eighteen-hole escape center. Even though I wasn’t living the life of a Christian, I hungered to be around “good people” and to learn more about what I didn’t know. Unfortunately my knee didn’t heal much though, and by mid December it had digressed to a point where I was barely able to walk, as some of you will remember.
Most of you know, last December I asked God to forgive me of my sins and take control of my life, (we all know that there are many that ask the prior, but not the latter and it becomes a vicious cycle of returning to the same sin that they have succumbed to for years) and this is when several things changed drastically! First of all my heart was healed, secondly my knee was healed, and thirdly my desires were transformed to His desires. Guess what, His desires didn’t include me going to the Masters Tournament, and hanging out with my former golf/drinking buddies. Instead He had a much richer experience planned for me this past week.
The week started out with a Palm Sunday Church service, and a deeply engraved message from God through our pastor. Wednesday night’s service brought about an unorthodox message from the same pastor, and a personal calling for me to do more in His service. Thursday evening there was the Seder Passover meal (a traditional Jewish communion service) and a true learning experience provided by two wonderfully gifted men of God, John and Tony. Friday night, and our LIFE group meeting (Prayer/Bible study) then my participation in the 24-hour prayer service at our Church. My scheduled time was from 12:45am to 2am. On the way to Church to pray, I was simply hoping that I would be able to stay focused for more than an hour of prayer in the middle of the night. At 3:20 in the morning I walked out of the building. I looked at my watch and began to praise God for how much time had elapsed as I had prayed for one situation after another for my extended church family. This may seem trivial to some, but when you go as long as I did without praying, you get a little out of practice. Try this - mentally add 19 years to your age (if you’re 40 now, then say you would be 59 years old) and ask yourself, what it would be like if you never said another prayer until you reached that age. Not a single one, regardless of your circumstances. Tough to imagine isn’t it?
Anyway, back to last week - Sunday came and a 6:30am Sunrise Service, which was beautiful both in song and spirit. The sun rose above the hills and trees around 7:15 despite the unusual twenty-six degree weather that morning. A pancake breakfast, good conversation, and a personal prayer session in the sanctuary tithed me over until the routine worship service began, (which as usual is anything but a routine service). Once home again, I turned on golf and watched a relatively unknown kid from Iowa win the greatest of all golfing events, and declare before a worldwide television audience that Jesus is his risen Savior this Easter Sunday. What a simple, but fearless testimony! We can all hope we would do the same, given the opportunity.
The title of this journal entry is deceptive in a way. “The Masters” not as in the golf tournament, but as in The Master plural, with the recognition that we choose as to which master we serve. What I came to recognize this week was that The Masters isn’t a golf event, but rather a lifestyle, a focus, a direction, a commitment to serve others through Him. The Masters goes on 365 days a year in our lives with the choices we make as to what our priorities are. I heard a pastor recently talk about the trap that he had fallen into with spending so much time watching ESPN broadcast of such things as fishing tournaments, professional poker playing, and reruns of sports news that he had just watched a few hours earlier. Masters!
Our jobs, our businesses, our children, our money, our worries, our golf-game, our televisions, our “religion,” our whatever - all Masters in one way or another that distract us from living out God’s will for our lives. Which will you choose to serve today? As for me, and my household……
Dear Father, help me to be focused on You each day, and not on the many Masters that avail themselves, or thrust themselves upon me. I want to be known by You as a great champion of faith, and deeds to receive a white robe when the course has been completed, as opposed to the green jacket that this world has to offer. Amen
Doug
