Dear Rose Park,
I’ve mentioned in a few sermons this summer how much I enjoy watching baseball, but I also love to tee it up and play golf. I’ve played with some of you at a couple courses in the area. I can remember going to Red Arrow Golf Course in Kalamazoo, MI with my Grandpa Brinks and Winding Creek Golf Course with my two brothers. I can remember playing my first round of golf, bouncing back and forth between the rough, the bunkers, and the water, and being so upset that I wasn’t as good as what I saw on television. And though I didn’t pick up the game on a steady basis until I was an adult, it’s still a great game; a game filled with a rich tradition, a blossoming future, and whole lot of frustration. If you’ve ever played golf then you can attest it can be a humbling experience.
For example, just this past week I was playing with Aaron Welsch at Pigeon Creek. We played the front nine and surprisingly I shot par on the 7th hole. If you would’ve saw me, you probably would’ve thought I just won the US Open with the smile on my face and the bounce in my step. “Boy, I’ve got this game figured out” I thought. I approached the 8th tee-box and said to myself “don’t even think about the water”. I stood back, took a few practice swings, and again said to myself “don’t think about the water”. You can probably guess where this is going. As I hit the ball and followed through, my smile faded as I watched the ball continue to slice to the right and hear my good friend Aaron say, “uh-oh.” If you know the course, then you know the ball was destined to be wet. My drive off the 8th tee is still sitting somewhere in the water. I re-loaded, took a few practice swings, teed off and watched the ball fade to the right, again. My second drive off the 8th tee is also still sitting somewhere in the water. Fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice, shame on me. The third time, I switched to a five-iron and played it short in the fairway. Just when I thought I had this game figured out, I realized I knew nothing at all.
Golf is a humbling sport, but I need to be humbled. And it’s in those frustrating moments when the ball continues to hook to the left and slice to the right that I need to hear the musical words:
If My people’s hearts are humbled, if they pray and seek My face; if they turn away from evil I will not withhold My grace. I will hear their prayers from heaven; I will pardon every sin. If My people’s hearts are humbled, I will surely heal their land.
Do you need to be humbled? Do you need to pray, turn from evil, and seek the face of the Lord? I know I do. I need to be humbled when I think I’ve got it all figured out; I need to be humbled when the smile on my face and the bounce in my step is greater than my appreciation for God.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark