Archive for the ‘golf’ Tag
BEing.
Filed under: By Bill Winn, Christian Living, Church, Evangelism, Faith, Inclusion, Love, Participation with Jesus, Perichoresis, Relationships, Uncategorized | Tags: being, birdie, Faith, golf, Jesus, participate
Comments (1) I like to play golf. I’m not very good at it. I’m fairly good at it, just not very good. My best friend is very good at it. I, however, just enjoy being outside, fellowshipping with others, and the occasional score under 90.
Last summer I began to believe that I possessed the physical, mental, and emotional abilities necessary to improve my game. One of the things I have done is take golf lessons. I have a coach named Adam who is very knowledgeable and helpful.
A few Saturdays ago, in lieu of a lesson, we went out and played a few holes together. The idea was for Adam to be able to take a look at my whole game. Instead of just working on short irons, driver, chipping, or putting he was going to evaluate a variety of my shots on every hole.
When I arrived that day on the course Adam said, “Hey do you want a lesson today or do you want to go play a few?” “No contest.”, I thought. So we headed over to the first tee. When we stepped onto the tee box Adam informed me that he was going to hit all of my shots for me. I would just stand by and watch.
Ha ha! No, that last bit isn’t true at all. Adam did not hit all my shots for me. What kind of instructor would he be if he just did it all for me? I had to participate in my learning to be
Brookwoods G.C. Hole 11, Par 3, 173 yards. (yep… I made the birdie putt)
a golfer. While it is very exciting to see a good golfer hit the ball a foot from the cup from 180 yards away, it is even more exciting when, through hours of practice and thousands of range balls, you do it yourself. (See pic)
The Father, Son, and Spirit have included the human race in their life of love, fellowship, goodness, mercy, justice, laughter, dancing, and mutual other-centeredness and love us so much that we are called to believe and respond to that inclusion. Peter said, that because our sins have been forgiven we are called to respond.
The whole of humanity are the children of God and we are called to believe that we are the children of God and so grow into the fullness of what it means to be His children. We are called to participate, not in any way that creates our reconciliation or redemption, but we are called to participate as children of God so that (as Dr. C. Baxter Kruger says), “the way of our being aligns with the truth of our being.”
Every analogy concocted fails the greatness and profound mystery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ but in my limited capacity let me say this. Jesus is the great I AM who believes perfectly on our behalf so that in him we might have our own true personhood and distinction. This is why he sends the Spirit. We are not him and he is not us, but by the Spirit we get to participate in His humanity! We are really us! We matter and God will have us truly be his children in love, in laughter, in relationships, in giving, in sharing, in altruistic action, in faithfulness, and in every aspect of our lives!
In the very Person and Being of Jesus, your humanity is saved, adopted, included, and you are God’s beloved child. Therefor; in his grace, and by the Spirit, will you be His saved, adopted and included child, responding in relationship to Him; responding to other human beings the way he does?
~Bill Winn
Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus
Filed under: By Bill Winn, Love, Trinity, Uncategorized, union | Tags: cloud, fix your eyes on jesus, golf, Witness
Comments (4) Recently my daughter, Abby, and I have been golfing together. She’s eleven and very new to the game so I am careful not to give her much instruction or set her expectations too high. Right now she just starts each hole at 50 yards and works her way in. She is making par on some holes already and seems to enjoy going with me.
For Abby and I, the chance to be together outdoors is what makes our golf outings most enjoyable. But… there is another thing that excites her. Once we get out to a flat area of the course I move over and let her drive the cart. Now I know what Harvey Penick said, “In my opinion, no young player can develop his or her game to its highest potential if he or she rides around the course in a golf cart.” But… renting a cart and letting her drive it is another way to keep my younger daughter interested in the game and, if all goes well, maybe she’ll fall in love with golf and go to college on an athletic scholarship.
So the first time Abby ever drove the cart she made me seasick!! She was literally swerving from one edge of the cart path to the other. Thankfully she wasn’t going very fast but in any case we were driving twice as far as we were going, if you catch my drift. (see what I did there)
Finally, I asked her a question, “Abby, are you looking at the cart path right in front of the cart or are you looking out ahead a few yards?” She responded by telling me that, indeed, she was focused on what was immediately in front of her.
I made the recommendation that she keep her focus a short distance ahead of the cart and after that she did well. She drove the whole back 9 and only bumped the curb once. I was highly impressed with her hand-eye coordination, timing, and skill… and that was just in handling the cart, not to mention the half dozen times she made bogey or par.
Arriving home, I told my wife that there was surely a spiritual lesson in the cart driving experience Abby had that day. Well, I think there is and I think this is it:
Too often in our walk with the Father, Son, and Spirit we are tempted to focus too much on what is right in front of us. We get focused on our doubts, our financial situation, our politics, or the latest “ism” or “schism” the Christian Church is talking about. What we may find helpful is to keep our eye on the Big Picture… his name is Jesus. Sure we must keep watch for what is right in front of us but our main focus should always be on Jesus, as he relates to our Father, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, and our inclusion in that life of love.
Yes, rather than bump and weave our way through life from one side of things to another, perhaps we’d be a lot better off paying heed to these words found in Hebrews 12:
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, (emphasis mine) the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
FORE!!!
~Bill Winn
Trinity and Humanity 