After a year of no real communal golf, restrictions are now being lifted, and the ladies club golfing “tournament” season is once again underway––which means the invitationals are back.

Each club can decide what sort of format and scoring it wants to have. The most common is two best balls out of a team of four. However, the first tournament I attended this year, chose a different format––one that reminded me of one of God’s promises, of His grace, and of our responsibility. That format is the Eclectic.

In an eclectic, everyone plays a round of golf on the first day and records her score. The goal on the second day is to improve her score on as many holes as she can. It is rare, extremely rare, that a golfer will improve on every hole, but on the holes that were poorly played the day before, there is hope. A chance to redeem herself, and move closer to a good score.

Such is the Christian life. God doesn’t expect perfection from us the day we turn our life over to Him. Nor does He expect perfection each day. But He does want us to move toward perfection––toward being more Christlike.

Philippians 2:12 tells us to “. . . continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Our salvation is free and immediate when we accept Christ as our savior, but our struggles with sin and our Christlike qualities are daily work. But not work we have to do on our own.

Paul reminds the Philippians the he is “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

God wants us to reflect Christ. He wants us to move away from sin and to be more righteous, faithful, loving, and godly, and he has sent the Holy Spirit to remind, prod, encourage, and help us in this endeavor.

So let’s not dwell on “poorly played” situations of the day before, but with God’s help, seek to use this day to improve.

It was time.

I had been playing with the same golf clubs for more than fifteen years, so I knew it was time to get new ones, not only because the technology had changed so much but also because my current clubs were showing the wear and tear of the years.

So I set up a time with my club pro. We met out on the driving range, and he brought out all the little devices that measured swing speed and whatever else those things monitor. Then he rotated me through different shafts and club heads until we found the perfect blend, and I was hitting the ball straighter and ten-plus yards further with each club.

I ordered a set. No brainer.

As I had hoped, my game improved. So I figured it was time to move it to the next level. Order new hybrids and fairway metals. (I already had a new driver––which had started this whole process.) My hybrids were as old as my irons and my fairway metals were eBay rescues. Certainly these needed replacing.

Since my club didn’t have a lot of options, I went to a golf MegaStore for a fitting––credit card at the ready. My “pro” brought out a plethora of clubs, watched me hit my old ones, watched me hit the new ones, and announced: “I know I’m supposed to sell you something, but I don’t have anything here that will go further than what you are hitting now, and you still have a good five years of wear on these.”

I was shocked. That was NOT what I had anticipated or wanted to hear. My new irons had improved my game, so I was convinced new hybrids and metals would move it to the next level. So much did I believe this (and that poor Tim the pro was wrong) that I bought two hybrids.

Well, I brought them home and low and behold, I couldn’t hit them. I couldn’t hit them straight, and I couldn’t hit them further than my old ones. Tim was right. So I took them back but not without a price. I now have enough store credit to see me into the next century.

The Bible has plenty of verses about listening to wise counsel, such as Proverbs 12:15 which puts it pretty bluntly: “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” It also has stories about kings, such as Rehoboam who rejected the advice the elders gave him but followed the advice of his friends instead, and which resulted in the kingdom being split.

It is important for us not only to listen to advice but also to discern good advice from bad, and not to muddy the waters by inserting our uniformed personal preferences into the mix. We could save ourselves a lot of heartache . . . and in my case . . . a lot of money, too.

Right after I posted last week’s blog about the reality of troubles and God’s omnipresence, I read the devotional for May 30th in my Experiencing God Day by Day and found the first line surprising.

The author writes, “Some feel that they demonstrate great faith by continually asking God for miracles.” What was wrong with that? I wondered.

But it’s not the asking that’s the issue. It’s the heart behind the asking. Blackaby says the problem is not about laying the needs before God, because God says to bring everything to Him (Phil. 4:6), but in “presuming” that he wants to “heal anyone who is sick or provide a miraculous escape from every difficulty.” He recounts Jesus’s condemnation of those who “insisted” Jesus perform miracles, knowing that in their hearts their faith relied on the acts and not the person. And then he made a convicting statement.

“There are times when we prefer the miracle over the miracle worker.” Now that hit home.

I know I am guilty of that many times over. I want the healing or the escape or the answer and then I will offer my praise and thanks.

Blackaby reminds his readers that Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego made the following declaration before king Nebuchadnezzar right before they were thrown into the fiery furnace. They said, “Our God who we serve is able to deliver us . . . But if not . . . .”

They didn’t need God’s miracle to affirm their faith. “They trusted Him so completely that they did not ask to be spared.” They knew He would if that was His will.

Philippians 4:6 tells us to place our concerns before God, but that is in the context of relieving our worry, demonstrating our faith, and living the day. It is to remind ourselves that God is ultimately in control.  Our faith is in the God who can and not dependent on the answer.

Sam and Becca Mizell wrote a wonderful song called “More than Anything.” Natalie Grant heard it after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer. (You can read the entire story behind the song here: More Than Anything)

I have also attached the song for your enjoyment. I might have shared it before, but it is always worth reminding ourselves of what, or rather who, is most important.

Well, it happened again.

I turned the calendar from May to June and the temperature made its move from the high 80s/low 90s straight to the 100+ mark. I’m not sure why I’m surprised. It happens every year, and the weather gurus warned us it was coming. I guess I was just hoping that this year might be different. That spring would last a little bit longer and that summer wouldn’t come in quite as hot. But that is like thinking that people intuitively know how to stop a Segway or that hitting the elevator button multiple times will actually make it arrive faster. It just ain’t gonna happen. Heat is just a part of where I live.

As humans we often wonder/question why certain things do happen. Why young people have life threatening illnesses. Why good people lose their jobs. Why we are having certain problems.  We question the fairness of it. We question the sense in it. We question and question.

As Christians, we sometimes, in the back of our minds, feel we should be immune from some of these harsh realities because “God’s got our back,” and we will escape unscathed. But we aren’t. Just like the heat comes to the Northstate on the heels of May, so trials and troubles come to everyone in a world that is fallen.  

In fact, nowhere in the Bible (please correct me if I am wrong) could I find anything that said we would not face troubles and trials. Instead, I found the promise that we would face them.

“In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33)

Or as Peter told the Christians of his day, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” (I Peter 4:12)

Peter reminded his fellow believers that not only would Christians face the troubles that beset the entire human race, but as followers of Christ, they would experience some added heat.

But what I also found was the promise that God was and is always there during these times.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1-3)

“The Lord is . . . a stronghold in times of trouble.” (Psalm 9:9-10)

But the absolute clincher is the rest of John 16:33 which I have bolded.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble . . . But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Now that should provide permanent relief from the heat.