Saturday's Scramble

I was just replying to a friend’s blog and it sparked more than just a comment here. So I’m just going to build on my comment to his anaology and see where it goes. Basically, my buddy was LINKing a golf experience with a life experience. As he made the turn to the “back nine” of the post...this statement was made. “Isn't that how it is when we first give our lives to Christ, it gets tiring trying to figure it all out and learn all the stuff necessary to begin to get stronger in our relationships.” (to read his entire post, visit http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=gobigblue and look for Friday March 25)

Well...I agree with his comments except I think the first sentence in the second paragraph ought to read more like..."Isn't that how it is after you've been living for Christ for ten or twenty years??!!" Let’s jump back to the golf setting again for a moment.

You'd think after playing golf for ten years...I'd be shooting par or better. Not so! But to adequately apply the analog... I think that you have to consider most Christians put about as much effort into earning their spiritual tour card (becoming a mature disciple) as I do in preparing for "Q-School!" We go to church on the weekends (or less) and consider our church attendance to be the sum total of our spiritual fitness regime. Now if I played golf everyday and focused on training, fundamentals, and every aspect of the game...maybe I'd have a chance of teeing it up with the big guys.

So what are the fundamentals of the spiritual life? What is the equivalent of hitting the range when pursuing holiness? And what kind of "game" could we play/live if we got a serious GRIP on the God-following life? I want to be sure to indicate here that attending church and being a warm body in the over-programmed agenda of what is being passed off as "church" is not synonymous at all with what I think of as the "God-following life."

But a little closer to home for me right now is this question...why do we flirt with the "hazards" so much. I have trouble playing it smart on the course and laying up when I can set up a great second shot. And those times when you're buried in life's bunker and can't see out of the "pot" it's easy to keep whacking the ball into the lip and end up right back where you started. Sometimes we need a free drop, eh? That's grace!