Can golf and ministry be for real?

Can one's life be orchestrated from within their mother's womb?  By God?

One of the benefits and curses of a career Army officer is the constant movement throughout the world.  One can end up in a crappy assignment, like Eschborn, Germany in 1975 where the mud was deeper than some of the estuaries into the compound.  One can even end up in Glyfada, Greece just outside of Athens and just short of Sounion where Hemingway penned one of his books, I believe.

As I said it can be a mixed blessing.  The first thoughts when snagging an assignment like Athens, Greece looks like a birthday present from the Almighty, yet, when you have to fly from New York to Frankfurt, Germany in a completely packed military leased jetliner for 8 hours, get bussed over to the military side of the Frankfurt Flughafen, board a C141 with netting for chairs for your entire family, yup, all four of 'em and me, fly for another four hours in this incredibly uncomfortable, noisy and smelly Air Force cargo plane.  Then, land in Athens Greece at Hellenikon Airbase under armed guard and have to walk across the tarmac in the scorching heat with babies crying and wife grumbling and trying to keep a military comportment.  It just doesn't resemble the original picture of Retzina, Greek tavernas and island hopping on Greek ferries in a bathing suit.....

My heart's desire was to conduct some form of an outreach ministry during the US Open, this year at Chambers Bay in Washington.

After our experience at Pinehurst last year, we were, no, ok, I, was hoping to have an updated version of our outreach.  It just didn't happen.  Why?

I have come to understand that what happens or doesn't happen is dependent upon God.  Pretty good statement, huh? Seriously.  I mention my heart up at the top and I truly believe that my heart wanted to conduct an outreach at the US Open at Chambers Bay, but, there was absolutely no interest from anyone else I know and I was unable to coordinate a cross-country effort to partner with churches, para-ministries and anyone else.  The effort was so Herculean, I wasn't even able to begin it.  So, I believe the Lord didn't want it to happen.

But, what might be happening for the Lord at Chambers Bay this week?

I did a cursory Google search and could not find anything of a large magnitude where it would have come up in Google.  What did come up was our site, go figure, from our US Open outreach from last year.  That was encouraging, but, what about this year?

I get a Twitter message @ 7 AM or so and it is @Judahsmith.  He's conducting a live Periscope video outreach from inside the car as he and a comedian friend travel to the US Open at Chambers Bay. Firstly, Periscope is awesome!!  Secondly, Judah Smith is a young pastor/teacher from the area who has been hanging out with Bubba Watson, Justin Bieber and the like.  He's an "outa the box" kinda guy and I love it......  

My mind begins to race relative to the conduct of ministerial outreach in a modern format, ie, what if we could, indeed, discover the connections with pastors, teachers, evangelistic Believers, chaplains, PGA Tour Players (Bubba, Ricky, Ben Crane, Hunter, Jordan, etc.), Caddies, administrators, managers, the members of College Golf Fellowship, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and on and on and on whether attending or paying attention to the US Open from afar? 

I was hooked!!!  One golf lesson from the Pro at Belmont Country Club and something inside of me was filled up.

I am continuing with the proposition that God places passions/desires in us while we are in our Mother's wombs and the basis for this is my own experience over the past 34 years growing up as a 'new' man in Christ and from Psalm 139:12-14 "created my inmost being; you (He) knit me together in my mother's womb and that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.."  as well as Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  The question being answered is; "Why do I have such a passion for golf and everything golf?"  I believe the Lord meant it to be so.

I had been introduced to the game in 1960 when I happened (?) upon a golf club near my home.  The Pro had me shagging on the range and shortly after engaging in that activity, he gave me a lesson.  As I said, I was hooked.

It wasn't very clear at the time, but, shagging at the Belmont CC became a job and a fulfillment for me, even at 8 years old.  I was consumed with it during the Summer of 1960.  Sure it was hot most days, but, the sun, the grass, the image of those golf balls flying off of the clubhead bouncing and, by the end of week two, I was catching them on the first or second bounce (or so I remember, lol).  I vaguely recall the positive comments from the Pro and his encouragement each and every day.

"Dad, I have been going to the golf club most days and I really love this golf stuff."

"Ah, that golf nonsense is not for you, Bill.  It's a rich man's game."

Total deflation!!!

"But, Dad, the Pro gave me a lesson and he thinks I might be good at it."

"Bill, I said it was not for you.  Just work at the club and forget about playing the game."

I couldn't.  I, just, couldn't.

Honestly, the rest of the details are quite foggy, but, I know I kept going to the club and shagging.  I, even, remember a few "loops" or caddying that I did at Belmont.  It was pretty arduous work for an 8 year old, carrying that bag that seemed overly large and heavy for just a dozen or so clubs, balls, and lots of other paraphernalia.  And, the harassment from my caddie brothers was merciless!!  But, I kept at it that summer.

The day of all days during that time came when I got home from the course and my Dad was standing in the living room with his hands on his hips with a huge grin on his face, just waiting for me to come in.

"Well, I went by the dump today and look what I found."

I have an alarm on my Google Calendar that chimes each morning @ 6:50 AM. It's titled, "Be Desperate for God's Leading in Golf".  Why?

Because, I discovered a few months ago, that the Lord "created my inmost being; you (He) knit me together in my mother's womb and that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.." I've interpreted that to mean that when, from the moments where I was growing in my Mom's womb, God placed in me all that He wanted and meant for me to be, according to His will, His purposes, Him.  This includes, in my innermost being, my passions and desires, ie, what I was meant to be.  I have or you have or anyone has a passion for something, like, a profession, an avocation, and, as long as that passion/desire  is not immoral, that the Lord has placed that passion/desire in my very being.

Can golf be that passion/desire?  Ask Tom Lehman, ask Keegan Bradley or Ben Crane and, by the way look at these very funny video's and you might see a bit of passion.

So, I believe the Lord placed a passion/desire for the game of golf in my innermost being.  When I was just 8 years old I was riding my bike past a beautiful looking "park" or "field" wasn't quite sure what it was at the time, but, I saw a bunch of older kids sitting around the front of the big "house" that was at the center of the "park" and I rode by and asked them what they were doing.

"Caddying" was the answer.

"What's that?" was my question.

"Just shut up and sit down if you wanna caddie."  So, I sat down.

So, Mike and I meet again for our G.O.L.F. (Giving Others Loving Fellowship).

But, the same negative feeling comes over me within two hours of our meeting time; "Ahhh, we can cancel today."  "I don't have time for this."  "It doesn't matter anyway."  and many other demonic influxes (how do you pluralize that term?) to my thought process.  Gotta get over this, because, our meeting together was absolutely wonderful.

You see, the meetings are not only for him, y'know!  I see some remarkable things happening for me as well.  In fact, the first part of our time together included my heartfelt prayer that the Lord would continue to work in us.  I was struck by the difficulty of living life after an incredible devotional time in the morning when just a few minutes after 'sojourning' with the Lord, I can be a nasty you-know-what to my wife and dealing with the worldly thoughts that flood my mind almost every moment of most days.  I was reflecting on that because Mike and I were coming before the Creator of Creation and asking for Him to join us, fill us with His Spirit and be prominent in our conversation.  I just found that to be a reality check and asked the Lord to overwhelm us with His presence. (heard that lately in a Kari Jobe song entitled; "Holy Spirit" listen)

So, because I was engaged for almost the entire day in research and thoughts and documentation of an important new phase in my life, I led with the things I was engulfed in:  

Me.  "The United Golf Network, Mike, is a Direct Sales, Multi-Level Marketing company whose products are golf equipment, clothes and accessories."  I began, since, again, this is what has been consuming my time over the past 5 - 6 days.  "As I mentioned to you before, I have an opportunity to lead/manage this company, but, I have been concerned with the 'Direct Sales/MLM' model and, especially, the pricing for most products that are being sold for less on the Internet or your local Dick's Sports.  I'm wondering if 'price matching' may be the way to go, so I'm going to have a serious discussion about that and several other items about the company, but, OMG, this is a pretty cool opportunity.  You see, I have been praying for over 25 years to become the CEO/President of a major golf ministry or company.  Looks like the Lord may have opened a door to fulfill the vision. I pray, I pray, I pray. (three times in the Bible means one is serious, right?)

Mike.  "Wow, that sounds incredible.  Guess your ship has come in, possibly, eh?"

.... and further discussion about this and numerous other things that are going on in his life and mine, including the difficulty of knowing if the Lord's will for Mike is for him to continue to work in the cotton packaging business as the doors just don't seem to be opening.  We talked alot about that, God's will, and the way He opens and closes doors.  My latest observation on that is, the Lord says He is with us, He will never forsake us, yet, we fiddle around planning and pushing and conniving for what we think we want, but, whatever happens in our life, quite honestly, is His will relative to the outcome, right?  So, He is answering prayer, moving in positive ways in our lives and fulfilling His will and purpose, so, don't fret!!

Giving Others Loving Fellowship (G.O.L.F.) requires a real commitment! 

If we're not ready to become transparent and available to truly love someone, then G.O.L.F. may not be for you.

Our last post was about engaging with this new friend of mine from our Sunday School class, neighbor (a driver's distance away - measured it - 329 yards - close) and a golfer.  So, let's implement the Challenge Golf Association's (CGA) caddie program and mentor/disciple Mike (forgot to mention his name).

Our original meeting was at the driving range a few days before and, importantly, Mike agreed to meet with me to become better acquainted with each other and delve into the Bible a bit.  I followed up by sending him a link through www.BibleGateway.com asking him to read it and be ready to discuss it's contents.

Honestly, as I was driving over, I thought, well, he won't be there, or ready, "what am I doing"?  But, I broke through that with a quick prayer and knocked on his door.  After being tackled by his dog (no, really, both feet on my crotch in full gallup - nice ice breaker) we sauntered through his lovely home on the 4th green at Indian Hills and sat down under an overcast sky, but, clear and comfortable temperature.

"So, how's it going, Mike."

"Well, as good as it get's under the circumstances."

The normal response would be, "Oh, ok, well, let's get into this Bible thing."  But, no, this is a relationship building experience so the right response was, "What do you mean?"