golf Archives - SteveHerl Faith and Sports

GOLF AND FAITH

I love to play golf. I actually started playing golf in relatively close proximity timewise to becoming a Christian. Although they were not directly connected events, God has used golf and its associated activities as opportunities for me to share my faith. The first Bible Study I ever led was started with people with whom I played golf. Many times the conversation on the way to tournaments or outings would turn to my faith and it was always initiated by an unbeliever. And one night God allowed me to answer a question that had lingered in the heart of a woman for over thirty years. I was able to talk about the one question you need to answer before you die. God works in mysterious ways!

THE KEMPER OPEN PRO-AM

Twice in my life I was fortunate enough to play in the Kemper Open Pro-Am at Congressional Country Club. The Kemper Open once was an annual event on the PGA schedule and it would always draw a good field to Washington D.C. because of the course on which it was played. Congressional Country Club is one of the iconic golf courses in the world and has hosted the U.S. Open in 1964, 1997 and 2011 as well as the PGA Championship in 1976. The Kemper Open was played there from 1980 to 1986.

Normally a PGA tournament starts on Thursday and continues for four rounds through Sunday. The PGA players show up on Monday, play practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday and then on Tuesday night there is an event in the clubhouse at which the amateurs choose their PGA player for a Wednesday Pro-Am. At Congressional Country Club it was quite a lavish event. Each PGA player is selected by 4 amateurs, one A player, one B player, one C player and one D player. A,B,C and D players are categorized by handicap so the teams will essentially be well balanced.

THE STILL SMALL VOICE

On Monday of the week of my second Kemper Open Pro-Am, I got a funny feeling about whether or not I should participate. I wondered whether it was the right thing to do and whether I really had the time to do it. I nearly backed out. But a small voice inside me overruled my doubts about going and I remained committed to the event. All day on Tuesday I had a distinct feeling that God had a purpose for me playing in the Pro-Am but I had no idea how that was possible. As is my habit, when I sense that God wants me to share Him with strangers or unbelievers, I prayed, “God if this really is you, I pray that you will proceed ahead of me into the situation and if you want me to share please start the conversation.”

MY CONFUSION

The sense of His presence was with me as two close friends, neither one believers, joined me in the car to drive up I-95, around the beltway and to Congressional Country Club. I just knew that God had something for me to share with one or both of them. The conversation was vibrant and funny for the entire trip but no mention of God. Upon arriving at Congressional, we played a practice round, spending 4 hours on the course together and still no mention of God. I was very confused.

When the round was completed, we went to the locker room, showered and changed clothes for the incredible dinner and selection event. As each amateur was randomly selected, he or she was asked to select a PGA pro with whom they would like to play on Wednesday. If the selected player needed a player of your category you were placed on his team. If not you had to make another selection. The process was exciting but long. I ultimately selected Joey Sindelar.

THE WIVES ARRIVE

At some point in the evening, the wives of my friends showed up to enjoy the festivities. The plan all along had been for the two wives to drive up for the selection event and then for the two couples to spend the night in the Washington area while I drove back to Fredericksburg. I would drive back on Wednesday in time to compete in the Pro-Am.

A CHANGE OF PLANS

As the event dragged on, one of the wives decided she did not want to stay any longer and in fact she wanted to leave and drive back to Fredericksburg. The problem was that the car she had driven to Congressional was the only car that the two couples had between them since the two wives had driven up together. Since I was driving back I offered to give her a ride.

The longest conversation I had ever had with my friend’s wife before this drive back to Fredericksburg was to say hello. My friendship with her husband was nearly 100% based on golf and I had been in her company very few times. I knew absolutely nothing about her. All I knew as we pulled out of Congressional Country Club sometime around midnight was that I was very tired. I could not wait to get home and get to bed. God had different plans.

A RELIGIOUS FANATIC

As we rode down River Road and exited onto the Beltway there was silence. She was not very happy and I was very tired. Silence continued until we exited the Beltway and turned South on I-95 towards Fredericksburg. Somewhere around Springfield God initiated His plan. She said, “My husband tells me you are quite a religious fanatic. Is that true?” I said, “I guess that depends on what you mean by a “religious fanatic”. If you mean that I am a Christian who takes my faith seriously then I am.” She replied, “I did not mean anything bad. I need to talk with someone who really knows the Bible. Do you really know the Bible?” “I know the Bible as well as God has revealed it to me to this point in my life.”, I said. “That’s all I can say.”

HER STORY

Then she began to tell me a story. My friend’s wife said that as a young child she had attended a private school of a particular denomination. She said that she was an excellent student but when it came to the Bible, she did not accept everything her teacher said. Questioning some of the things she heard became her “normal” behavior much to her teacher’s chagrin.

Finally one day her teacher reached her breaking point. When my passenger was 9 years old she asked the wrong question. Antonished, her teacher warned her to never ask that question again. Because she was truly inquisitive, the confused 9 year old asked the question again the next day, and she was told that if she ever asked that question again she was condemned to hell with no chance of reconciliation. The next day she asked the question a third time and her teacher said to her, “I warned you and now you have brought God’s wrath upon you. You are condemned to hell!”

AM I CONDEMNED?

With tears rolling down her face, this woman who I barely knew asked me, “You have to tell me, am I condemned to hell?” All of the shame and rejection that she had been suppressing for more than 30 years came flooding out as she wept profusely and shook noticeably. God had been preparing me for this very moment since Monday.

I BELIEVE

By the time my friend’s wife had finished telling me her story we had arrived in Fredericksburg and we were pulling into their driveway. As I stopped the car I took her hand in mine and shared with her the truth of the Gospel. I assured her that she had the same opportunity of salvation as everyone else and that God was not offended by honest doubt. For 4 hours I sat in her driveway and shared everything I knew about God’s Holiness and justice, His sovereignty and power, His mercy and love and the message of the Gospel. As she soaked it in, her self-image was restored and finally she answered the one question that everyone needs to answer before they die. She declared, “I believe Jesus is who He claimed to be.”

WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Then she asked, “What do I do now?” After she proclaimed that she now understood and believed that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died to reconcile us to His Father and that God raised Him from the dead to assure us of justification, I reached in the back seat of my car and grabbed my Bible. As I handed it to her, I said, “Take care of this. God has revealed Himself to me in this Bible and many of His messages to me are written in my handwriting in the margins.” God bless you.

MY REFLECTION

As I drove out of the driveway and headed home to get a few hours of sleep before I had to head back up to Congressional, I was filled with absolute joy. God had allowed me to be part of His act of setting someone free. He had shown Himself faithful once again and I was changed. The question she had asked was not even a significant controversy. She did not impugn the character of God and she did not cast doubt on message of the Gospel. She was 9 years old and she asked a biological question. In response she was told that she was condemned to hell and for more than 30 years she had lived under the shadow of rejection and shame.

WHY I AM A FANATIC

God works in mysterious ways. I nearly dropped out of an event that I thought was taking me away from God. Feeling as though He actually had plans for me I decided I knew how He would use me by having me talk to my friends during the event. And just when I knew that I had gotten it all wrong, He gave me 5 hours alone with someone He wanted to set free. Interestingly, several months later I was riding in the back seat of a BMW owned and driven by her husband. Sitting in the front passenger seat was the other friend who had participated with us in the Kemper Open Pro-Am. We were heading to another tournament in Richmond, Va.

THE OPEN DOOR

After about twenty minutes of driving one of them asked, “Steve, as smart as your are, why do you need a crutch like Christianity? Why are you such a fanatic?” God had finally opened the door. I answered, “Guys, the one question you need to answer before you die is, “Is Jesus who He claimed to be?” “If you conclude He isn’t then stop going to the Christian Church because if there is a God and Jesus isn’t who He claimed to be, then worshiping Him is idolatry and the real God is not pleased by your worship of another. But if you conclude that He is the Son of God who died for your sins and has offered you reconciliation with the One True God by grace through faith, then how could you not be a fanatic?” “I am fully convinced that He is who He claimed to be! That’s why I’m a “fanatic.””

BUT NOT A RELIGIOUS FANATIC

However, I am not a religous fanatic. Religion is man made and it is man’s attempt to reach God. Christianity is not a religion. It is God’s plan to reach man. The atheist says there is no God. Creation and conscience beg to differ. The agnostic says there may be a God but if there is he is unknowable because he is infinite and eternal. The problem with this position is that it ignores the possibility that the eternal and infinite can choose to step into the mortal and finite and reveal himself to whomever he pleases. What is impossible for man is possible for God. He chose to reveal Himself as holy, just, righteous, powerful, loving, merciful, and kind. Then to be just and the justifier, He became a man so He could fulfill the law and pay the price of redemption for all who believe. Jesus is who He claimed to be!

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.” Psalm 111:10

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Proverbs 9:10

In his book, “The Holiness of God”, R.C. Sproul recounts a story of a well-known professional golfer was playing in a tournament with President Gerald Ford, fellow pro Jack Nicklaus, and Billy Graham. After the round was over, one of the other pros on the tour asked, “Hey, what was it like playing with the President and Billy Graham?” The pro said with disgust, “I don’t need Billy Graham stuffing religion down my throat!” With that he headed for the practice tee. His friend followed, and after the golfer had pounded out his fury on a bucket of golf balls, he asked, “Was Billy a little rough on you out there?” The pro sighed and said with embarrassment, “No, he didn’t even mention religion.” Astonishingly, Billy Graham had said nothing about God, Jesus, or religion, yet the pro stomped away after the game accusing Billy of trying to ram religion down his throat.

Fear is an interesting word. It can mean anticipation of impending danger, harm, punishment, dread, or pain. Fear can also be reverence or the mystery of the unknown. The Hebrew word translated fear in all of the above passages is “yirah” which means reverence in a moral sense or even better, the fear of the holy.

Holiness is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the English language. When we hear that God is holy we think we hear God is perfect (which He is), or absolutely righteous (which He is), or all powerful (which He is). But holiness is so much more than all of those. To be holy actually means to be set apart, or otherness. When we set apart certain vessels to be used for communion they become “holy” because they have been set apart; not because they are perfect. They are other (different) from the common vessels. They are holy. On the golf course Billy Graham had been set apart as holy (other) and the presence of the Holy made a famous PGA golfer uncomfortable without a word spoken.

Another great illustration of holiness (otherness) and the proper response to it comes from Mark 4:35-41, “On that day, when evening had come, he (Jesus) said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?””

Man is never more afraid than when he is facing death. Public speaking is called man’s greatest phobia but it is overwhelmed when we are faced tangibly with the possibility of sudden death. In the passage above, the apostles are afraid of dying from the storm (as afraid as they can be), so afraid that they awaken Jesus, and when He calms the storm (answers their prayer) verse 41 says literally, “now they were more afraid”. They went from facing their greatest fear (sudden death) to being more afraid. And they show us exactly what makes them more afraid – “who then is this,that even the wind and the sea obey him?” They were asking, “how do we classify this man?” “What kind of man is this?” They were face to face with otherness – Holiness.

The Psalms and the Proverbs teach is that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord and that knowledge and insight are promised as well. They tell us that fools despise wisdom and instruction. We have seen that the fear of the Lord means extreme reverence for His Holiness. Let’s see what some of these other terms mean in more detail.

Wisdom is deeper than great knowledge. It means “aptly applied knowledge.” Wisdom is the ability to handle what we know appropriately and in humility. You can see how important fear or reverence of God’s otherness (Holiness) is as the foundation of aptly applying knowledge to any given situation.

Knowledge means to be acquainted with, that is to know in the sense of relationship not knowing facts. Having deep reverence for the otherness of God is the foundation of knowing Him. He is not our grandfather sitting on the front porch with a pipe, He is other than us. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:8-11)

Insight means to know well enough to understand and teach. The fear of the Lord (Reverence for His Holiness) illuminates everything else and allows us to know and understand everything in a new way. It is God’s Holiness that puts everything else in proper perspective and the security and humility of reverence informs and establishes our heart.

Now let’s look at the most important thing about God’s Holiness. Without understanding God’s Holiness (His otherness) we will never really understand the chasm that existed between Creator and Creature, between Holy God and unbelieving man and we therefore fail to grasp the height and depth and length and width of the love of Christ. Until we have the fear that existed in that boat in the midst of the storm and have it replaced with the terrifying reverence of Holiness when the storm was calmed we can never know how much we are truly loved. When we think of the bridge that God built across the gap we think of the creek that runs through our backyard. We miss the fact that the Grand Canyon in all its magnificence is a trickle when compared to separation that Jesus restored. The Love of God is more powerful than anything else in all creation.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen”. (Eph 3:14-21)

Tag: golf

The One Question You Need to Answer Before You Die!

The Beginning of Wisdom and Knowledge; of Insight and Love