Choices

Good Morning!

The Professional Golfers Association’s annual tournament (the PGA) is in Atlanta this week. Yesterday was the first day. Tiger shot 7 over. Ryo shot 15 over. And Steve Stricker shot 7 under to tie a record for major tournaments. But there were two other golfers who caught my attention – Matt Kuchar and Rory McIlroy. Ant the reason they caught my attention is because they did a couple of things that cost them.

Rory is the US Open Champion for 2011 … and is only 22 years old. He is a great golfer … and a great guy. He is polite and courteous. He seems to be well-grounded. And he is very, very good. But on the third hole, his tee shot ended up against the root of a pine tree. The prudent play would be to hit the ball parallel to the root and just get it in the fairway for a recovery shot. But being 22, and being a good golfer, and playing in the last major for 2011, Rory decided to go for it. His shot hit the ball, then the root … and in the process he damaged a tendon in his right wrist. Now it is iffy that he can play tomorrow or the next few days. The blow could have been worse … and could have ended his career.

Matt also had a decision to make on the 12th hole. His second shot went to the left and ended up against a chain-link fence. There was no way he could get a backswing to hit the ball. His choices were to either hit the ball forward along the fence (he would have had to hit the ball using a left-handed stance with right-handed clubs); hit the ball backwards along the fence; or take a one-stroke penalty and drop the ball where he could hit it. He chose to hit the ball back along the fence … and ended up against the fence again. The result – a double bogey. Had he dropped, he might have gotten a bogey … or perhaps even a par.

Decisions. We are all called to make them … sometimes many times each day. Some cost a little … like Matt’s. And some can cost us a lot … like Rory. But we still have to make the decisions. And most of the time, we don’t “bother” God in our decision making process. Let’s take a look at a Proverb:

Proverbs 14:12 New International Version (NIV)

12 There is a way that appears to be right,
but in the end it leads to death.

We have all done it – made a decision that turned out wrong. We didn’t intend it to turn out wrong. We actually thought we were in the right … only to find out we were wrong. And some decisions can lead to separation / death. We have a great resource right at our knee prints. And we should not just go when we have no place else to turn … we should go to God at the outset.

Both Rory and Matt will recover – even if they miss the cut and have a few days on the disabled list. But remember some of our decisions have life consequences. Best to get some advice from God on the next step.

Agape’


Mr. Jim