A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate to be a spectator at the Master’s golf tournament. You see, I have been to a number of professional golf tournaments…multiple US Opens, the amazing 1999 Ryder Cupmatch…but never to the Master’s. I was actually invited twice this year but had resigned myself, after declining the first invitation (due to a prior commitment) to the fact that I may never get to see, in person, one of the greatest sporting events in America. Then I received the second invitation…I had to find a way to go! We spent a day a half driving back from Texas so I could get to Augusta Saturday morning…and what a beautiul day it was. As I sat at Amen Corner I started to build this list…10 reasons why I love professional golf.

10. They play outside…at some incredibly beautiful places.

9. It humbles me to see the talent of these men (and women).

8. It helps me stay sharp with the simple math I learned in school.

7. They call penalties on themselves…what other professional sport does that?

6. They don’t have salaries…they have to play well to get paid.

5. Everytime I play…I hit at least 2 shots that make me think “I could play on tour”.

4. They have to play well everyday for four days straight.

3. The relationship between the player and his caddy.

2. The incredible control they display both physically and most importantly…mentally.

1. Momentslike the one above with Phil Mickelson and his wife.

The tour will be down the road from me this week, in Charlotte for the Quail Hollow Championship. Hope to see you there…it is shaping up to be a pretty cool field of players. Did I miss the reason you like professional golf?

0000ff;">I received this in an email from one of my friends a couple of weeks ago and I encouraged him to allow me to post it here for you…thanks Terry.

When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown,
The dream is gone.
but I have become comfortably numb

——–from Comfortably Numb, by Pink Floyd

This past Thursday all five of us were in the car coming back from Thanksgiving in S.C.  I was driving and my son Greg was riding shotgun.  Greg made a quick playlist on his ipod of music that he thought I would enjoy and started it off.  It was quite a list which included Peter Frampton, White Stripes, Matchbox 20, John Cougar Mellencamp, Pink Floyd and many others.  He and I had had a conversation about Contemporary Christian music – Greg said he liked the message but that you could always tell a Christian song by the sound of the singers voice, by the singer’s mood as reflected in his voice.  Well that generated some conversation back and forth and somewhere in there Greg said “you should look for Christian themes in all of the music that you listen to, Dad!”  Well, I never would have thought to do that!!!

The Pink Floyd song he chose was “Comfortably Numb” – a song that I haven’t heard in awhile, but it has been on my mind for some reason.  I’ve included some of the lyrics above.  Who knows what Roger Waters and David Gilmour had in mind when they penned these lyrics back in the 1970′s.  I’ve read some commentary that says that Roger Waters had a bad fever as a kid and took some medicine that helped him through it – the medicine made him “comfortably numb” to the point that he didn’t notice the fever too much.  There are times when I sit in “my chair”, TV tuned to Sunday afternoon football, somewhere between consciousness and sleep and I have to say that when I achieve that state of “comfortably numb” that I like it!  It’s better than sleep somehow because I am aware of my family around me, I am aware of the game and I am aware of the deep relaxation I am feeling at the moment.  That is until Geoffrey’s friend Gaither rings the doorbell and sets Mazie and Annabelle off to barking!

In our Christian journey, I dare say that too many of us (myself included) have achieved a state of “comfortably numb”.  We go to church, we sit in the pews, we hear the message, we go to the covered dish supper, we sing in the choir – heck we even pray every once in a while and crack open the Holy Bible.  But if God is calling us to action, we must not be hearing it.  If the Holy Spirit is ringing our doorbell, we do not rise out of our chair to answer.  We are aware of all the Christian busyness going on around us and we participate in it, but we are not transformed by it.  We are not moved with passion to action. 

Ephesians 4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Guys I believe as Christians we are all called.  As the above verse states, some are called to preach, some to teach, some to serve in other ways.  All Christians are called.  I am afraid that too many of us have become comfortably numb to the point that either we don’t hear the call of God or we don’t care.  I can’t imagine that we are hearing the voice of God calling us to action, and that we don’t care.  I CAN’T IMAGINE that!  So I have to assume that we are not hearing God’s call.  We sit there in those comfortable pews and we have achieved a state of numbness – yes, we go through the motions of church and we stop right there.  How sad!  We are numbed by TV, politics, business, busyness, gadgets, overcommitment, fatigue.  We are numbed to the point that we actually don’t hear God’s call on our life.  Brothers, we cannot allow this to go on any longer!

Call To Action:  Get out of that chair, out of that pew, turn off the TV, forget politics and business and gadgets.  All of those idols that we have placed ahead of our Creator – let’s turn them off, put them on the back burner.  Let’s bring Almighty God into focus.  Let’s draw upon strength from the Holy Spirit.  Let’s ponder on the passion of Jesus Christ.  Let’s be moved to evangelize, to preach, to teach, to tithe, to unite, to love.  Guys, let’s shake off that numbness and score a touchdown for our savior.  Let’s go out today and make a difference.  Will you join me?

Guys, I am get so excited when I think how we can make a difference for our Lord.  I get pumped up when I think how we can make a stand for Jesus.  Imagine us, arm in arm, making a bold statement for our Creator.  In unity, with passion let’s go out into this awesome world and proclaim the Gospel.  Let us evangelize, let us teach, let us love – all in the name of Almighty God.  Amen!

I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking,
“What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?”

—-from The Motions, by Matthew West

1 Corinthians 1:8-10 (NIV)

8He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

Sanford’s confession

It seems that these stories come one right after another. South Carolina’s governor Mark Sanford announced yesterday that he has been involved in an extramarital affair for over the past year. In the wake of his selfish weakness is a career in question, a state and a staff in disbelieve, and a shattered marriage and family. He spent seven minutes of a nine minute news conference apologizing to to all the people that will be directly affected. There will be untold thousands that are indirectly affected by this one man who was not strong enough to  maintain a sacred vow and commitment.

Let’s play the multiplication game for a minute, Mark Sanford is just the latest public figure to live over the line. Between politicians, pastors and other prominent men we get a news jolt like this on a very regular basis. For every high profile man that wimps out on their wife and family…how many thousands of men’s stories do not make the nightly news? How many walking wounded do we have from this devastating scud missile.

“The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men“— Martin Luther King, Jr. 

When will men, stop living these lies?