Thinning The Field

This past Thursday I played in the Master's Men Golf Tournament and throughly enjoyed myself.  While I have done this a number of times I did not have my usual partner, Sterl Paramore.  We had originally intended to play together, but his work would not permit it this time around.  The result was that I got paired with Benjamin Simpson, who is a much better golfer than me (or Sterl for that matter!).  We ended up shooting a two under par 70, and from previous experience I figured that would mean we were not good enough to win but probably too good to win the "second flight" trophy.  Turns out we were right on the mark for second place, second flight, which means we were the second best of the bottom half of the golfers that played.  Now I know that sort of sounds like the kids who all get a trophy for just being on the team, but I was still glad to be taking a trophy home.

A friend commented as I stood grinning holding my trophy, "You know you just won that because not as many guys competed this year."  That might be true, but so what?  Woody Allen once famously said that half of success is just showing up.  I showed up, I played a decent round, and I came home with something to show for it!

Now, this may be crass allegorical application, but it strikes me that a lot of life is like that golf tournament.  Were there a lot of potential golfers, who are a ton better than me, who might have played in that tournament?  Sure.  Did they play?  No.  Now for the application.  Are there a lot of guys more gifted, better educated, and with a more exemplary track record than me who could successfully pastor a church like Bethlehem?  Sure.  Are they willing to do it?  No.  I think it is up to me to do the best I can, to enjoy myself, and I have no doubt I will go home with a trophy.

Unexpected Blessings

I have just gotten back home from the National Association of Free Will Baptists, which met this year in Tampa Florida.  Joy and I drove down on Sunday afternoon, finishing up the trip on Monday morning.  If I were to characterize the mood of that trip, I would say it was a lot like the weather.  We had storms off and on and even though we hit Atlanta on a Sunday afternoon, the traffic was still thick and fast.  Now, lest some misinterpret what I said about the mood of things, the black cloud in the car had nothing to do with the other occupant of the vehicle.  No, I have to say that I was down.  I'm always a bit emotionally spent after Sunday morning, which typically leads to a Sunday afternoon nap, but today I was trading that for the traffic of Atlanta!  This day however seemed to be a peculiar combination of things.  Over the past few months we have lost some families from the church.  On top of that we did not have a good attendance Sunday and then when the service was over a couple wanted to explain to me why they would be leaving.

So with all of that weighing me down I got in the car to drive to the National.  I don't suppose I was very good company.  Thank the Lord that we had some good things to listen to on the trip.  When we finally got to our destination, it seemed like things were looking up.  We had a very nice room which was a short walk to the Convention Center.  There was no controversy to snarl up the business session and I heard some good preaching, especially from a man named Oral Macafee, that I had never even heard of before.

The kicker to all of this was when we got to the business session.  The Commission for Theological Integrity was giving its report.  They got to the election of new members.  It turns out they had one more opening on that commission than they knew they were going to have.  The result was that the nominating committee submitted my name!  I turned to a friend sitting next to me and said, "This has to be a sign of the apocalypse!"  I actually got elected.

Now, that election did not change things back at Bethlehem.  I still have a real uphill battle to make the church that I love everything that God wants it to be.  Still, this was an unexpected blessing, one that the Lord knew I needed.  Thank you, Lord.