Hello,
My son and I went out this morning to play a quick nine holes of golf. The forecast was for a hot and humid day, so our hope was to beat the heat. When we arrived there were very few cars in the lot. We went into the clubhouse to pay and discovered that two older guys had just paid. We would be behind them.
Since we and they had to first go to our cars, get on our shoes, and pull out our clubs, we, being younger, thought that if we hurried we could beat these two “older” guys to the tee and not have to dawdle behind them. So, we sped out way to the tee, and did, indeed, get to tee off before them. However, just as we were walking off the tee, there they were. They on their cart, and we about to pick up our bags and walk.
I suppose that we could have pressed on in front of them but knowing that they really had the tee first and they were in carts, I told them that they should go ahead and tee off, and that we would play behind them. They were most gracious, saying that we didn’t need to do that. But it was the right thing to do to let them play, and so they did.
One guy’s shot went far to the right, the other’s went far to the left. Surely a slow round of golf, my son and I thought. They walked off the tee, thanking us, and hopped into their cart, sped off down the path, and then took a hard left across the path to the hole…..a very mushy piece of ground….and they got stuck! Their cart sunk into the muck, going deeper and deeper as they spun their wheels. One of the guys got out of the cart to try and push. Unsuccessful.
So, my son and I took a look at one another and did the only thing we could do….play through them…..NOT! No, we plodded through the muck, joined the guy behind the cart, and pushed with him. The cart was freed, and with a wave of thanks the two of them went on to play ahead of us (as a matter of fact, playing faster than we could keep up).
Why was giving them a push the only thing we could have done? Because I have been one who has been pushed out of the muck. More than once in life, I have taken a path through a mucky piece of land, gotten stuck, only to sink deeper as I have spun my wheels. The times that I speak of, of course, have not been on a golf course, but have been in life. There is plenty of mush in life, and I have a pretty good way of finding my way into it.
And when that has happened, along has come one who certainly could play a round of life much speedier and precisely than I but has allowed me to venture ahead….along comes one who walks through the muck that I have gotten myself into and given me a push. Sometimes that push comes from the pronouncement of forgiveness, or the blessing of communion at the altar when I am worshipping. Sometimes that push comes from other people who knowingly or unknowingly are the hands of the Lord. More often than I can count, I have been pushed out of the muck, allowing me to play on in life, and generating a wave of thanks to the pushers.
Why did I push those guys out of that muck….why do I find myself pushing other people out of the muck they have driven into? Because I have been pushed. I bet that you have been pushed, too.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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