The Bungee Cord

Hello,

It was a beautiful day here in Western Pennsylvania, so after I delivered lunch to my 14 Meals On Wheels clients, I decided to go and play nine holes of golf. Golf, for me, is less sport than exercise. I don’t keep my score, and I generally walk and carry my clubs, thus my exercise. It’s been several years since I have had to buy golf balls, because on slow days I hunt golf balls as I play…often because my shots tend to wind where lost balls land. So, it was today, and as I walked my way along the course, I stumbled upon a ball. I was surprised that it was laying there as it was in plain sight. I picked it up, and I noticed something was written on it, “Prov 2”.

“Prov 2” may have been the chosen identifying mark for the player of the ball, but my suspicion was otherwise. Seeing how the ball was obvious to find, and the marking “Prov 2” was visible on the top of the ball, I think that it was placed there on purpose in hopes that someone would pick it up and read Proverbs 2 in the Bible. It seemed to me to be a unique evangelistic attempt by some Christian golfer.

Well, it worked. Although I think the hope of the “evangelist” was to have someone pick up this ball that knew far more about golf than the Christian faith, I put the ball in my pocket, brought it home, and looked up Proverbs 2. I know that many Christians are drawn to the book of Proverbs for its life guidance that they believe is divinely unique. As I read the book of Proverbs, I, too, find its wisdom helpful. Interestingly enough, many Biblical scholars would say that its wisdom was a wisdom that was shared by many in the day of its writing, and not particularly unique to the followers of the Bible. At its core, the book of Proverbs was meant to be wise instruction to growing boys to give them a good moral foundation for life, to make them good adults. Good rules to live by.

As I wrote last week, I don’t believe that Jesus came to pass on a bunch of moral teachings to us, to make us good people. I believe that Jesus came to transform us to be God’s people, children of God…people whose heart beats in rhythm with God’s, people whose eyes and ears see and hear the love of God abounding in every day of life, people who live free from the shackles of their deeds and who breath in the fresh air of forgiveness, people who are so infused with hope that they look at the grave and sing songs of victory. The book of Proverbs may give us God’s wisdom by which to structure our lives, which is good, but its goodness doesn’t do what Jesus came to do …. give us life, abundant life.

So, I thought to myself as I put that golf ball in my pocket, if I was to be a golf ball evangelist, what would I write on a ball that I would leave on the golf course for someone to find…a verse that would open the finder’s heart not with rules to live by but hope to live and die by. Well….here’s the verse that I would write on the ball…1John3:1.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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