The Golf Excitation: Part I

Folks, it Springtime; the time of year anticipated by the majority of humanity who crawl out of the hibernation of Winter & start to live life again.

For me, it means golf is here. This will be my second year of playing, the first year was rough but actually fun, now I know what to expect & this Sunday morning I'm hitting the driving range for the first time since last Fall. I'm a little rusty on my swing but I'll be okay!

Last year, my brother & I played on one of the last days the golf course was open, it was cool & leaves were everywhere, but after we payed the lady told us to play until sunset, we looked at each other & just smiled.

There were only two other people on the course so we took our time; the first round we played we used our usual clubs for our usual holes & played our usual game w/ the usual results. The second time around we did a little experimenting. On the first tee I would usually use a 5 iron but this time I thought I'd use a 5 wood & the results were much better. I landed on the edge of the green & sunk a 36 foot putt. I was energized now.

Since we pretty much had the whole course to ourselves, we did quite a bit of experimenting, right up to sunset. I actually used a driver on the green (gasp!) & it was great! The rules of golf say that you can use any club for any stroke but people usually use drivers for driving, putters for putting, etc, it's habit. 

I re-learned something that day: 

doing something different produced different results & I liked it.

So many times we approach life & ministry the same way; we think it has to be done a certain way. So many times people think they have to pray a certain way in a certain situation to get a certain result because it worked before.... or... they have to do their church service in a certain order because... well... that's the way it's done. 

Jesus didn't minister in the same place or the same way every single time, sometimes He prayed, sometimes He commanded, sometimes He played in the mud. The thing is He wasn't predictable, He switched things up, 'switched clubs & got different results.

Questions:

• Are your prayers always the same for every situation?
• Are you playing it safe in your ministry or church service?
• Do you minister the same way every single time?
• Are you willing to experiment w/ doing things differently?
• Are you willing to switch the order of service?
• Are you willing to move your worship team from the front to the floor or in the middle or to the back balcony?
• Are you open to the idea of changing your service time or even changing the day?
• Are you even open to the idea of switching clubs & giving it a shot to see if it works better? 

Some of these things might just energize you, your ministry or your fellowship & take things to a whole new level...