Life according to Tin Cup

I turned 49 a few days ago.   Wow!  How quickly time goes by.   The older I get, the more I realize the importance of life and of the relationships in life.  This Age thing does make you wiser.  Like it or not, we learn from our past and that helps shape decisions about our future.  But it can also harden you if you aren't careful.   Interesting though how we adapt to our surroundings and to the seasons that God puts in front of us.   Now,  I find myself at a crossroads again in life.  Where do I go from here?  For Many of you, there are children, grandchildren,  careers and a home.   But for me, I have none of those things.   I find myself wondering what God has planned for me as I begin this last stage of my life. 
For those who know me, I am a huge golfer.  And as such, I have played many a round of golf.  My favorite round had to be at Old Head in southern Ireland.  It was an experience I will never forget.    I always seem to find myself comparing my life to a round of golf.  How many of you have gone out and had a bad front 9 only to shoot a great back 9 and salvage a good round.  Or had a great score going only to hit a ball out of bounds and take a double or triple bogey.   Well life can be like that.  I find that I am probably on the 12th hole of life (God willing).  And what an up and down round I have had so far.  I have made a number of birdies in this life only to have just completed back to back double bogeys.  (or worse)   I think that the key to this round is to how I respond and handle these last 6 holes of life.   Am I going to be a golfer who falls apart after a few bad holes or am I going to right the ship and finish strong.  For me, I hope that I can keep my eye on the present and focus on the future without getting caught up in the past.   Finish the round strong!    It has taken me a lot of rounds of golf to understand how to manage my game (and my life).  I used to be a lot like Roy McEvoy from Tin Cup.  I always went for the green in two.  I Loved the risk/reward for making a difficult shot.  But now  I have learned through trial and error the importance of making  prudent decisions.    Humility, along with some failures,  has a way of doing that.  And I believe I have learned from life not to do what Roy did on the 18th hole of the US Open in Tin Cup.  For those of you who don't remember, here is the dialogue.

Roy: My whole career, my whole life on the line...I just made a 12 on the last hole of the Open!

Molly: You sure did. It was the greatest 12 of all time. No one's going to remember the Open 10 years from now, who won...but they'll remember your 12! My, God, Roy, it was...Well, it's immortal! I am so proud of you!

Roy went down in a blaze.  He continued over and over again to try and hit a shot over the lake instead of laying up.   He let his ego get the best of him and he finished with a 12.   For me, I have already had my blaze of glory.  I went for it in two and I didn't make it.   But unlike Roy, I am laying up now.  I am ready to take my medicine and play it safe moving forward.  I am thankful to not only be able to make a par but for the opportunity God has given me to play the game.  And, while I didn't have an incredible round, I do know I had a memorable one.  And most importantly, I know that God is right beside me as i finish this round!

Sponsoring a Child in Need

Today, 2 people  I am connected with through Facebook sponsored a child.  Congratulations Rebecca and Morgan for stepping up and being a part of a child's life.   Both sponsorships were through Compassion International.  While I  sponsored my child through World Vision, both organizations are a great way to make a difference in a child's life.  In many instances, you will  make a difference not only in the life of the child but with the entire family.  Both of these wonderful organizations are Christian based which is very important to me personally as well.   

Johnny Arguello Santana

My child's name is Johnny Santana and he lives in Costa Rica.  He is currently 8 years old.  I was fortunate enough to have lived there for a period of time and so I am personally aware of the poverty that exists in this country.  While Costa Rica is in no way as desperate as Haiti or Africa, all of these third world countries are in need of our help and support.  Since I may travel back to Costa Rica from time to time, I chose to sponsor a child in a country that I am familiar with and one that increases my chances of actually meeting my child in person one day.   Also, I know that through World Vision, 89% of my $35 each month goes directly to helping my sponsored child and I love that so much of my money is going directly to help with programs and ministries.  I am honored and blessed to be a small part of this childs life.  I will not have any children of my own so this is really something that is near and dear to my heart.
Today, coincidentally,  I received in the mail some information to help Johnny celebrate his birthday by sponsoring a festive party and by giving him a personalized birthday gift from me.  He will turn 9 on April 2nd.  For many of these children, the only way they will ever celebrate a birthday is through the help of a sponsor.

Through faithful sponsorship, you can touch a childs life  and offer love, generosity, hope, and most importantly, the gift of Christ.   So consider sponsoring a child.   Make a difference in someone's life.  Below are the website addresses to both of these wonderful organizations. 

www.worldvision.org
www.compassion.com

When once upon a Time doesn't end as planned?

Most stories we tell our children  begin with "Once upon a time" and end with "and they lived happily ever after".   But why is it that our real life  story very seldom ends that way?   Its because of a little thing called "life" which seems to find a way to  get in the way of all our hopes and dreams.   Rarely do things go according to our plans.  It seems that we are always having a curve ball thrown at us.  For some, we never seem to get around to going back to school;  We don't meet the right girl/guy;  We marry the wrong person;  For others, we make a bad business decision that causes us to lose our business; we invest in the wrong stock;  We choose the wrong career path;   And this list can go on and on.  And any of these things can lead us to one day just throwing our hands up and  saying "What went wrong?  Why didn't my life turn out as I had planned?"    I think it is important for us to realize that nothing actually went wrong in our life.  We just didn't get the life we had set out for ourselves.  Our plans and our goals  didn't match up with what God had planned for us.  And that is just the way it is.  So let me ask you this: how many people have you met that have had things go as planned?  Everything was perfect just as they pictured it?   Not often, huh?  For more times than not, I hear people wish for a happier New Year only to mumble midway thru the year that they can't wait for this year to be over?   In fact an entire book was written on this subject.   Pete Wilson, Sr. pastor at my home church called Cross Point here in Nashville wrote a book appropriately titled  Plan B-What do you do When God doesn't show up the way you thought he would.  It tackles the issues of when things don't go according to your plans and I highly recommend it.  You can get it on Amazon.

So anyway, things haven't gone according to your plans?  What are you going to do about it?  Are you going to mope around and blame others for your failures or are you going to pick up the pieces and make the best of your situation?  This brings me to my next question:

 Are you a "glass is half full"  or a "glass is half empty" kind of person?  The answer to this question really sets the stage for how you live your life.  So many times we ask this question when we look at the attitude people have about their life.  In reality, I think it boils down to how we handle adversity.  It is easy to have a half full philosophy when things are going well.  But what do you do when things don't go according to your plan?  Do you complain or feel sorry for yourself when life takes a turn for the worse?   I believe a lot of this depends on how "self centered" you are.  People who focus on themselves will always want more and will complain when things don't go their way.  Alternatively, those who focus on others tend to be thankful for what they have.  Talk to someone who spends time helping the poor or the sick and you will find someone who is thankful for  their health or for a roof over their head.  

But interestingly enough, our Father wants for us more than a 'half full or half empty' glass scenario. He wants us to be a "full and running over" kind of person. "...my cup runneth over." - Psalm 23:5. We are to be a people so full of joy and love that it flows over and spills out of us.  And this is where our faith in God and our realization that we are part of a grander story begins to take place. For That which runneth over is never wasted by God. It touches the lives of all around us. This is to be our focus; not what we don't have or the career we didn't achieve or even the school our child didn't get in.  No, its about what we can give to others in His Name.  If we are faithful in reaching out to others, God will never let our glass be anything but full and running over.