PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

September 27, 2023

HE’S BACK

I found it somewhat appropriate that Tiger Woods won his fifth Masters the beginning of Holy Week.  The first Palm Sunday was a day of celebration.  People from all walks of life and from different backgrounds lined the road to watch Jesus and his disciples go by.  Wood’s victory on Palm Sunday also was an occasion for celebration.

Following his final putt he hugged his two children and his mother.  His fellow golfers formed a corridor to congratulate him on his way to sign his card.  News of his win spread across the country and this world.  Congratulations came from all quarters.

On Easter we celebrate Jesus’ triumph over sin and death.  Woods has gone through a period where he was proclaimed as a washed up golfer and criticized for his moral indiscretions.  He himself admitted because of back problems he was not sure he would ever be able to play golf again.

At the start of 2018 Tiger was the 1,199 ranked golf player in the world.  He was even ranked because he had started playing golf as a result of a successful back surgery.  By the end of the year he had risen to be ranked 13^th.  Still there were many who were skeptical that he could ever win another one of the four majors of golf.  His victory on Palm Sunday was a dramatic statement that he was back from the dead and on his game again.

Tiger’s story reminds me of a player that was on tour when I was growing up: Ben Hogan.  February of 1949 he was in an automobile accident.  He suffered a double fracture of the pelvis, a fractured collar bone, a left ankle fracture, chipped ribs, and near fatal blood clots.  His doctors told him that it was unlikely he ever would be able to walk let alone play golf.  Against all odds he was back on the tour the following year winning the U.S. Open.  A little more than two years after his accident, Hogan won the Masters.

Every year the Golf Writers Association present the Ben Hogan Award.  It is given to a player who has overcome a physical handicap or a serious injury to remain active in golf.  The day before the Masters Tiger Woods was given the 47^th GSA’s Ben Hogan Award.  How fitting that after winning the award Tiger went out and won his fifth masters.

The story of Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan reach far beyond golf.  They are a reminder that from the Christian perspective there is always the possibility of redemption and resurrection.  Lazarus was declared dead and placed in a tomb.  However, death was not the last word.  The last word was the power of God.  Jesus raised his friend from the grave and gave him new life, new hopes, new possibilities.

Holy week is a reminder that no matter how bleak things seem and how uncertain the future may be, there is always hope because of the restorative power of God.  Just as Jesus rose from the dead, we too in our own lives can experience the resurrection power to bring about renewal, restoration, and resurrection.

(This article was originally published April 21, 2019.  Comments may be sent to davidh15503@embarqmail.com.)