Golf

I'm leaving in 19 days! Things are starting to come together, and in spite of the all the busyness I've still had some time to spend playing with my family. Over the past couple weeks we've had the chance to go golfing. Having played soccer my whole life, my feet are actually much more coordinated than my hands when it comes to sports. This makes for some pretty entertaining results when trying to use a golf club. My sister and I have decided that if continue playing golf once a year, by the time we're 60 we should be able to make it through a round of golf without embarrassing ourselves.

Although I've definitely improved with some help from Coach Dad, its still pretty tricky to get used to the feeling of the club as an extension of my body. I'm much more comfortable when I don't have to worry about an extra four-foot-long appendage attached to my arm and can simply use my feet to get the ball where I want it to go. Its a lot easier to maintain control over the power and accuracy of the shot.

My mom and I were talking about raising support for my trip to South Asia when I realized that the way God works in our world is a lot more like golf than like soccer. He could just decide to come down from heaven and "kick the ball" by himself, like I prefer to do when I play sports. Honestly, sometimes it seems like if he did, his goals of justice and restoration would be accomplished a whole lot more quickly and accurately. But often, he doesn't. He chooses to use us as his tools- his golf clubs- to accomplish his work in the world. This is both an honor and a responsibility. God is allowing us to be a part of his plan- and that is truly humbling and so very very exciting! We get to help our father in the work of rescuing his children and bringing them back to relationship with him. We also need to make sure that we're obedient- without us, the work may not get done.

The other thing about golf clubs is that it has two different parts: the shaft and the head. The shaft never actually touches the ball, but without the shaft, the ball would never make it to the fairway, let alone the green. As you've been praying for me and supporting me, you're acting as an extension of the hand of God, as the shaft of his golf club. Without you, the work that God wants to do helping to rescue girls in South Asia and bring their perpetrators to justice would never be accomplished.

Thank you, thank you so incredibly much for allowing God to use you as his shaft. Together with his help, we'll get the ball on the green. Maybe we'll even shoot par for the course- that's more than I can say for my recent golfing adventures :)