Lost in the Fairway

Losing a golf ball in a thick rough or wooded area hurts, but losing it in the fairway is a real killer.

How can a ball just disappear? Do invisible alien creatures in invisible futuristic golf carts zoom onto fairways, snatch up golf balls and carry them off to some outer-space research lab? Of course not! Sometimes a ball is lost in the fairway because a golfer’s ego won’t let him look for it farther back than he knows he hit it. Sometimes it is lost because it came to rest in a grass-covered depression. Sometimes a golfer walks or rides past a lost ball. Looking afar, he fails to see what lies under his nose.

The Bible teaches that human beings are lost until the Savior finds them (Luke 19:10; 2 Cor. 4:3). We Christians understand this truth. We were lost until Jesus found us. We understand, too, that Jesus commissioned us to share the good news of salvation with the whole world. However, we may fail to understand that many people are lost “in the fairway”; that is, in the center of our Christianized culture. Living in communities where evangelical churches flourish, where Christian television broadcasts enter their homes, and where Christians live nearby, why are so many people still lost? Perhaps, like golfers passing by a lost ball in a fairway, we expect to find the lost only in some faraway place like Africa or Asia.

© Jim Dyet

Christmas Cactus

My wife showed me a colorful newspaper advertisement for Christmas plants. Featured with poinsettias in the ad was a Christmas cactus. The leaves were deep green, and the blooms were bright red. Called “Christmas cactus” because they bloom at Christmas, these beautiful plants add a nice touch to our home’s Christmas decorum.

But back to the ad: It identified the Christmas cactus as a “zygo cactus.” Apparently secularists have invaded horticulture and stolen Christmas from the cactus family. But they can’t steal Christmas from our family. We will continue to call our cactus, “Christmas cactus,” and enjoy its beautiful flowers.

What’s next? Will geographers rename Christmas Island “Holiday Island” or “Zygo Island”?

Brrrr!

Brrrr! A cold front invaded Colorado yesterday and is expected to stay through Thursday. Colorado Springs recorded a new low temperature of -8 this morning. The weather prognosticators are blaming this cold weather on Canada. “An Arctic front has dropped down from Canada,” they say. Strange, I grew up in Canada and never heard anyone blame the U.S. for a sudden influx of warm, humid air.

Very little snow accompanied the dramatic change in our weather, but the drive to church yesterday was perilous. The highway from Colorado Springs to Penrose, where I am interim pastor, bobs and weaves through the foothills. Yesterday morning it was icy and snow packed, visibility was almost zero at times, and the temperature varied between 9 and 11. Accidents attested to the hazardous driving conditions.

The drive was worthwhile. Church attendance was better than I expected. The potluck after church was superb, and I had the privilege of baptizing three adults, three teenagers, and six children. You can better appreciate the faith of those twelve if you know I baptize by immersion. Getting wet all over on a bitterly cold day takes genuine faith, eh?

Our church is gearing up for Christmas. Next Sunday we will observe Communion, enjoy a choir concert, and a candlelight service. Oh yes, there will be a sermon, but it will be brief—kind of a Christmas present to the congregation.




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