I spend three or four afternoons a week this time of year coaching a local high school golf team. The following words emerge from a part of that work and the community of adults who explore Jesus together with me every other week at an area country club. At the core of this piece is the one thing God has been impressing on me most deeply since the day I officiated a funeral this winter for the father of one of my players: that we must keep wrestling with Him.

 

THE NAME OF GOD'S PEOPLE

The man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” (Genesis 32:28, NIV)

I’ve been working with a player whose short game has no variety.

No other time in history have we perceived ourselves to be as self-dependent as we are now. In many parts of the world, if we need food, we're not required to grow it or to catch it. Our stores are loaded with food with a shelf life that is longer than the lifespan of my pets.

In the past we worked hard to land “the job” at a large corporation that would one day usher us into retirement. But, thanks to the personal computer, we’re now able start our own businesses, work from home and create our own future. We no longer have to depend on the big boss.

Women now have to opportunity to marry or stay single by choice and work their way up the ladder in their chosen career. Motherhood no longer requires a husband.

Science has even extended the maternal clock and made conception possible without doing…you know – “it.