The Ultimate Caddie

I don't golf much these days. While I enjoy the game and once upon a time had some reasonable skills, today it's much like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get.  

One day in particular, we were on a course that required caddies. People who carry your bag, help you line up putts, choose clubs, and talk in great accents. It wasn't my best day. So bad that at one point my friend Jerry referred to me as Roberto Duran (a boxer from the 1900's with the nickname Manos de Piedra - "hands of stone").

The caddie would give me a club to hit, tell me where to aim, and I would shank it in a random direction or dribble it just a few yards. After a few holes of this nonsense, I walked up to a shot, turned to my caddie, and asked him what club I should hit. He looked straight at me, grinned, and said, "It really doesn't matter, does it?" We both got a good laugh, which released a lot of tension, and I actually played better from that moment on.

"Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light." (Micah 7:8)

Hit your next best shot!

This is part of our core conviction of "Do the next right thing". When you shank your life or business into the woods, you have to put that shot behind you and focus on your next one. Do your best to chip it back into the fairway and keep playing. We get sick, get kicked where we don't want to be kicked, lose jobs, make mistakes, lose loved ones, and go left when we should have gone right. When that happens, don't be paralyzed with regret, fear, or shame. Just do the next right thing.

God promises to be your light in the darkness and to be your caddie on the course. You will rise again, so don't take yourself or the situation too seriously, pick up the club He hands you, and hit your next best shot.