InnerQuest #232 Mulligan Man

To God’s redeemed Alien Youth and all those alike:

May God’s mercy, grace and unaltered love be found in you, this day and every day to come.

 

I haven’t played a round of golf since my first daughter was born, so it has been a while. But, there is a part of that game that is reflected in my everyday life and most probably yours as well.

In a gentlemen’s game of golf there is an unwritten gift given, that is not found in the same game played by pros. This unwritten gift is when you are ‘teeing off’ or driving the golf ball off a tee at the beginning of each hole, in hopes that it travels straight down the fairway for several hundred yards, but instead your drive goes about as far as the length of your arm and a pile dirt that you masterfully whacked just before hitting the ball, fills the air. If the person or people you are enjoying this wonderful round of golf with feel compassion for your lack of driving talent they will give you the gift of a ‘do-over’, commonly referred to in golf as a mulligan. This mulligan can be claimed one time by each person, in a round of golf, or if it is a real friendly game, once on the front nine and once on the back nine. It can also be given on any bad swing during the game without any evidence on the score card that it ever happened. How many pros would love to be given a mulligan on a botched drive or putt that cost them a championship?

In your daily Christian lives, being given a second chance to redeem one’s self from a committed sin should be treated humbly and with great appreciation, because most of the time you may not deserve it. It is by God’s mercy, grace, love and compassion for you that you have been given this precious gift.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

God knows’ that we don’t always end up right down the middle of the fairway. There are times we end up in the rough and that rough can be extremely hard to get out of.

Thankfully, God cared so much for us that he sent his son, Jesus to seek out all those in the rough, which is pretty much everybody, and took all our bad drives into sin onto himself and sacrificed them on the cross. This cleared the way for a second chance at staying on the fairway and having a good game.

The most fantabulous part of getting a mulligan from Jesus is that he keeps giving them to us, probably because we are so easily distracted and tend to go off course from time to time and end up in the rough.

When we go to him with a humbled heart and confess to God all the sins we make, God responds with mercy, grace and an unaltered love for us. Another chance has been given and our score card wiped clean.

God wants us to live our lives on the fairway and enjoy a good game. With God as our focal point and our aim to be with him, he has called many disciples around us to help guide our way.

It is because of Jesus’ gift to us that really provides the second chances, the do-overs. You might call Jesus, the “Mulligan” Man.

May God bless your day with his shining son, and be embraced by his everlasting love.

Papa John 6:26:15 

InnerQuest #231

Let God Rain Down on You

Hosea 10:12

¹² Sow righteousness for yourselves,
    reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;
    for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes
    and showers his righteousness on you.

Last night I noticed two of the plants I had recently planted were withering and the flowers were nonexistent. The lack of water to nourish them was absent and the hot sun was drying them up. I quickly poured a good amount of water on them and hoped that that would be enough to get them through the night. Then, today’s storm came in and filled the surrounding dry and hardened earth with well needed water and nourishment. The heavens had opened its gate to give new life and revive wilting life.

Tonight I came home and the two plants were upright with strong leaves and many blooms ready to bust out. Life renewed.

God rained down his loving nourishment this past Wednesday night and you could feel and see the reviving of some hungry souls.

There are times when our hearts become dry and hardened like the soil around a malnourished plant, with the sins we carry. If left unattended that hardness surrounding our hearts can take away everything that brings us life. Is your life ready for God to work in it? The  arid ground (sin) around your heart can be broken up by acknowledging your sins and receiving God’s rain of forgiveness and guidance.

You are beautiful. Let God rain down on you and give you his nourishment, so that you will blossom and bring joy to all the earth.