Something really weird happened to me on Friday. I was what I call “The Club,” Sioux Creek Golf Course in Chetek, which isn’t weird for me at all, especially on my day off. It wasn’t that I was actually playing fairly well. It wasn’t that it was super early in the morning. As I was completing my 16th hole of the day, I thought to myself, “I bet I could easily play another 9.” Here is the weird thing: I was walking. That’s right. I thought about playing another 9 holes, for a total of 27, all of them walking. A year ago after walking nine I would need oxygen and a long break before even thinking about doing it again. If it was hot? Cart all the way. On July 4th I voluntarily walked despite it being a thousand degrees and we would have gotten in a full 18 if it hadn’t been super busy and we had to be back at a certain time.
A year ago I thought it would be impossible for me to walk 18 holes, let alone confidently think about doing 27. As I churned that thought around in my brain and just how far I had come in a year and how something that seemed so impossible could now be a reality I thought of this well known verse from Philippians chapter 4: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
We often believe that we can’t do a lot of things. We might have dreams but they seem so impossible. We find ourselves in the storms of life and it feels impossible that we will survive, let alone be successful. We often measure what success is with unreasonable expectation and so we don’t try because it seems too hard. I have thought all of these thoughts myself. Felt I wasn’t good enough, that I couldn’t do it, that the storm will just continue to rage and I’ll never find the strength or the peace enough to get through it.
But we are not alone. Christ strengthens us. Christ is with us. Christ has freed us so that we can try even the impossible. We can reach for the stars. We can make through stuff that seems impossible. Think about our present circumstances. We are four months into a pandemic that seems like it may never abate yet we are surviving. It isn’t always pretty and doesn’t always go according to plan, but we are getting through. There is still laughter, love, and joy.
Because Jesus is with us, we can do the impossible. And even if we try and fail, our Savior lifts us up, dusts us off, and reminds us that we are loved and cared for. Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t think you can’t do it. You can. You are not alone. Who knows what might happen if you take a risk, take a leap, trust in the Lord and in yourself? You might find yourself deciding to walk 27 holes. For the strength, love, and forgiveness we have in Jesus Christ we can say, “Thanks be to God!”