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Something marvelous happened recently and the sports world missed it. The media made a big deal about a situation that didn't really have that huge an impact on the event it was supposed to dampen. What was missed? Tiger Woods did not compete in the 2008 British Open and it didn't make a lick of difference. Now, wait just a minute, you might say! He could have won it. Ah, but that's just the point. He didn't beat the winner, Padraig Harrington, last year and the only other time he played Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, he finished third.

Granted, the greatest golfer in the world was unable to compete for the greatest championship in the world. The justice to that situation is that Padraig Harrington, who outdistanced Tiger last year (Harrington: 1st; Tiger: tied for 12th) won it again this year in decisive fashion. In Tiger's place was 53 year old Greg Norman. The Aussie recaptured some of the fire he used to have as the number one golfer in the world; which is what he was when Tiger turned pro. However, even some late heroics by Norman and others were unable to thwart the steady, if not spectacular, play of Harrington. By being the first person to repeat as champion of The Open Championship since Tiger did it a few years ago, and being the first Irishman to ever win back-to-back titles, he silenced the "where-is-Tiger" talk.

You see, The Open Championship is not about Tiger Woods...or Padraig Harrington either, for that matter. It is about one hundred and thirty-seven years of golf history. It is about the evolution and refining of the greatest game in the world. It is about honor and integrity; skill and luck; pride and passion. That is not one person's private domain. That belongs to every golfer, professional or amateur, who has ever teed it up, be that at Royal Birkdale or a local muni. It is all about the game; a game that has such words as "honors" built right into its fabric. It is a game that a cheater doesn't stand a chance of winning, because the game will refine the cheaters right out of the competition.

Look at golf's champions, especially Tiger Woods. They have gotten there through talent, granted. But every one of them had to polish that talent, honing it through competition to a razor's edge until it could slice through the competition and be found standing alone at the top of the leader board. The names seen atop leader boards over the years are those of men and women who have pushed their craft to the limit. They have hit thousands upon thousands of golf balls and spent thousands of hours in practice and contemplative self-examination, tearing down and reconstructing their game just to have the chance to compete and, hopefully, win. Dare we do anything less for the cause of Christ and His kingdom, the church?

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." Hebrews 12:1,2a "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now also in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Philippians 2:12 Why do churches struggle so much? Why are there so many empty seats in the sanctuary? We have yet to outwork the competition. Satan is ahead of us on the leader board and we are too willing to accept a one hole (or is that soul) victory. Countless souls hang in the balance.

The proof is there in the witness of those who have gone before us and done what needed to be done. They outdistanced Satan and beat him. They did it through hard work, prayer and trust in God to open doors that they couldn't budge themselves. It is time for us to honor their example, to lay aside the things that hold us back, get to work and run the race.

"God's Words For US" from Cecelia Lester

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