Pebble Beach

Now that I am home, I can reflect on my trip out west.  Other than the blow-out that I had on my trailer, the trip went off without a hitch.  I had a total of 4 events, Tucson, AZ, Brentwood, CA, Monterey, CA, and Houston, TX.  There were over 200 decisions in those 4 events.  Praise God.  It was definitely worth all of the driving and time away from home.  But, speaking of home, I am so glad to be back with my family.  I have four weeks without an event that will be spent being hubby and daddy.  I love my wife and kids and am so thankful that God has blessed me with them.  I am looking forward to the next few weeks.

Going back to my time in CA though, I had a blast in Monterey.  I had the great opportunity to play some beautiful golf courses and I actually played well.  And, while out west, I had the privelege of eating at In-N-Out Burgers as often as I would like.  Here is where I picked up some spiritual truths.  I had never eaten at In-N-Out until I visited San Diego.  But after I tasted that double-double, I was hooked.  I left CA for a few days but as soon as I returned I made a beeline to In-N-Out.  Reminded me about sin.  Not that In-N-Out is a sin, by the way, it is a christian owned company, but once you dabble or try sin, it pulls you in.  And the opposite is true.  When you experience the full Life of Christ, you want to lavish in it.

And playing Pebble Beach was like playing any other golf course.  You have to hit off the tee, get to the green and then put the ball in the hole.  It was a beautiful course, much more scenic than most courses, but the goal was the same.  Because of its hype, it cost more, much more, and it made me change my frame of mind.  Instead of just playing the game, I began to play mind games.  “What a course, I can’t believe I am here.  The pros play here.  It is so beautiful. And on and on and on.”  I was caught up with everything except thinking about golf.  At times I was literally hitting the ball not thinking about golf.  As I thought about that I began to think about how satan does this to us.  As we live our lives and try to walk the Christian life, he tries to get our thoughts on other things.  And if he succeeds, we don’t have our minds on Christ.  That is why God’s Word tells us in 2 Corithians 10 that we should take every thought captive. 

My question to you, “What are your thoughts?  Are they captivated by Christ are by peripheral things?”