GOLF ANALOGY 

Chaplin Bill Tate is a good friend of mine. He sent me this great Gospel application from the game of golf. He was asked to officiate the funeral of a professional man he never met. The only thing he knew about this man was his name was Richard and he was an avid golfer.  Most of the people who would attend the funeral were fellow golfers.  This is what Brother Tate wrote:

The chapel was full of golfing friends and their families. Fancy, expensive cars on the parking lot. A few minutes before the service I was thinking, “What on earth can I say?” The only information I had about Richard was printed on the memorial folder: Dates of his birth and death and that he loved golf. Oh yes, the Funeral Home printed Psalm 23 in the folder.

Sitting there I looked at the printed Psalm 23 on the folder. The Lord thumbed this dull brain of mine and I underlined a few phrases. With no more prep than this, briefly this is what I told the golfers who had gathered:

Please open your folders and focus on Psalm 23. If Richard were reading this, he might see it this way: “He maketh me to lie down in GREEN pastures…” How many times has Richard bent over, even stretch out on a green, to get an accurate line for his ball to the cup?  “He leadeth me beside the STILL WATERS…” There are water hazards on the golf courses Richard played.  On a few occasions he has sliced a ball or two into a pond.  “Thy rod and staff…” Richard would read this as gold clubs and irons.  “My CUP runneth over.” Richard has heard hundreds of golf ball plop into the cup, perhaps smiling and yelling when they were hole-in-one.

You get the idea. There was a genuine response.