There Ain’t No Ties
“The Government of Death, its constitution chiseled on stone tablets, had a dazzling inaugural. Moses’ face as he delivered the tablets was so bright that day (even though it would fade soon enough) that the people of Israel could no more look right at him than stare into the sun. How much more dazzling, then, the Government of Living Spirit?” II Corinthians 3:7-8 The Message
I can get pretty competitive at times. Almost everyone hates to lose, but some of us just like winning. I don’t get too upset when I lose except in the cases where the odds take advantage of a weaker opponent.
Another thing that bothers me about losing is when the rules keep changing. Focusing on a goal is a specialty of mine. When I get my strategy set, I don’t like being told in the middle, “No, this is how we are going to do it now.”
If I give my best, and those other two things don’t happen, I usually won’t get upset even if I lose. When I play a much better opponent, and just come close, I can consider that a victory.
Jack was born in Columbus, Ohio. His father owned a drug store that bore the family’s last name. His father was quite the athlete and even played football for Ohio State. Taking an assumed name, his father played semi-pro football with the Portsmouth Spartans. The Spartans would eventually become the NFL’s Detroit Lions.
While at Arlington High School, Jack would gain honorable mention on the All-Ohio basketball team. He would even gather some college recruitment interest, especially from Ohio State, for his point guard talents. Football, tennis, baseball, and track and field were also sports in which he excelled.
But golf is where Jack really excelled. At ten-years-old, and shooting a 51 in the first nine holes he ever played, he seemed like a natural at it. Jack won the first of five straight Ohio State Junior Championships at the age of twelve. At thirteen, Jack broke 70 and became the youngest qualifier for the US Junior Amateur. At fourteen, he hit his first hole-in-one.
Jack would win 27 golf events in Ohio when he was between the ages of ten and seventeen. At the age of eighteen, Jack competed in his first PGA tournament, the Rubber City Open. Although he didn’t win that tournament, it helped him qualify for the US Open.
Jack would go to Ohio State, just like his father. He was studying pre-pharmacy. His hope was to follow his father into the pharmacy business. While he was there he would win two US Amateurs.
There is a Bible story I have heard over and over again, all my life. It’s a great story, but the best version I have ever heard was given by a Sunday School teacher with a real southern way of explaining things. Although I don’t remember exactly how he told the story, I will never forget how he ended the story.
Many, many moons ago, in Bibleland, there was a young man. He was one of those types, much like most of our political leaders today, you either loved him or you hated him. There weren’t many other opinions of him.
Those who loved him listened to his every word. Those who hated him picked apart every word he spoke. There is an expression many use when their candidate doesn’t get elected President and they really hate the other guy. You hear some people rumble, “I’m just going to move to Canada.”
Well, the powerful religious leaders of this day might have thought of moving to Rome if this guy became a church leader. Instead of the moving part they decided to do a destroying part. They would convince the audience of this man’s evilness even if they had to spread lies about him.
The funny thing is, the man never seems to get really upset about their tricks. He just always one-ups them with even more goodness. Finally, they realize their destroying plan is a disaster. They need to come up with a new plan.
I am really not good at golf. To be truthful, I don’t really like golf at all. The company I used to work for would have golf tournaments for customers. Since it became a requirement of my job, I purchased a set of second hand golf clubs so I could take part.
The style of golf we played was called Captain’s Choice. In Captain’s Choice, you are on teams of four. Each player takes a swing at the ball that is sent down the fairway. Then the team decides which of the best of those shots to play.
Next, every player on that team takes a second shot from the spot of that chosen shot. This continues until the team gets the ball in the hole. Then the total, of the four best shots, is recorded on the card.
Of the eighteen holes that were required in the game, and the countless number of shots, I was lucky if they took a total of three or four of mine. When you aren’t good at something, it’s hard to get too excited about playing it.
In most of these games two other prizes were also given on two different holes. One hole was the longest drive hole. The other was the closest to the pin hole. On each of those holes, a little flag sat on the fairway. If your shot was better than the flag spot, you would move your flag to your position. At the end of the day, the winner would be the one where the flag finally rested.
Here is how bad I am. When we came up to the longest drive hole, I came up to the tee. In one of the best drives of my life, my ball sailed way past the flag. Everyone on the team’s jaw dropped. Proudly I moved the flag and put my name on the little card attached to the stake.
Others came by the flag, and were amazed my name was on it. Eventually, someone drove the ball further and I didn’t win the prize. Still, all I heard in the club house was everyone’s amazement that my name ever got on the pole in the first place.
An equally amazing thing happened on the closest to the pin hole. It was a very short fairway. You had to drive the ball over a little lake. The green was on the other side of the little lake. Everyone picked their clubs out of their bags. Because it was a short distance, everyone chose an iron. That is, everyone except me.
I selected a three wood. My thought process was that I was better with the woods than with the irons. A wood usually causes a ball to go further. As close as this hole was, no one in their right mind would chose a wood. The Vice President of our company was on my team. He just shook his head figuring that it was just another one of my lost shots.
It was my turn to go up to the tee first. I teed up and my swing landed the ball within ten feet of the hole. Everyone was floored. Again I got to move the flag and put my name on the stake. If my other shot caused shock on the first nine holes, this one even topped it.
Again, I didn’t win that hole’s competition, but my name was heard around the clubhouse.
So there you have the entire good part of my golf career. Two shots. To most, I definitely wasn’t a winner that day. I see things entirely differently. It might not have been a great game and there were no trophies I took home that day, but I felt like the biggest winner of all that day. See, to this day, I still remember that day.
Possibly the greatest Arlington High School Golden Bear’s athlete ever was Jack “the Golden Bear” Nicklaus. Here are a list of some of his accomplishments:
• Professional wins: 117
• PGA Tour wins: 73 (3rd all time)
• European Tour wins: 9
• Master Tournament wins: 6 (1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1986)
• PGA Championship: 5 (1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980)
• US Open wins: 4 (!962, 1967, 1972, 1980)
• US Open Championships: 3 (1966, 1970, 1978)
• World Golf Hall of Fame: 1974
• PGA Tour leading money winner: 8 times (1964, 1965, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976)
• PGA Player of the Year: 5 times (1967, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976)
• Presidential Medal of Freedom: 2005
Yes, Jack Nicklaus has quite the resume. Just to get the opportunity to watch him would be a real treat for the avid golfer. To talk to him, a true golfer would feel like he is in the presence of royalty. Imagine if you had the chance to play a round of golf with him.
One of the perks of being President is that many famous people cross your path. An even bigger perk can be that some famous people even invite you into their world or their occupation. Such was the case for this President and Jack Nicklaus.
Jon Finkel, in his book Jocks in Chief, ranks all the Presidents in terms of their athletic ability. He divides his summaries into five categories. The Presidents can get up to ten points from each category. So, the maximum number of points a President can get is 50.
This President scored a 12. That placed him as the 30th most athletic President, if you are looking at it from a cup half full perspective. In reality, he was the 15th least athletic President. Before this President gets too excited about that 30th place finish, almost all of those 12 points were based on that one encounter with Jack Nicklaus.
I don’t think you would ever hear our President brag about being athletic. In fact, he explained his athletic talents by saying, “I was a fat band boy.” When the media covered his exercise regimen it was on one of his thrice-weekly, 27 minute jogs. Those jogs usually ended with a stop at McDonald’s.
Another one of this President’s “great” athletic accomplishments was scoring 16 points in a basketball game for his church’s basketball team. This was in his younger days. He claims he “almost” dunked the basketball.
But Bill Clinton’s biggest athletic accomplishment happened on a Par 5 hole in a round of golf he was playing with Jack Nicklaus. On that long hole, Clinton’s ball flew a foot past Nicklaus’ off the tee. Then both of them landed on the green with their second shot. Clinton, who had never scored an eagle (two shots under par) in his entire life, was just eight feet from the hole.
He was one putt away from showing Nicklaus he had the makings of a golf star. It wasn’t meant to be. Clinton “stubbed” (his words, not mine) the putt. Nicklaus turned to him and said, “You didn’t think you were worthy of an eagle, did you?” Clinton replied, “I guess not.” Jack smiled and said, “You need to get over that.”
Bill Clinton said he would never forget Jack Nicklaus’ words of wisdom as long as he lived.
There is one thing about those Bible church leaders that I never really could understand. That was the plan they resorted to when their destroying plan didn’t work. It seems to go against the very things they were supposed to be preaching against.
These church leaders decided the only way to get rid of this guy, who they thought was trying to take over their church, was to kill him. I guess they forgot about that commandment that their great hero, Moses, gave them. But nothing was going to stop them. So they went about plotting his death.
In the game of life we all eventually lose. We all die. The Bible says that is our punishment for sinning. Since we all sin, we all die. But there is a fate even worse than death. That fate is missing our opportunity to spend eternity with God.
So it’s almost a double penalty. Our bodies die and our souls die because they will be forever separated from God. We play the game of life and the end result is we lose.
That’s where our Biblical character comes in. You see, those evil church leaders pushed and pushed the focus on themselves and living by their rules. These rules, which I guess it was okay for them to break, actually gave us no hope at all. Our Bible character was about to change that.
The church leaders got with those pesky Romans, who they weren’t real fond of either. Through lies and heavy-handed persuasion they talked those Gentiles into killing this man for them. Not only did they talk them into killing him, they gleefully stood by while those Romans tortured and beat him beyond belief.
When the Romans were finished beating Jesus, our Bible character, his game, or life was going to end in defeat. Death, like it has for everyone else, was going to win again. As Jesus breathed His last breath, the dark clouds of defeat seemed to have won.
Just like everyone else, His corpse was laid in a tomb. So much for our champion.
When some ladies came to His tomb, to anoint His body properly, they noticed the huge stone in the front had been moved. They peered into the tomb and uttered those famous words, or as the country Sunday School teacher said them, “He ain’t here!”
See, the real victory over death was accomplished by our champion Jesus. But Jesus didn’t keep that victory trophy for Himself. He shares it with everyone who wants to join His victory parade. And that parade will lead you right straight to heaven.
You see, in the game of life there ain’t no ties. If you want to have that final victory you have to go to the one who ain’t in no grave.
