Who Do You Know?

 Posted in: COFFEE BREAK


When I was five, my dad decided that having a family was not for him, which left my mom as a single parent of two boys. I used to look forward to Saturday mornings because I got to spend many Friday nights at my grandpa’s house. These Friday nights and Saturday mornings with grandpa allowed him to step into the role that my dad didn’t fill. Each Saturday in the summer, we would get up just before dawn and go to the golf course. We would tee off right after dawn with the grass still wet from the dew.

Even as a boy, I could hit the ball pretty far—at least a lot farther than my grandpa could hit it. He would take his diminished swing and hit the ball a short distance, only to have to hit it again several times to reach the green. I felt sorry for my grandpa. He could not hit the ball nearly as far as I could, and I was only 10 years old. But somehow, every time we reached the green, I found that my grandpa had beat me by one or two strokes. How could he beat me every time?

One day, the answer became clear. I could see my footsteps across the grass, and I noticed that they crisscrossed all the way to the hole. My grandpa’s steps were different. You could see his steps perfectly follow the straight lines left by the little cart he wheeled behind him. His steps went straight down the middle. My grandpa beat me because he played golf like he lived his life—right down the middle.

My grandpa was a wonderful man. He was a model in life and faith.

Somewhere along the way, I decided I wanted to live my life like he did.

I wanted to follow in his steps because I saw how he lived and experienced firsthand how he loved. Paul did not ask the early believers to just believe. He told them to trust in those they had seen and heard. The way we live our lives is important because the only model of faith some people will ever see is what they see in our lives. Christianity is not just Jesus and me; it involves the people I work, live, and worship with as well. Seeing my grandpa’s steps changed me. What do our steps say to others? 

Prayer for the week: Heavenly Father, at the start of this new day, or in the middle of this ordinary week, I thank you for the routine moments of life. Help me not to seek one mountain top after another, but to see Your presence in each moment. You have sanctified each moment because You came and forever joined heaven and Earth, even the routine moments. Amen.

Doug Ward is the senior pastor of Mundelein Church of the Nazarene in Mundelein, Illinois, USA, and teaches at Olivet Nazarene University.

Written for Coffee Break