Last weekend I had a great opportunity to play in a golf tournament here in El Paso.
I had a blast and played not-so-hot, ok, and good (respectively) with my partner who used to play golf for UTEP.
Golf is one of the most intriguing games for me because of everything that is involved from luck to skill and physical to emotional to mental strength.
Still after three days of competitive golf, I came home with a big hole in my being.
Not because I played poorly (even though I did).
Not because I felt guilty about leaving my wonderful wife for 4.5 hrs (even though I did).
Not because of anything other than reality…
This is a very difficult concept to explain to somebody without them just experiencing it (I know because I was that somebody for the vast majority of my life).
Again, I hope I get to play golf for the rest of my life…but golf will never leave me feeling fulfilled (even if I do break par one day).
There is nothing of this world that will fill this emptiness that results from how we were created.
God, His presence, talking with Him, thinking on Him, and living for Him are the only things that I have found to fill this void.
Also, it is not a one time fill ‘er up…it is a daily process…if you don’t fill your car up regularly, don’t expect for it to run regularly-it will break down & so will we…the nice thing about our lives is that once you break down, there is a simple fix…fill back up.
So while I get great temporary joys out of playing golf and walking with my wife and rolling on the floor with my dogs and watching my fantasy football team win, I have found nothing that is lasting outside of God.
Maybe this is because I am just now starting to have a deeper and deeper understanding of what Jesus Christ has done for me (and my prayer everyday is that I have an even deeper understanding tonight than I do this morning), but in any event, this reality is something that I am going to hold onto until proven otherwise 
Happiness vs. contentment?
Joy-temporary vs. permanent?
ltlo
I can’t believe I’m on the same level as FANTASY FOOTBALL!!!!!!!
On the other hand, I can 100% agree… why be constantly filling ourselves up with temporary things when we have the BLESSING to fill ourselves up permanently with Jesus’ love for us. AMEN??
AMEN AMEN….
The cost of Discipleship
Luke 9:23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”
The “daily” deal is what hit hard today, its not a one-time thing, it reminds us that we need to CHOOSE to follow God and His plans for us daily.
Amen,Amen!
Christian Hedonism: http://ow.ly/p5tC
happiness and contentment and joy and everything in “God, my exceeding joy”!
“To be God–to be like God and to share His goodness in creaturely response–to be miserable – these are the only three alternatives.”
-C. S. Lewis