God as a Golf Coach
A golfer, now into his golden years, had a lifelong
ambition to play the 17th hole at Sawgrass in
Ponte Verde, Fla. exactly the way the
pros do it.

The pros drive the ball out over the water onto the
small green that is on a small spit of land.
It was something he had tried hundreds of times
without success. His ball had always fallen short, into the water.

Because of this, he never used a new ball on this
particular hole. He always picked out one that had
a cut or a nick, as did many other
"average" golfers when negotiating very challenging
holes.

Recently he went to Sawgrass to try again.

When he came to the fateful
hole, he teed up an old cut ball as usual, and said
a silent prayer.

However, before he could hit it, a powerful voice
from above seemed to be booming out from the clouds, saying,

"WAIT...REPLACE THAT OLD BALL WITH A BRAND-NEW
ONE."
He complied, with some slight misgiving,despite the
fact that this same force seemed to be implying that he was going
to finally achieve his lifelong ambition.

As he stepped up to the tee once more, the voice
came down again,

"WAIT. STEP BACK... TAKE A PRACTICE SWING."

So he stepped back and took a practice swing,
certain now that this heavenly force was going to
make his dream come true.

The voice boomed out again,

"TAKE ANOTHER PRACTICE SWING."

Dutifully, he did. He stopped expectantly and
waited...

A long silence followed.......

Then the voice again:

"USE THE OLD BALL."