Golf Course Cuisine

Daily Post:  Snack

Hello again from sunny Ruidoso, New Mexico.  The mountain air is fresh and crips this morning, and part of me wishes I was headed back out to the golf course.  The other part of me doesn’t.  After reading yesterday’s blog, some of you might be wondering how I fared on the links.  (Some of you may wish I’d get off this theme, and there’s nothing wrong with that.)  I’ll say this, about that.  I did ok.  The front nine was pretty ugly, mostly because my putter was blind, deaf, and dumb to my input about where the ball was supposed to travel.  47 on the front was not how I envisioned my day.  At the turn, we stopped in at the snack bar, and both of us ordered the giant hot dog.  It looked not unlike the picture above, after I added the mustard and relish.

 The wonderful thing about golf is how the game is divided into two halves of 9 holes each.  An avid, enthusiastic golfer might say something like, “I had a 47 going out.  But I turned it around and shot 37 coming back in.”  I know right? I had a wonderful time on the back nine, with 7 pars, 1 birdie, and 1 (stinky) double bogey.  I think it was the giant hot dog.  When you play golf on a true “Links”-style course, the fairways are narrow, every hole has sand traps both in the fairway and around the greens, and the place is mounded in such a way, that even when you hit a good shot, it could turn out bad from a nasty bounce.  I had a blast on the back nine.   A total score of 87 on a course I’ve never played before was a great deal of fun.

As I reflected on our time on the golf course later in the day, I began to realize it was an experience with many components that made the time so enjoyable.  First of all, location: mountain golf is fun and certainly cooler than Texas golf at this time of year.  Next, the fact that my wife and I can play golf together and share this experience is a true blessing.  My score was certainly part of it, but more than the total score, there were individual shots where I felt like I was “one” with the ball.  And who can forget, there was the unknown factor: the giant hot dog.

The first bite I took of this snack was savory and delicious.  But it kinda went down wrong.  I had the impression that perhaps in my haste to quench my appetite, I had perhaps swallowed too soon.  Like maybe the baloney in a roll was resisting its fate.  So, naturally being a man and all, I thought, “take another bite and push it on down.”  So I did.  By the time we were up to tee off on the 10th hole, I had scarfed the whole dog, but that first bite still felt stuck.  My thoughts were so consumed with when the hot dog would quit barking, that I didn’t even think about my tee shot.  I just stood up, drove the ball (center left) down the fairway, and went back to thinking, “how can I get this dog down?”  Guess when I quit thinking about the hot dog… yep, after I finished the 18th hole.  I look back now on the back nine and realize, I was thinking more about the dog stuck in my chest, than playing golf.  There has got to be a lesson in there somewhere, right?

We often become consumed with things, pains, circumstances, relationships, our jobs, or any other matter that takes our focus away from what is most important in life.  Perhaps I should give the largest part of the credit for my round of golf to the snack: the giant hot dog.  But if I’m honest about the lesson I’ve learned…

It isn’t about my deserving or earning the blessing that is mine in life.  The creator has reached out in His infinite grace, blessed me beyond reason with forgiveness, acceptance, meaning and purpose for living.  He has captured my thoughts, He has changed my heart.  I serve Him when I write about His glorious and extravagant love.  The rest of it, all that life is made of, is just a giant hot dog.  The snack in the middle of the day, until I sit with him at the feast.

Revelation 19:7

Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.

Luke 22:17-18

And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.”