"Never knock on Death's door. Ring the bell and run away. Death really hates that." - Matt Frewer

This is one of my favorite pictures. It was taken at the U.S. Open Golf Tournament 10 years ago this Sunday. Phil Mickelson had it pretty much locked up heading into the home stretch, and that was a story nobody could have scripted. Phil was wearing a beeper as he played because his wife Amy was ready to go into labor with their first child at any time. He promised her that if the beeper went off he would leave the course to be with her for the birth. Not only did the beeper not go off but he was in a position to win his first major.

Unfortunately, Phil's game collapsed. His playing partner for that final round was Payne Stewart, and as Phil tanked Payne got it all going. Payne was a character with his own story. He was known for the colorful knickers, socks and hat he always wore at golf tourneys. He had also been known for being difficult to get along with. The personality that made him a focused and successful golfer also could make him arrogant and self-centered. And his family never mattered to Payne nearly as much as his golf and the fun he could have partying between rounds.

But two years before this event Payne had a life changing event; he accepted Christ as his Savior. Everybody could see the change. Payne devoted himself to his wife and kids and almost overnight became one of the golfers the rest of the guys enjoyed the most. He still had a sometimes mischevious sense of humor and loved to horse around, but now it was all good clean fun.

It's one of the fixed customs of golf that after the last putt of the last hole the winner takes off his hat and goes over to his playing partner, the guy he's just beat, looks him in the eye and shakes his hand. Kind words are politely exchanged. On the third Sunday of June in 1999, Father's Day, that meant that Payne Stewart walked over to a defeated and discouraged Phil Mickelson, beaten down by his collapse, a collapse widely seen as the case of a guy who choked under the pressure of his first major. The perfect storyline - expectant dad wins his first big one on Father's Day - had been given away with one bad shot after another.

Instead of taking off his hat Payne walked over to Phil and took Phil's head in his hands. He looked him in the eye and said, "Don't let it bother you, Phil. It doesn't matter. You're going to be a dad!" This from a man who had only recently learned the great joy and privilege of fatherhood.

The next day Phil's wife Amy gave birth to their first child, a daughter.
Four months later Payne was killed along with all others on board a plane flying from Florida to Colorado.
This year Phil will compete in the U.S. Open again. And again Amy won't be there, but not because she's home awaiting the birth of a child. She has breast cancer.


This evening I went to a home to replace a garbage disposal. The lady is the step-daughter of a realtor for whom I've done work, both at his place and at client's homes. As I removed and replaced the disposal we talked. In the course of our conversation she learned I was a pastor and I learned that after no significant church experience for her entire life (raised a nominal Catholic) she began attending a local church last August. It turned out to be a church we had visited shortly after moving here.

She asked me what I thought of the church and why we didn't stay there. She explained that she didn't really know anything about this stuff and wanted to know if she was in a good place. Rather than comment on her church I decided to ask her questions.

"If you were to die tonight and God met you at the gates and asked you, 'Why should I let you into my heaven?' how would you answer him?"

She didn't know what to say.

So I asked if she had a Bible. She did and went to get it. As I worked I had her look up and read 1 Peter 2:24 and Isaiah 53:4-6. I explained to her that Christ died for her, to pay the penalty for her sins. She'd never heard that before. She said it seemed too simple, too easy. But the tear running down her cheek said it was good news to a sensitive, seeking heart.

When I left I told her she had an assignment. Before she goes to sleep tonight she needs to talk with God and accept his gift of life through his Son.

I have no question how that conversation will go.

Solo Deo gloria.