Catch Up

I could probably spend the better part of my day posting about the last week including summary thoughts on Leadership Summit, 55 people at The Gathering Sunday night, a meeting on Monday that I was privileged to be a part of, and our leadership team meeting Tuesday up at Oak Run. But I'd rather talk about golf right now. I need to give you some history. I'm not a great golfer. I used to golf a fair amount, now I golf 3-4 times a year. When I was playing regularly, I shot in the low-90's (or 45 per nine). Last year, on this same weekend a couple of guys from our staff went golfing at Oak Run prior to our Leadership Team Retreat. Last year I faced accusations of being a ringer because I shot the best score of my life, an 85. Fast forward to Monday. We had a meeting all day Monday at a house in Oak Run. (For you out-of-staters, Oak Run is a lake near Galesburg, IL. Someone in our church allows our staff to use their house -- that overlooks a lake -- for retreats and such.) Of the people that came for the meeting on Monday all but our senior pastor, community life director and myself returned to Peoria. The three of us went golfing and then spent the night before being joined by the leadership team of our church for an all-day meeting on Tuesday. On the front nine, we played a scramble, and the three of us collectively shot 1 over par. I used my driver and played my usual, crappy game. (note: I have a pretty decent irons game and I putt decently, but I can't drive to save my life!). On the back nine, I put away my driver and teed off with my 3-wood, which I can hit about 270 when I hit it well. I SHOT 2 OVER PAR!! I guess Tim & Cal are my good luck charms, or maybe it's the course (to be fair, it's not the hardest course I've played, but it does have some 500+ par 5's), but I had a great day. In fact, I holed on out on a par-5 from about 70 yards or so, and sunk a 30 ft. putt from the fringe on the final hole. I know some of you could care less, but it really was a lot of fun!