The Great Risk

DAILY BYTE

Some of you may have seen the movie Tin Cup. It’s about a washed up golf pro by the name of Roy ‘Tin Cup’ McAvoy, played in the movie by Kevin Costner. He lives in a caravan on a dusty armadillo-infested driving range in some backwater town in Texas.

When a beautiful, sophisticated woman by the name of Dr Molly Griswold, played by Rene Russo, signs up for some golf lessons, she thinks that McAvoy is just a dead beat frat boy whose future plans extend only as far as his next beer. And so, to show her that he is, in fact, made of sterner stuff he sets out to qualify for the US Open, which he does.

In true schmaltzy Hollywood style, the movie comes to its climax with McAvoy needing a birdie on the final hole to win the US Open. He’s faced with a tough decision. Should he play it safe by laying up in front of the water hazard on this long par 5? Or should he play a far more risky shot, hitting over the water and going straight for the green? In earlier rounds he had tried the riskier option, and on each occasion had failed. The conventional wisdom was that he should play it safe.

But McAvoy would have none of that. He’s convinced he can pull off this audacious shot, and so he goes for it. And sure enough, hits the ball in the water. Undeterred, he takes out another ball, and tries the shot again, and again hits it in the water. So he takes out another ball, and another, and another, and another. Each time, hitting it into the water. Until he has only one ball left in his bag, and in even schmaltzier Hollywood style, he hits that last ball into the hole.

This movie was hardly a cinemagraphical tour de force, but it made a compelling point. There are times when life presents to us a risky choice, and we must decide: do we go for it, or do we play it safe? How we choose in those defining moments, shapes the kind of people we will be.

As we will be discovering in our devotions this week, God’s intention for us is to take the great risk of giving ourselves completely to this magnificent, miraculous gift that is our Life.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord Jesus Christ, you held nothing back in risking yourself completely in your great adventure of love by coming to share life with us. May we be inspired by your example to give ourselves completely to that higher purpose to which you call each one of us. Help us, today, to live in such a way that demonstrates our desire to trust you completely. Amen.

A FURTHER THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

“A ship in harbour is safe – but that is not what ships are for.” John A. Shedd