The 2022 Masters Golf Tournament was played at Augusta National April 7 to 10. Usually, the field consists of around 90 to 100 golfers. There was one winner. His name is Scottie Scheffler. He came in ranked number one in the world.
You would think it not surprising that the number one golfer in the world would win one of the biggest and toughest tournaments in the golf year, but it was just 57 days prior that Scheffler had his first win on the PGA Tour. (He now has four wins in his last six starts.)
There was, however, another golfer on the tour who seemed to get much more attention than Scheffler from both the media and the crowd. His name is Tiger Woods. He has been the number one golfer in the world multiple times. He has won The Masters five times; his first victory in 1997.
This time the attention on Tiger was anchored in his recovery from a car accident that nearly took his right leg. It was uncertain that he would be able to walk; it was extremely uncertain that he would be able to play golf again. But he came back, and his bravery garnered most of the interest on the course.
Woods was honest about his pain. It was noticeable at times that he was limping and even using a golf club like some of us use a cane. But he persevered. Making the cut he played all four days. By the end, the strain of pain was evident on his face. His score was nothing to speak of, yet his courage won the day.
So many of us live with daily, chronic pain. Some of it is the physical pain which often accompanies aging. Some of it is the pain of specific diseases or conditions. Sometimes the pain is not physical, but emotional. We suffer loss and that pain never truly leaves us.
As I watched Tiger Woods walk Augusta National in pain, I was reminded of a promise of God to those who love Him. It is found in that last, marvelous, victorious book of Scripture. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.” [Revelation 21:4 HCSB]
Now we are living in the day of “the previous things,” but, there is coming a time, beloved, when “grief, crying, and pain” will be banished forever.
