Like thousands of golfers, we would try all sorts of remedies to cure our slices, hooks, worm-burners, air-balls and chunks. We got better, but I think it's clear that neither of us ended up on the PGA Tour.
But, one day, Dad was trying a new "visualization" technique. It consisted of teeing up the ball, then stepping back and about 15 feet and visualizing the ball going onto the fairway or green. I thought this was silly, of course, because to me hitting a solid shot was entirely a physical act.
He proceeded to tell me something like this:
"I've been concentrating on all of the negative parts of my swing for so long that they became all that I thought about when I stepped up to the ball. It's hard to hit the ball square when all you're thinking about is putting it into the trees, so I'm going to start thinking about the best thing that could happen."
This is something that I've found that applies perfectly to my relationship with God. It's easy to enter into a service or a day thinking about all the things that could go wrong. What if worship doesn't go the way that I want it to? What if the message is terrible? What if the new people don't like our church? What if I'm not good enough? What if I don't deserve God's blessings on my life? What if I don't have all the answers?
How can I live a life for Christ when I'm expecting the worst? How can I experience the overwhelming presence of God when I'm so caught up in myself?
But, by the grace of God, when I EXPECT Him to show up in a mighty way, my life is consumed by Him. Whenever I enter a worship service expecting God I can worship Him with all my heart. When I enter into worship thinking about myself and I decide to wait to worship until the music moves me, I just become more obsessed with me.
Expectation breeds success, joy, miracles and life changing moments. We must be a people that expect God in everything we do.
Grace Be With You
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