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then the rain stopped. mr. forte arrived at hoover dam around 8.5 minutes after myself, allowing me time to scarf my pb&j and banana. disc golf ensued. holes 1-36 weren't pretty. mud was just the icing on the bogey cake we at for dessert that night. we left disgruntled at our game. it had been agreed upon a few days prior that we would play in the mud but not the rain. god halted the rain for 36 holes that night. b/c as we got in the car for our 50-minute jaunt to circleville, the rain came again. i feel it was a test to see if we would grumble about the muddy conditions when we had agreed it wouldn't be an issue. instead, we worshipped and were rewarded for the rest of the weekend.
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disc golf woke us up at 6 a.m. the next morning. not much else can wake me up happy that early on a saturday morning. we left around 7, grabbed some bananas at krogers, and headed an hour south to pike lake to continue the tour. pike lake was the opposite of disappointing. babbling brooks, trickling waterfalls, hilly forests, and no sound but god for miles around... and a disc golf course was parked right in the middle. how convenient. had matthew and i not talked at all that 54-hole trek, not a sound but nature would have been heard for the next 4.5 hours. we decided that morning was the perfect recipe for a disc golf delicacy: god's country, 55 degrees, sunny, and naught but the occasional sound of a disc hitting a tree to marr the peaceful quietness of nature.
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we moved on to play another course we know as ou-c in chillicothe. we played around twice. a young man and his father were there repairing a walking bridge across a stream, which we paused briefly to help carry some boardwalk material about 100 yards downhill. on top of the tightening shoulders and blister on my throwing hand, my knees gave way with this small chore. once the two rounds were over at ou-c, we called it quits for the day. other than that, the only excitement at this course was the short delay to scare a deer away from one of the tees so we could keep playing.
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we skipped church sunday morning. as we got in the car to head back up to the columbus region for some more disc golf action, mr. forte said, "get your bible, you're teaching." so we talked much of the way to our first course of the day about disc golf and how that ties in to christianity. let me explain...
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... many/most people in my immediate life think disc golf is somewhat ridiculous. they don't have to say it... i can see it in their eyes. so i used this as a tie in to "the way of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing." (1 corinthians 1:18) disc golf is foolishness to some. christianity is foolishness to some. and it's funny (not 'haha' funny... ironic) that we can talk about disc golf to our co-workers, family, friends regardless of their negative opinion of the sport. but when it comes to christianity, it's harder to share. we're fine with being 'shunned' b/c of a silly sport, but we're not okay with being shunned for christ. it's easy to have this conversation with someone:
me: "my buddy and i are playing disc golf constantly this weekend"
arbitrary person: "that's stupid."
me: "it's awesome!"
arbitrary person: "not really."
me: "i'm sorry you feel that way. i still love the game."
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but... it's not easy to have this conversation:
me: "my buddy and i are worshipping god all weekend."
arbitrary person: "that's stupid."
me: "it's awesome!"
arbitrary person: "not really."
me: "i'm sorry you feel that way. i still love our god."
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... interesting point, eh?
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so disc golf sunday was great... for me. i had the best disc golf day of my life, scoring under par each of our three rounds that day, once at blendon woods and twice at lobdell on the east side of c-town. what made it more special was that i was playing sore from the prior two days, had duct tape wrapped around my right middle finger due to a sizeable blister, and was still able to play that well. and to pump my head up more, i almost shot a hole-in-one on hole #3, round 1, lobdell. matthew and i had both almost done this at pike lake the morning prior, but the one at lobdell actually bounced directly off the basket! i didn't think i had it in me.
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so it was sad to leave mr. forte and disc golf sunday afternoon, but i was ready to come home. i needed to get out... god knew that. but i missed my family. especially my wife.
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the one thing i learned this weekend is that as ridiculous as disc golf is, it can still be in god's plan. matthew and i prayed that it would not rain. it rained the whole way to columbus friday night, stopped long enough for us to play two rounds, then began anew when we were done. then the weekend was perfect. disc golf doesn't sound so foolish now, does it?
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due to the mud, i was unable to carry my camera around for pictures this weekend (sadly), but here is a cute picture sarah took of sonja today at the park:
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