Goal Posts of Life

Goal Posts of Life

Judy and I were driving down Highway #101. It was early spring and we were on vacation exploring southern Oregon and northern California. I had the windows down and the radio loud listening to Country Western.  Taking in the beauty of the day was our agenda.

Then a song came on that I never heard before. The title was “Drop Kick Me Jesus Through the Goal Posts of Life” by Bobby Bare. Since it was Sunday morning and I wasn’t in church, I listened with an expectant ear. Here is the refrain: “Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goal posts of life. End over end, neither to the left nor to right; straight through the heart of them righteous uprights, Dropkick me Jesus through the goal posts of life.”

I darn near drove off the road laughing so hard. The analogy of a football field with a goal post at both ends and Jesus catapulting me through the uprights was a new one. When I got home, I asked several friends if they ever heard of this song. They had and asked what I thought. I told them it would make a good theme song for our church.

Reflecting on my walk with the Lord, I can verify that he indeed, upon occasion, took drastic action to move me in the right direction. He ordered circumstances that seemed, at the time, like a good kick in the pants. Although unpleasant, it had the desired effect to keep me from wandering off on my own way.

There doesn’t seem much left in our world that embraces discipline. We are told not to spank our kids. Everybody is a winner and nobody a loser. Drink the Kool-Aid of correctness and all will be well. We are entitled and empowered. Affluence will deliver us from all adversity.

Here is what the Bible has to say: “But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this.”

Whatever happened to the visit to the woodshed?