God’s Miraculous Shot

It is remarkable to realize that for the vastness that can only be described today as infinity, how incredible this tiny little dot in the universe our planet Earth truly is.

The perfect blue of a sky on a warm spring day. The warmth of the sun in a cool breeze. The green of the grass, soft on the ground to cushion a bare foot.

All the pieces so perfectly crafted.

Even in a barren dessert there is the beauty of the reds and browns of the sands sculpted by the wind and baked by the sun.

Even in the middle of the vastest of oceans, the shades of the blues and rhythm of the waves dictated by the Moon some 238,860 miles above.

The caps of the world, more barren than the desserts comprised only of ice and snow, are beautiful in their lights and shadows.

Masterfully designed, perfectly crafted, brilliant in their inception, and flawless in execution.

The physicist will tell you that all of this is a result of extreme luck – the laws of motion and gravity and probability all calculated in one big bang 13.8 billion years ago.

The spiritualist will tell you that it is all God in every second of every flutter of a butterfly's wing. That this was all done for man, for man's benefit, and that the world did not even exist before man was here to experience it.

If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

"The vibration of the force of the fall would impact the atoms of the matter in the surrounding objects to cause an effect" would state the physicist.

"If it wasn't heard, then what does it matter?" would state the cleric.

Me? I think the answer lies someplace in the middle.

I think there is an intelligent creator, responsible for all that we know now.

But not sitting right above us, not involved in every nuance of every action.

Think of a very skilled billiards player, one who can sink all the balls on the table before missing.

His break is very important as he shoots the cue ball into the mass of balls on the other side of the table.

Yet he knows where to aim and how hard to hit and what type of spin to use to achieve the result – precisely planned but seemingly chaotic movement of the mass of balls all reacting to each other as they bump off each other and the rails of the table - to finally rest in a position.

Where the billiards player can now pick the right order to easily make each shot.

And he makes it look so easy.

The balls all go where he wants – but his impact is only the split second that the tip of his cue – a cue shaped and chalked to his design – hit's the white cue ball. Everything else results from that precise strike.

Think a golfer who needs to sink his golf ball in the hole that more than five football fields away, and he needs to do so striking that ball only three times to score an eagle.

Like the billiard player, the golfer only controls the result at that precise moment he strikes the ball. After that, the laws of physics take over.

And so, in that same fashion, it seems to me to be completely viable – that a grand intelligence – a deity if you wish – God by any name you choose – made the most miraculous shot when triggering that big bang – patient for the resulting billions of years – to see how that shot would work out – and is still playing out.

God looked at the Sun and said, "That's a beauty"

God looked at the Earth and said to himself "Nice shot. And I got the moon just right too".

God looked at Mars and maybe he said "crap, I overshot all the water to Earth".

Remember, all the balls are still in motion from that one shot almost 14 billion years before.

The result we will never know.

The original intention and target of that shot, we will never know.

But we have and will continue to derive answers that for now satisfy our desire to know a truth.

Maybe there is still a big asteroid that was set in motion in that same shot that is out there still spinning it's way around the gravity pulls of other planets and suns in other surrounding solar systems not yet on the final swing towards striking Earth – and resulting in that miraculous shot where some of the oxygen and water and particles that would comprise life – would then also wind up on Mars afterward.

And then God, who had been waiting 14 billion years to see his result – would give a little shriek of joy and high five himself, and confirm to himself yet again ...

"I love this game".

 

 

Transcending Race

I read in the paper this last week that Tiger Woods will be speaking at a celebration ceremony Sunday – five days after Barak Obama takes the inaugural oath of office as President of the United States.

And I thought "how incredibly fitting".

But not perhaps for what some shallow minds may think the obvious reason.

Yes, they are both black men.

"Duh".

Actually they are both persons of diverse heritages. Both are children of mixed relationships.

But that's not what I am getting at.

Because I think Tiger Woods transcends all that nonsense.

Tiger is not referred to as 'that black golfer'.

Tiger is referred to as probably the greatest golfer to ever play the game.

Mr. Obama is not immediately thought of as that black politician.

Because I think Mr. Obama – President Obama – transcends all that nonsense.

Mr. Obama is referred to as one of the best orators of our time. A natural leader. A thoughtful man who chooses his words like Tiger chooses his clubs. Carefully, with consideration.

And with confidence.

When Tiger plays in a PGA tour event, an immediate sense of hope and anticipation arises. Tiger has made what many previously thought to be a most boring event to watch on TV incredibly exciting. Hitting long drives to the green, putting from off the green to the edge of steep sloe where the ball falls sideways and rolls to the lip of the cup – and on the final rotation – falls into the hole after dangling on the edge for a few dramatic seconds.

And I think we see the potential in President Obama for the same type of presence. And that same type of clutch performance. We see it in how in what has become a brutally partisan Washington – a President who included as many members who disagree with him as those that do agree. A sense that consideration to all angles of every decision will be equally weighed – like Tiger standing in the fairway determining not which club to hit – but which groove on the clubface to hit it with.

In my lifetime I have never experienced the emergence of a leader with such promise and hope as the entire world seems to see in President Obama.

More so than John F. Kennedy.

More so than Ronald Reagan.

What an incredible time to be alive. The feeling of hope and inspiration is so strong.

And if you ever want to be inspired as a golfer, watch Tiger Woods play in a major event.

And if you ever want to be inspired as to the potential of our world's future, watch Barack Obama take the oath of office tomorrow. And record his inauguration speech.

I am sure it will be a keeper.

With this great event taking place the day after Martin Luther King day, and with the grand historic significance of his being the first black man to be President of the United States Of America– I understand that many will want to focus on the significance of race.

But then maybe we can take another step forward – inspired by President Obama – and Tiger Woods – and we can all transcend our thinking to the point where we are oblivious to race.

How incredibly inspiring.

And how incredibly fitting.