Ratchet It Up

I love to pitch horseshoes. I played a little during my growing-up years, but hardly at all for decades after that. I took the sport up again about five years ago.

At first my interest was to get to know a church member that played regularly. I began attending the local club gathering in nearby Perry, GA. My church friend lent me all the equipment I needed until I could get my own.

As my game improved, I felt the need to practice at home. I set up two iron stakes forty feet apart, satisfied with the pits my horseshoes eventually dug in the grass and dirt.

I'm getting better. I wonder when to build a more permanent court. A good start would be to dig holes around each stake and add sand. I'd need a backstop, too, because when a piece of iron over two pounds hits, it scatters the sand it lands on. Soon I'd have to anchor each stake more permanently, too, because the heavy weights jar the stake with each ringer.

Perhaps it's like when I got serious about God. First I started going to church, then I got serious enough to read the Bible (going from a game in the back yard to joining a horseshoes club). Then I started seeking an intimate relationship with God (building my own pits).

Gee, was becoming a minister like pitching horseshoes professionally?

Excuse me. My mind is wandering. What I'm getting at is you've got to get past the point of religion just being a fun thing to do. Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. Make your relationship with God as important as your breathing or your heart beating.