Except Horseshoes?

.September 14, 2022

I’ve been in a horseshoes league seven years now. Growing up, we pitched horseshoes in the back yard a dozen times a year, but club horseshoes is much more competitive. The best players can pitch a two pound horseshoe forty feet and ring it around the metal stake more than three out of four times.

I cringe when I hear the old adage, “Close doesn’t count except with hand grenades and horseshoes. Now, I understand that hand grenades do great damage to anything nearby. Horseshoes, however, have no point value unless they are ringers or within a specified distance, six inches. If a horseshoe comes to rest very close to six inches, it doesn’t count.

Some things need to be done exactly. You don’t let a child thank his grandparents for a gift by just giving them a thumbs up. You don’t cut most of the grass in your lawn. Wearing one sock is not enough, even if it’s only one less than you usually wear.

Even in horseshoes, close doesn’t count.

In the Bible’s Old Testament, the Israelites made a covenant with God to worship only God. They ran into a lot of trouble when they tried to split their devotion between the one true God and man-made images or imaginary deities. In God’s view, the covenant was for the people’s benefit, yet they decided to break that promise. Even now, people try to depend on additional ‘gods’ like luck, the stars, their “sign,” or other useless things that have no ability to make anything change.

Close is not good enough. You either believe in Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for your sins, or you don’t. You’ve heard John 3:16 many, many times: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Love your neighbor. Treat people with kindness. Exhibit self-control. But unless you believe in Jesus you’ll miss out on an eternity of a relationship with God. Close isn’t good enough.

Except with hand grenades.