FRIENDS...

This week I had the great experience of playing golf at THE PATRIOT. THE PATRIOT is a brand new course in Owasso that is amazing. It is a course that is cut into several canyons in the southwest part of Owasso. I had walked the course before it was open, and even flew over it in a a helicopter...but there is nothing like playing it.

At first when I was asked to join a couple guys out there to play, I was intimidated. They are good golfers and everything I had heard about the course made me think that I would just "tear it up" ( not in a good way.) So I was very surprised when I started playing and realized that I could hit the ball in the fairway ( they are pretty wide). The greens are mostly huge, although they are super fast and have lots of undulations. The course takes imagination. It takes some risk. But it really does not just shut down crummy golfers like me. I mentioned to the guys I was playing with that this was a very very nice course that was playable even for a guy like me.

So I loved it! Actually had a couple pars! I hit just enough shots to think maybe I could play some more golf and do okay at it.

But what makes golf fun for me is the guys I played with. A couple weeks ago I played another course in Owasso. The course was nice. I had not played on it in a long time. It was also a very nice day. But the best part was the guy I was playing with. He is very good... but he kept me loose.. It was fun for him and it was alot of fun for me.

The same was true yesterday. The course is great, but the two guys I played with were the best.

I think there is a reminder there for me. I need good guys in my life to spend time with. Relationships matter. Whether it is golf, basketball, working out, or meetings with staff and elders, I need to slow down a little bit and enjoy the relational part of it all. I get going too fast and even in the middle of all the activity, I feel alone at times. I want to bury myself in my work. I like what I do... but it can be lonley. But I think alot of that is my fault. I may seem extroverted to alot of people, but I am really not. I am an introvert in alot of ways. Pam has told me that for years. I can't change how I am wired, but I do think I am going to work on that...working harder to sharing life with others I am close to. I need to make the effort. I have plenty of people who want to be friends... but it is up to me to let them in.

I hope I get to play THE PATRIOT again. But it was not the golf course that made yesterday good. It was the friends. I need more of that kind of interaction. It might make me more bearable to live with and to work with.