Deck Cheatham: The end of faith

Published 12:01 am Tuesday, January 16, 2018

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word, I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning …” (Psalm 130: 5,6).

When I was young, time and ambition did not hold sway in my life. I lived day-to-day, carefree, my youth’s most prevalent symptom. Patience is an easy virtue when time never invades consciousness.

Somewhere along life’s spectrum, carefree gave way to responsibility and ambition took hold. Time took center stage in the form of a boat ride. “Yes,” I said, a boat ride.

I worked at a golf course on an island, accessible only by boat. Ambition can lead to adventure and taking a boat to work seemed to fill both needs. I would leave for work on the 7 a.m. ferry and would catch the 6 p.m. ferry home, as missing either meant a two-hour delay. If we had an evening function for a tournament and I missed the last ferry home, I was going to spend the night. I never spent the night because waiting was not an option.

My DNA possesses the gene for punctuality. The boat ride honed it. I learned to play golf with a wristwatch so I could time it with the boat schedule. Our professional staff made friends with the transportation director so we could finish one more hole before departure time.

What’s the point and where do I begin? The common answer is at the beginning, but I prefer the end because, in a Christian’s life, hope is faith’s destination, the place we rest.

Hope, the God kind, the treasure we gain when grace first appears and opens our heart to love God and others, finds peace in a trust that waits without wish, angst or punctual demands. We do not come to this end readily. God is not an easy partner (or perhaps we are not).

Hope, the essence of God’s promise, assurance and love sees beyond our angst and worry. It never rests in small endeavors and simple joys, for these are but the small hints of God’s greater treasure. Hope journeys past our earthly desires. Because hope sees and waits, because it is the patient teacher, it is never overwhelmed by the tragedy at hand. It allows us to love God more than our own desire.

Patience and pace are the Christian’s watchwords. Each day is a beginning again, a new resurrection, a renewal, an enlightenment and revelation for those who wait for the Lord. Hope compels us to live our faith rather than play at belief.

If hopelessness ever peered into our soul, maybe we traveled too far, too far away, attempting matters by our own hand. How do we return? When all has been tried, when all has been found wanting, when vanity has been exhausted, and God bids us welcome through grace, faith brings us to its end, to hope.

“Those who have ears to hear, let them hear” (Matthew 11:15).

Deck Cheatham has been a golf professional for more than 40 years. He lives with his family in Dalton. Write to him at pgadeacon@gmail.com.