Those I honor, in the eye of the Tiger

Obviously, the partially shocking news regarding Tiger Woods' hidden life is now world-wide headline news. And millions upon millions have given their opinion, mocked him or defended him regarding his actions, his injuries sustained in his "car accident", and his "apology." And I don't wish to comment much more on his situation, but these events did trigger something in my mind...

As someone who teaches regularly, I am always looking for comparisons, analogies, and examples, both positive and negative. And selfishly, I wish that some examples came out sooner so that I could have used them in a past lesson! A few weeks, I taught my high schoolers Psalm 15. It is a Psalm that describes the character of people who are close with God, those who "dwell on his holy hill."

In verse 4, David states of those who are close with God, "in their eyes a vile person is despised, but the honor those who fear the Lord." When news like Tiger's story breaks, which unfortunately happens all too frequently, it gives me an opportunity to analyze whom I honor, and to whom I grant my admiration. Sure Tiger can hit a golf ball far (and straight!) and Kobe can do things on the basketball court unimaginable to my stiff white self, but my admiration of such athletes and other celebrities must stop there. According to the verse, "a vile person" must in some sense be "despised" by followers of Jesus. We must rather, "honor those who fear the Lord."

So I honor those people. I honor my wife, who spends her days off school & work doing laundry, decorating, and cleaning (her favorite) just because "I want to give you a nice place to live." I honor my parents, who unselfishly raised 4 kids to learn God's word, live for Jesus, and love one another. I honor my pastor and family who, for some insane reason, allowed dozens of high schoolers to take over their home on a regular basis in hopes of building relationships and impacting their lives. It worked. I honor my RD, who sacrificed any notion of a comfortable life (or private dating life!), chose to move back into an all-male college dorm in his late twenties to help guide confused and seldom responsible men to honor Christ even in their young age. I honor Russ & Ann, a married couple at my church who seemingly have dozens if not hundreds of younger couples pass through their doors (and eat their food) in seek of counsel and love each month. These and more are the people I revere in my heart. They maybe can't mash tape-measure home runs, or hit fall-away jumpers in the NBA (though my dad can put the Space Shuttle in space, and that's kinda cool). They probably won't help push a product via endorsement. But they have skills in the arena that counts for eternity.

Obviously, many will critique & bash what Tiger and others like him have done, and deservedly so. My encouragement to us is that we also take time to "honor those who fear the Lord." These are the people whose posters I want hanging up in my garage. (That is, when I have a garage.)