My swing hasn't been so grand

So I'm at Bel Air Pres last Tuesday right? Totally flipping my hair, adjusting my outfit, and trying really hard to look both cute and spiritual at the same time so the mysterious, handsome guy I've been "stalking" notices me. My wing-woman Katie is next to me -- doing her own spiritual thang like a good Christian, and I'm only half paying attention to the music we are singing. It's hard work trying to look sexy whilst singing praises to Jesus and the effort is requiring all of my focus.

We finish the final song, do the little meet and greet where I am stuck talking to some other guy instead of the object of my... affections, and then Keenan Barber, the young adult pastor, gets up to do his sermon. He makes some poor guy swing a golf club like fifty times in front of the entire sea of Foundrians (attractive young adults in their 20s/30s), and I'm thinking, "I should have volunteered so mysterious guy would like totally for sure notice me!"

The lights dim, and with nothing to do at this point but try to look pensive, I begin listening to what Keenan has to say. He isn't up there just to talk about golf. He has a message for us -- a group of young adults who feel dissatisfied with at least some aspect of our lives, whether that be our relationship status, our careers or our bank accounts. And I start to realize that there is a reason God wanted me at the Foundry that night -- and it has nothing to do with making a connection with some cute guy two pews away.

My relationship with God is imperfect. I forget to pray on a regular basis. I forget that I'm a Christian when someone cuts me off on the freeway, defiling the air around me with a sea of profanities. And occasionally, I go to church because I want to gawk at a guy rather than grow closer to God. My behavior is not exactly worthy of emulation, nor is it indicative that I'm ready to, as Keenan would say, metaphorically go out and hit a hole in one.

I need to practice my Christianity. Everyday I need to go out into the world and do the things that make me identify myself as "a believer." I need to pray for patience when I get frustrated - not wear out my car horn. I need to smile at the man who takes the big crunchy Pink Lady apple I was eyeing at Whole Foods -- not give him a dose of my infamous evil eye. And I need to pick-up that friend from the airport -- even if it is past my bedtime.

Practicing my faith won't make me perfect (nobody is), but it will improve my swing, and it will improve my relationship with God. When I'm fully there -- in the state-of-mind where I'm truly living my life for His purpose rather than my own, I'll be ready for that mysterious guy. Or another mysterious guy. Or a not so mysterious guy.

It's really up to God. He knows what He's doing with my life even when I don't. All I have to do is keep swinging that golf club and have faith that my "hole-in-one" will happen when I'm ready.