00:01Hey friends, you ever hear that old joke about Jesus, Moses, and an old gray bearded man going
00:09golfing? Well, Jesus calls up Moses and says, hey, let's go golfing. Moses says, great. Jesus
00:18picks Moses up and they head to the golf course. On the way there, they stop and pick up this
00:25old
00:25gray bearded man. And Moses just puts his hand on his head and he's like, here we go. So they
00:34get to
00:35the golf course and they're on the first tee. Moses walks up first, takes his swing, and the ball slices
00:43toward the water. Just before it splashes in, Moses raises his staff, the water parts, and the ball
00:53rolls right across the lake bed onto the green. Moses is pretty proud of himself. Jesus steps up
01:01next. He swings and his ball heads toward the same water, but instead of sinking, it lands on a lily
01:10pad. Right across the water, Jesus walks, hits it off the lily pad up onto the green. He's pretty
01:18proud of himself. Then the old gray bearded man steps up. He can barely hold the club. He's so
01:27frail. He takes a swing and absolutely shanks the ball. It flies into the trees, hits a branch. A frog
01:37jumps up and swallows it. Then a hawk swoops down, grabs the frog, flies over the green, drops it. The
01:46frog
01:46lands, spits out the ball, and it rolls straight into the hole. And Jesus looks over and says,
01:55Dad, if you're going to play, you've got to stop showing off. I love that joke, and people always
02:05seem to laugh at it, but there is something hidden inside it that speaks to the way God works in
02:11our
02:11lives. Now, listen to me. If you really think about it, that ridiculous chain of events is exactly how
02:21life with God often feels. You know, you look at what's happening, and you think, there is no way
02:29this is going to work out. The ball is headed straight for the water. The shot is bad. The situation
02:36is
02:37wrong. The timing, well, it's terrible. And everything inside you says, this is going to end
02:46badly. But God, oh well. God is the master of what we call, we call divine ricochets. He takes moments
02:57that look like mistakes and turns them into miracles. He takes situations that seem ruined and begins
03:05moving pieces you cannot see. A branch here. A stone there. A delay that frustrates you. A person crossing
03:16your path at the exact moment you need them. A conversation you almost didn't have. A door that
03:26closed which led you to something better. But when you step back and look at your life honestly,
03:33you start to realize something powerful. Your life has been full of those moments. Moments where
03:43things look like they were falling apart, but somehow everything fell into place. Moments where the shot
03:51looked terrible, but somehow hole in one. And when we look at scripture, we see this pattern everywhere.
04:01I mean, think about it. Joseph was thrown into a pit by his brothers. That looked like the end of
04:09his
04:09story. But the pit led to a caravan. The caravan led to Egypt. Egypt led to a prison. The prison
04:19led to
04:20Pharaoh. And Pharaoh led Joseph to a position where he saved nations from starvation. That's a lot of
04:30ricochets. You know, David was a shepherd boy. Nobody expected anything from. Moses spent 40 years in the
04:39wilderness after running for his life. Peter denied Jesus three times after promising he would not.
04:49Paul started out persecuting the very people he would one day lead. And if you only looked at the
04:58moment where the ball was heading toward the water, you would think that their story was over. Maybe you
05:06would think that your story is over. But God? Well, God is already moving the frog and the hawk. The
05:16truth
05:16is, we spend a lot of time worrying about shots that God has already accounted for. We panic when things
05:24don't go according to plan. We get discouraged when life takes a strange turn. We think this can't
05:33possibly work out. But God has never been limited by our expectations. In fact, some of his greatest work
05:44happens when we lose control of the situation. Because when we are in control, we tend to rely on our
05:53own
05:53strength. But when life ricochets in unexpected ways, we are forced to trust him. And trust? Well, that's where
06:04faith begins to grow. Faith is not believing that everything will go perfectly. Faith is believing that
06:12even when the shot looks bad, God is still working. Even when the ball disappears into the trees.
06:21Even when it hits the rocks. Even when it rolls somewhere you never intended. God is still involved. And
06:32sometimes the story takes so many strange turns that when it finally works out, you look back and realize
06:39something. There is no way that could have happened without God. I've done that so many times in my life.
06:47How many times have you done that? You know, no human could have arranged all those moments.
06:54No person could have orchestrated all of those encounters.
06:58No coincidence could have lined up every piece like that. And that is when you begin to understand
07:07something deeply comforting.
07:10God is not only present in the miracles you recognize. He is also present in the strange detours you don't
07:19understand yet. And some of you listening right now feel like your life is somewhere in the middle of
07:26the ricochet. You took a swing and the ball disappeared into the trees. Your plan didn't work. Your relationship
07:38didn't go the way you hoped. Your career took a turn you never expected. Your life feels like it's bouncing
07:46from one obstacle to the next. And you're wondering if the shot is already lost. But think about it this
07:55way.
07:56What if you're just in the middle of the story? What if the frog has not jumped yet? What if
08:03the hawk has
08:05not flown yet? What if God is still moving things you can't see? Because the God we follow is not
08:17a God of
08:17simple outcomes. He is a God of redemption. And redemption means taking what looks like failure
08:26and turning it into purpose. The cross itself looked like the worst defeat imaginable. The Son of God
08:34rejected, beaten, crucified, buried. If you stood there on that Friday afternoon, you would have thought the
08:42story was over. But Sunday was already coming. The resurrection was already part of the plan.
08:51And suddenly, the greatest tragedy in human history became the doorway to salvation. That is what God does.
09:01He takes the shot that looks impossible and finishes the story in a way nobody expects.
09:09So, the next time life takes a strange bounce, I want you to remember something. First, remember my
09:18joke. I get it. It was some people are like, wah, wah, wah. But it's the best they can do.
09:24You know, God has been
09:26playing the long game since the beginning of time. He sees every branch, every rock, every frog, and every hawk.
09:35Every moment that will carry your life forward in ways that you cannot predict. And if you keep walking
09:44with him, if you keep trusting him, if you keep showing up with faith in your heart, one day, you
09:54may look
09:54back at your life and realize something incredible. Your shot that you thought was ruined was the very one
10:03God used to guide you to exactly where you were meant to be. And when that happens, you might just
10:12smile and
10:12say the same thing Jesus did in that old joke. Dad, you really do know what you're doing. Stop showing
10:23off.
10:27My name is Douglas Vandergraaf and I believe in Jesus Christ. God bless you, my friends. Every single one of
10:36you. Bye-bye.
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