SFT - The Deeper Meaning
“Johnny said, ‘Luke, there is a still small voice inside of you. It’s telling you that you can SEE His face, FEEL His presence, and TRUST His love.’ Luke replies, ‘SFT.’
Johnny smiles and says, ‘That’s right son, SFT. Happy Easter.’ (Johnny walks out of the cemetery leaving Luke with the deeper meaning of SFT on Easter Morning.)”
As you can see, I have skipped ahead in the book/movie for today’s Easter week message. Luke had arrived in Utopia on Palm Sunday and was in the midst of the storm of his life during Easter week. And in a similar way, that is where many of us find ourselves this Easter.
Earlier in the week, Johnny had set up this scene by teaching Luke the key to the mental game of golf was to have an unshakable mental process so that on game day, when the inner noise becomes deafening and the intensity boils to a cauldron of pressure, the mind has a place to go… a place that becomes true north in the heat of the adversities of competition and life—See it, Feel it, Trust it. This simple process changed Luke’s golf game and became his foundation. He marked his ball with SFT to keep himself focused and reminded of true north.
Johnny knew there was more. He had engaged Luke’s brain but the heart was still hanging out in the wind. So, on Easter morning Johnny introduced Luke to the deeper meaning of SFT. He introduced Luke to the One who gave it all so that we might live. He introduced Luke to the resurrected Jesus, our True North during the storms of life. On Easter morning in a cemetery in Utopia, following one of the biggest storms in young Luke’s life, his heart was rescued.
“I could hear the voice of God whisper my name in the deafening silence. I noticed the true work of His artist’s hand as I took in the landscape as a new creature. The scales fell off my eyes, revealing His handprint on everything I saw. A miracle was taking place, and it had nothing to do with a recovery shot to the green. The buried lies in my heart were being replaced by a flood of truth. It was like cool summer rains bringing life and hope where the drought had ravaged the terrain. A transformation was taking place that cannot be put in words. A dry spring was beginning to flow…. Johnny’s parting words loomed as the only choice. To rid the soul of buried lies, there is only one hope: SEE His face, FEEL His presence, TRUST His love.”
- Pages 136-137 Seven Days in Utopia
If you need your heart rescued this Easter from the storm that is upon us, please take the time to re-visit Chapter 9 of Seven Days in Utopia and receive the hope God is holding out to all of us this Easter. As a famous preacher once said, “Its Friday (the crucifixion) but Sunday is a comin!”