04 May, 2008

Good Luck!

Have you ever wished a brother in Christ good luck, only to be lectured on how luck is no part of a Christian's life?

Sigh.

You know? Who am I to argue, I guess? But into what kind of bind does that force God? I play tennis, and it's traditional with the first serve to wish your opponent good luck. What should I say instead?

"May God grant you the grace to crush the living snot out of me during this match."

"And may His divine sovereignty fix the outcome of this match such that we both reach the eternal benificence of His holy presence due to His providential ordering of all things."

"And since the outcome of this match is ordered in the eternal counsels of I AM that I AM from before the creation of light itself (6,012.5 years ago), let's just go for a prayer-jog on a treadmill and get a beer - I mean lemonade."

It's amazing how some Christians, like me, lose so many opportunities to be a real and living testimony for God. It might change the match a little bit to start it like that, but it might change the eternal destiny of the person against whom I'm playing.

No wait.

His eternal destiny would be something ordained before the dawn of time, too, wouldn't it?

Hmmm. So telling him, "Good luck," probably won't damn my opponent to hell after all.

Hmmm.

And it would be a lot quicker, so we could get down to playing tennis.

But, no! God's eternal plans rely upon His ordaining of human means. So, I have to give the slightly longer greeting in order to make sure that all possible means have been exercised in case he might be one of the elect of God, and the means appointed to his salvation include the revelation this very day in his heart that luck is a pagan concept toppled before a living Deity like Dagon was toppled before the Ark of the Covenant.

And the longer traditional greeting might lull my opponent into thinking I'm afraid to serve, which might give me the mental edge - and I love being mentally edged.

But everyone knows that God does not order anything He has not revealed in His holy word. So, maybe I should use something straight out of scripture, and out of the mouth of one of the holy saints, like, "Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well."

Maybe not that one.

"I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel."

Or maybe I'll keep looking.

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Good luck understanding this post.

8 comments:

Lynne said...

ROFL!!
Thanks for reminding me why I gave up on full on Calvinism!!!
I don't play sport, so I haven't had to deal with this complex conundrum, but I must admit I don't say "good luck" very often any more. I often sidestep it by saying "all the best .." (which means the same thing but avoids that naughty L word) or else (depending on circumstances) I go for the other option, "Bless you!" or "Be blessed!" But that probably doesn't work in tennis unless you sneeze ..

Anonymous said...

If someone had wished you "Good Luck" on getting depressed old me to laugh out loud today so that my daughter keeps asking, "What Mom? What?" I don't think you could have fulfilled their pagan luck wish any better than you did. :)

Milly said...

I love this post!

I will say that I have been guilty of saying that I don’t believe in luck but not when someone tells me good luck.



I also don’t fret when I get my change back and it totals 666. People freak out over that when they have a total of 666 on stuff. I always say I have God with me I don’t need to worry. I don’t think it’s luck that saves you from smashing into the ground when your parachute doesn’t open.

Trust me if you were about to serve a ball to me and you said good luck to me my thoughts would be “Good luck chasing that ball because I won’t be able to hit it unless you are aiming for the racquet. Even then it’s iffy” “Good luck in getting the chance to hit it back over the net because I can’t compete with you unless you really dummy up your game.” “I look cute standing here but in no way can I hit a ball that Codepoke smacks at me. Where are the small children to play?” “Is that the sun beaming down on me? Yiks!” “What’s for lunch?” “I hope this isn’t going to hurt like it did when I played racquet ball with the boys.” “How are the highlights in my hair looking while I run back and forth missing the ball?” See saying good luck doesn’t bother me it’s all the other stuff in my head that is a bother. I think I posted on the differences between us on the court before. ;-}

Good luck to ya!
Milly

Milly said...

>"I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild .beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel."

MMMMkay a. . .a. . .a I'm going for a rootbeer float instead. Milly tosses her racquet and runs to the car. Glad to still have her head and not to be smoteded today.

kc bob said...

I hate to say this but I think a rebuttal to "Good Luck!" is simply one of the most graceless things anyone can do. When someone wishes you well the proper response is "thank you".

This stuff gets weird.. back in the late 70s I ran around with a crowd that said "Pot of Blessing" insead of "Pot Luck".. we we were super-religious and superstitious.

Good luck with your comments CP :)

Kevin Knox said...

Yeah, I played a guy last night who just had the worst highlights. I mean, maybe they would have worked under natural lighting, but under the florescents? No way.

Milly, you're a riot. 8-)

FWIW, my usual euphemism is, "Have fun."

I'm glad you all got a laugh from this, though. I'm afraid I still have to laugh when I picture myself standing at the service line, holding up the tennis ball, and telling my opponent in my best Samson voice to "get her for me."

Sometimes I worry myself. ;-D

Anonymous said...

Get her for me for she pleaseth me well...

*blest chortles gleefully*

Dude - I think you just discovered the best Biblical pick up line ever.

karen said...

LOL! Catching up on your good stuff, CP!