About two months ago, my husband and I went bowling with some friends and we did terrible! I bowled a pitiful 27 because I couldn’t keep the ball out of the gutter. My husband didn’t do too much better. We knew that we had to step our game up and start practicing…or get embarrassed again!
The local bowling alley was offering discounted rates on games for the 4th of July weekend, so we decided to take advantage of it. We even let our son get in on the game. We asked the staff to put the rails up for him. We also got a ramp for him to push the ball down. He had a great time and scored almost as well as we did!
Even though the rails were for our son, it helped us get our bowling skills back to par. After several frames, I discovered a good technique. If I carefully laid the ball down with the lines on the ground and “shook hands with the head pin,” I had a decent chance of actually knocking down some pins!
Perfecting my form can come later.
I ended up getting an 85, but with the rails up. That’s pretty good for a person that scored a 27 the last time she bowled!
We decided to play another round…without the rails. I bowled two strikes and a spare! The spare really was a strike, but it occurred after a gutter ball. But even with the strikes and spare, I only scored a 62.
Why? Because I rolled gutter balls right after hitting the strikes.
I got complacent and missed out on a great opportunity to score a career high. It was the first time I ever made three strikes in a game, but my score didn’t reflect it.
We can also apply this to our Christian walk. Please don’t do like I did and let your guard down when things are going good.
Don’t stop giving.
Don’t stop fasting.
Don’t stop praying.
Don’t stop reading your Bible.
Stay diligent and focused so that you can receive your reward in the end!
Hebrews 6:10-12 NIV
God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
A 27? LOL. I'm glad you continued to bowl and increased your score because that is tooo funny! You're right about relating this to our spiritual walk – great analogy! You also showed persistence instead of giving up – something we're guilty of doing in our walk also.
Hilarious!!
Girl, I'm dreadful when it comes to real-life bowling but I kick some serious fanny when it's time to play some WII BOWLING. Yippee!!
It really does feel like the real thing, my arm is always sore the next day (that's how competitive I am
)
I enjoyed your pictures and you are right, we have to stop being lazy and continue to be involved as Christians <3