Pace

Most of disc golf isn't the throw —it's the walk between throws. And how the Bible's favorite

picture of life with God is just that: walking with him.

Today I want to zoom in on one word: pace.

Because here's what I've noticed out here. There are two ways to play a round of disc golf

badly. One is to play lazy. But the other — the one that gets most of us — is to play rushed.

You walk up still mad about your last throw. You don't read the hole. You grab a disc and fire

before you've even looked at where you are. And the round starts running you instead of the

other way around.

Same thing happens in a life.

Most of us aren't tired because we're walking. We’re tired because of the pace we're

walking at.

Hold onto that.

SCRIPTURE

Jesus said something about pace that I think a lot of people have never actually heard him

say. At the end of a hard teaching he gave to a crowd that wasn't willing to listen, he says

this:10

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up

my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find

rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

— Matthew 11:28–30 (CSB)

And centuries before that, the prophet Isaiah put it this way:

"But those who trust in the LORD will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like

eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint."

— Isaiah 40:31 (CSB)

Here's the part I don't want you to miss.

When Jesus offers rest, he doesn't say "stop walking." He doesn't say "quit, sit down, you're

done. “He says take my yoke — which is work, which is movement, which is a road still

ahead of you. He’s not offering you the couch. He's offering you a better pace.

A yoke, if you've never been on a farm, is the wooden frame that goes over two animals so

they pull together. The whole point is that you're not pulling alone, and you're not setting the

pace by yourself. You match the one walking beside you. And Jesus says: my yoke is easy.

The pace I set is one you can actually keep.

Think about how much of our exhaustion isn't the walking — it's the sprinting at things that

were meant to be walked. We rush the round. We rush the relationships. We rush the

seasons of our lives, always trying to get to the next hole before we've finished this one.

Often they would yoke an old ox with a young ox. The young ox would want to jump ahead

and start going fast. But the old ox had learned the proper pace to work the day.

Some of you are tired in a way that sleep doesn't fix. That's not a body thing. That's a pace

thing.

Some of you have made walking with God into one more thing you're behind on — one

more performance you're failing. Hear this: he is not asking you to catch up. He's asking

you to fall in step.

And some of you are new to all this, and the idea of "walking with God" sounds like it'd be

one more thing on the pile. I'd gently push back. This isn't another item on your list. It's the

thing that finally lets you set the list down.

The eagle in Isaiah doesn't flap harder than every other bird. It catches the wind that's

already there and lets the current carry it. That's the picture. Strength that comes from

trust, not from striving.

So here's the question before we tee off:

What if the goal was never to finish faster — but to walk at a pace where you could actually

notice God on the way?

Are you trying to outpace Jesus in your walk?

Two things to carry into the round today:

1. Watch your pace out here — literally. When you catch yourself rushing up to a

throw still rattled from the last hole, take one breath before you grab a disc. Let that

be a tiny rehearsal for the rest of your life.

2. If you're carrying something heavy — and a lot of us are — the invitation of Jesus

isn't "try harder." It's "come here, and let's carry it at a pace you can survive." You

don't have to pull alone. This has been my journey. I thought the answer was just try

harder, keep striving. That is not the way of Jesus at all.

Father, thank you for everyone reading this. So many of us are tired. Slow us down today.

Teach us your pace — the one that gives rest instead of stealing it. Walk the whole eighteen

with us and help us notice you in the in-between. In Jesus' name, amen.

Brandon Kinsey- PDGA # 298262

Discin’ Disciples Chapter Leader: Michiana