Let No One Despise Our Youth
Alex Lancaster
The 109th US Open was held this past weekend at Bethpage Golf course on Long Island New York. This tournament was different from most US Opens in the past due to two reasons. The first reason was that there was torrential rainfall that flooded the course and made it unplayable for a day. This caused the tournament to bleed over into Monday instead of finishing as usual on Sunday. But the more astounding reason was that the leaders were very unlikely. At the beginning of the fourth round, it was the young amateur golfer, Ricky Barnes in the lead. Most people would have thought the leader to be Tiger Woods or even Phil Mickelson. However, these younger players were able to take advantage of the situation and put up impressive numbers. Rick Barnes lost the lead during the fourth round and Lucas Glover ended up winning the tournament, becoming one of the youngest and most inexperienced players ever to win the tournament.
This US Open made me think about the young players who were making a large impact in the tournament. Tiger Woods, who was the favorite for the tournament put up atrocious numbers by the end of the first round which allowed Ricky Barnes to take advantage. He did so and lead for the first three rounds of the tournament losing only by two to Lucas Glover in the end. This made me think of the Scripture written in 1 Timothy 4:12, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit in faith, in purity”.
Just because you are young does not mean that you cannot have an impact on people in the church and the world. This verse commands that no one should despise the youth, but also that the youth must be great examples. The youth has a great opportunity to be examples to the younger and older members in addition to their friends at school. Just like Ricky Barnes in the US Open making a statement and taking advantage of the situation he was put in, the youth should have the same drive and ambition to take advantage of the situation they are put in and be great examples.