For the fans tickets rarely become available. Only by getting a ticket from a friend of a friend of a friend can you hope to go on a Thursday through Sunday. Unless you are willing to pay $1000 for a one day pass from a scalper. However, I was able to go to the Tuesday practice round in 2008 when a friend of mine received a couple of tickets but could not go due to a corporate meeting that he could not get out of. I went with a buddy of mine and the two of us were giddy with excitement. We wondered who we would see, we wondered how close to the pros we would be able to get. We talked about how incredible it would be to get an opportunity to play there. The photo to the left is one of me standing in the fairway of number 18.
Augusta Georgia is about two and a half hours from my house. As we exited the freeway and made our way down Washington Road the excitement level was incredible. We followed the signs to the public parking and followed the crowd to the main gate. Once we made it through security we headed to the course. As we passed from the clubhouse and souvenir area we stepped onto the course. To say it was beautiful is a tremendous understatement. The course was unlike anything I have ever seen. It was more beautiful than any garden or topiary display at Disney World or in Better Homes and Garden magazine!
We arrived early in the morning but realized that time would fly by. It tends to do that when you are doing something you enjoy. There was so much we wanted to see. There are holes that are infamous, landmarks that are legendary and views that are breath taking. We walked from one end of the course to the other and back again! As the day came to an end we realized we had to go. We would have to leave the course behind knowing that we very well may never see it again. As we headed out we stopped by the souvenir shop and bought a few things to take home.
As I was reading this morning I came across the following passage:
John 14: 1-4 - 1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”The place Jesus is going to prepare for us will be more beautiful than any place on earth, yes, even more beautiful than Augusta National.
The apostle Paul was actually taken up to heaven for a look around and this is how he described it:
II Corinthians 12: 2-4 - 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.According to verse 4 what Paul experienced cannot be communicated so that we can understand it. Any attempt would be feeble at best.
Again Paul quotes Isaiah 64 in his first letter to the church in Corinth.
I Corinthians 2: 9
“No eye has seen,I'm not sure if I will ever get back to The Masters but I know I will be going to heaven one day and unlike The Masters I will never have to stop by a souvenir shop because I will never have to leave. We worship a great God who has not only saved us from the penalty and power of sin but has also prepared a place for us that is unlike anything we could ever imagine. We will one day have the opportunity to worship the Creator in a body that is free from sin and in a place that will allow us to see just how awesome and magnificent He truly is!
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him”
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