The real story of Tiger Woods…
Dec 23rd, 2009 by ljkim
The story with Tiger Woods is not that he had this secret part of him that was broken and dysfunctional. Of course he does…everyone does. The Bible calls it our sin condition. And the story is not that “every man/athlete/ celebrity messes around”; because even though every person is broken, there are people who aren’t broken in this particular way. There are beautiful celebrity spouses who remain faithful, it’s just that fidelity doesn’t make headlines. The real story, I think, is that while Woods was still doing well…highest paid athlete in the world, an icon, a symbol of what it means to be the “best” in something… he had this secret broken dysfunction going on. And we don’t know for sure, but I would bet that he probably thought it was okay…under control…because if I were him I would have thought the same thing. But broken things eventually hurt people…and I don’t think he was expecting that.
Here’s the thing: you have a secret broken dysfunction(s) too. Maybe it’s so secret you don’t even admit to yourself there’s a problem. A problem of character…something you’re doing, faking, or not doing… And chances are you think it’s under control too. But broken things eventually hurt people… You don’t drink from broken cups and use broken knives… You don’t drive cars with broken wheels or bent steering links. Because even though you can manage the chaos pretty well, eventually you and people close to you will get hurt.
What this means for believers is, it’s not enough just to get the forgiveness part, we also need the healing part of God’s love… The part where God heals and changes the parts of us that we don’t think can ever be healed or changed. The secret things don’t stay secret forever. And eventually those seemingly small (to you) broken things will take everything down.
As for Tiger Woods, his flipping-out in terms of his PR and his indefinite leave from the sport suggests that all this took him by surprise, and he’s genuinely grieved by it. This wasn’t how he wanted it to be, and it seems this wasn’t the person he wanted to be. So we can all leave him alone for now and wait for his comeback in a couple of years.
Related posts:
Ah, if only he had stayed away for a couple of years. It would have been better for everyone (himself and his family included) if he had taken the real time he needed to sort things out, prioritize things right. Instead, he patched up his image and went bravely out like nothing was wrong. But isn’t that exactly what we broken people do everyday with our inner ugliness?