There are a number of life lessons one can get from the illustration of the short game and the long game. Many fathers who will read this can relate to the tension between practicing the long game vs practicing the short game.
The terminology originates in the game of golf. The long game is a focus on long drives to get as close to the green in as few possible strokes as possible. There is a tremendous amount of effort and learning that one must put into playing the long game well. Stance, feet position, hip rotation, grip, back swing, follow through, judging distance, choosing the right club, how much power do I apply to the swing… The list is endless. It is coupled by plagues of slices and fades, shanks and Fat Shots and an assortment of other snafu’s that can keep you from getting to the green. The short game on the other hand is the close range work to get in the hole. The chip onto the green if necessary, the bunker shot if your in a trap and of course, the putt. The short game is fun, fast and yields quicker results than the long game. It is the very reason many golfers such as myself play miniature golf with the family instead of playing on a green for long drives to the fairway. Can I even call myself a golfer if my only game is miniature?
In other spheres we also find the long and short game: Like investing. In the investment world the short game plays the volatility in the markets for quick trades that yield fast results. Its even called “playing the market” because of the game like buy and sell, jump in at the right price and jump out at the right price riding the volatility of the market day to day. The long game is the strategy to judge a funds long term returns and track record and making investments with the long term yield in mind, leaving these investments in place to grow over decades.
One cant really play golf in the real sense of the game without actually having both a short game and a long game. You can’t drive out to your 18 hole golf course and say: I am just going to drive around in my cart and play the greens. That’s not playing golf. You also don’t go to your local 18 hole golf course and say “I am just going to get out here and drive the fairway, we will skip the greens”. Neither of those scenarios is playing golf.
I am brokenhearted, as is much of the Christian community in America today over the recent decision by New York’s politicians in their legislature to pass a bill making abortion a fundamental right for women, right up to the birth of the child. America is polarized over so many things, including the murder of 60 million babies since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. (Source)
I have many friends that are playing the short game and seeing results in the war to end abortion. Denny Thybault and his wife Mindy and their Moral Outcry campaign have amassed thousands of signatures to 
the supreme court to revisit Roe v. Wade and overturn it. You can join them today by visiting https://themoraloutcry.com/ and signing the petition. Let me encourage you, go to https://themoraloutcry.com/ and sign the petition. Do it as soon as you finish reading this article. Go and watch Denny and Mindy Thybault discuss this campaign here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZdZGuFC9Jc (interview starts at 2 minutes 30 seconds in) There really is a moment in time right now that this is possible.
I have abolitionist friends who on a weekly basis pray with and counsel women outside the abortion clinics in Indianapolis IN and around the county. They share the gospel alternative to abortion. They have adoptive families and resources in place ready to not just try to change a mind but provide the resources to walk out that decision all the way to the adoptive placement once the baby is born.
We have friends who volunteer in crisis pregnancy centers and provide the gospel alternative to abortion on a daily basis. There are thousands of crisis pregnancy centers across the United States serving into this crisis everyday.
They’re playing the Short Game. We need them greatly. We need you in the short game too. We need you doing all you can right now.
But our long game is slicing, full of Fat Shots and barely reaching the fairway. We need the long game of families with a prophetic vision to lead their family through discipleship, building to a generation that can get into the short game with the numbers to change the polarization of America towards the right of the unborn. Mom and Dad, this is one of the topics we need to be discipling our children into a Biblical worldview on. Its time to raise up a generation that can take this issue farther than our generation ever could.
I was born in 1972, I was less than one year old when Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. My wife was not yet born. My parents generation allowed this travesty to happen. My parents generation to some extent and my generation have been playing the short game without a vision for the long game ever since. Its time for us in the body of Christ to play both the long and the short game.
How can you play the short game right now? Here are some key things you can do:
- Sign the Moral Outcry Petition (https://themoraloutcry.com/ )
- Start a weekly prayer gathering at your local church, coffee shop or even in your home with some of your friends to pray intentionally for an end to abortion.
- Volunteer at a local crisis pregnancy center.
- Volunteer to go to an abortion clinic in your area to pray for and counsel with women who feel they have no alternative but abortion.
- Financially support ministries like your local crisis pregnancy center or your local adoptive placement service like Zoe House (https://zoeshouseadoptions.com/donate/) or New Beginnings Women’s Center (https://www.nbwburg.org/support-us/giving/)
How can you play the long game right now? Here are some key things you can do:
- Seek the Lord for a life vision for your family.
- While seeking the Lord for this vision follow the revealed word of God for discipleship
- Watch this message and strive after the four vision points at the end. (https://youtu.be/ezc8ND70yPY)
- Get media in your home like World magazine that helps develop a Biblical worldview to the news (http://www.gwnews.com/about.html)
- Turn off Fox and CNN and watch news programs from sources like CBN. Watch with your children and talk about news from a Biblical worldview(http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews)
- Pray with and over your children daily.
- If your able become a Psalm 68:6 family and adopt. That is a whole other crisis the Body of Christ could end.
We need to be in the long and short games if we want to see results. Think multi-generationally, How can you impact the next generation and spark destiny in them that propels them forward towards changing the world?