Kingdom Harbor

The kids and I spent this August designing and bringing to life an 18-hold disc golf course on our property and the adjacent neighbors. It’s a legit course with maps and yardage on each tee pad and we even invested in some baskets. This week we’ve had dozens of high schoolers at our home trying it out. Saturday I’m hosting a little “DISCipleship Golf” event where we’ll play some holes and discuss faith lessons along the way. Let me share some photos and a summary of my Five Lessons.

DISCipleship Golf: 5 Lessons Navigating the Fairways of Faith

If you’ve ever stood on a tee pad, staring down a narrow gap between two ancient oaks with a piece of plastic in your hand, you know the feeling. There’s a mix of hope, a little bit of anxiety, and—usually after the first release clatters off a trunk—a healthy dose of frustration. Welcome to the world of “DISCipleship Golf.”

I’ve found that the woods are a lot like life. We throw, we hit trees, we search through the thorns for lost discs, and occasionally, we watch a beautiful hyzer line park itself right under the basket. This game mirrors our spiritual journey in ways that are almost too real.

The So What? Faith isn’t just about the “destination”—simply checking a box to get to heaven. It’s about the process of being formed into a certain kind of person while we are on the course. God is less concerned with your final score and more concerned with the character you develop between the first tee and the final pin. But before we can master the flight of our lives, we have to know exactly where we are aiming.

Lesson 1: Knowing the Target (The Fruit of the Spirit)

In disc golf, if you don’t know where the basket is, you’re just throwing plastic at trees. In faith, we often make the same mistake. We think the “goal” is some far-off retirement in the clouds. But the biblical goal is much more immediate and transformative: Christlikeness.

The “Course Layout” for the Christian life is found in Galatians 5. Paul identifies nine specific targets we are aiming for, known as the “Fruit of the Spirit.”

The Fruit of the Spirit	The Target for Your Character
Love	Seeking the absolute best for others, regardless of the personal cost.
Joy	A deep-seated confidence that God is good, even when the round is tough.
Peace	An internal stillness that isn’t shaken by the storms or bogeys of life.
Patience	The ability to endure “slow play,” setbacks, and difficult people without losing your cool.
Kindness	The active practice of being helpful and generous toward others’ immediate needs.
Goodness	A consistent inner moral excellence and integrity that mirrors God’s own heart.
Faithfulness	Staying the course and remaining reliable to God and your commitments over the long haul.
Gentleness	Dealing with others with a soft, restorative touch rather than a “power throw” of ego.
Self-Control	Mastering your impulses and reactions so they don’t drive you into the rough.

The So What? These nine qualities reflect a life lived in total sync with the Holy Spirit. They are the “bullseye” for how we are designed to live. However, even when the target is clear, there are external forces—some subtle, some violent—that want to blow us off our line.

Lesson 2: Navigating the Wind (Discernment and Maturity)

Any disc golfer will tell you: the wind matters. A sudden gust can take a perfect shot and flip it into a lake. In the Greek language of the New Testament, the word for “Spirit” is Pneuma, which also means “wind.”

The question is: Which “wind” is directing your life? Spiritual maturity means growing to a point where we aren’t “spiritual infants,” as the Apostle Paul puts it, tossed around by every breeze of culture or the “clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14).

Identifying Some of the Winds:

• The Wind of Popularity: The cultural lie that “I am only as valuable as my likes or my reputation.”
  • The Spirit’s Truth: You are chosen, redeemed, and beloved by the Creator regardless of your “stats.”
• The Wind of Wealth-Seeking: The lie that “Peace and security are found in my bank account or having the best gear.”
  • The Spirit’s Truth: True security is found in the providence of a Father who clothes the lilies of the field.
• The Wind of Personal Whims: The lie that “Whatever I feel right now is the absolute truth I must follow.”
  • The Spirit’s Truth: Our hearts can be deceptive; objective truth is found in the Word and the Spirit’s steady guidance.
• The Wind of Influencers: The lie that “I should let the loudest, trendiest voices define my morality.”
  • The Spirit’s Truth: We are called to listen to the Voice of the Good Shepherd, who leads us toward life.

The So What? Spiritual maturity is the ability to discern the “clever cunning” of the world’s winds from the steady breath of the Spirit. When we catch the wind of the Holy Spirit, we follow His leading in every part of our lives. But when we let a false wind take hold, it doesn’t just push us off the fairway—it carries us directly into the stinging thorns of the “out of bounds” areas.

Lesson 3: Staying In Bounds (The Gift of Boundaries)

We’ve all been there: trekking through waist-high thorns that scratch your shins, slipping in the mud of a drainage ditch, and feeling that rising panic as you search for a favorite disc that’s “Out of Bounds” (OB). It’s frustrating, painful, and exhausting.

Sometimes we view God’s laws like a “killjoy” referee trying to ruin our fun with arbitrary white stakes. But in reality, God’s boundaries are blueprints for flourishing.

• Deuteronomy 6:24 tells us that God commanded these decrees so that we might “always prosper and be kept alive.”
• Psalm 119 is essentially a love letter to the “fairway” of God’s laws.

Jesus spoke about the “Narrow Path” in Matthew 7. He wasn’t being restrictive; He was showing us the ultimate way to be human. The “Narrow Way” is the best way to live because it protects us from the “thistles” of life—the very real pain and destruction that come from living “out of bounds.”

The So What? Staying on the fairway isn’t a restriction; it’s the only way to play the game well. God’s “OB” lines are there to keep you out of the mud and the thorns so you can enjoy the walk. But even when we stay on the path, we face choices about how to play the hole—choices between shortcuts and wisdom.

Lesson 4: Wisdom vs. Folly (Trusting the Fairway)

Picture a “dogleg” hole where the fairway curves sharply around a massive thicket. You have two choices: play the safe, high-percentage route down the fairway (the Way of Wisdom), or try to “cut the corner” by throwing an over-aggressive hyzer-flip or a risky thumber over a pond and through a dense grove of trees (the Way of Folly).

We often try to “cut corners” in life, only to learn the “hard way.” We lean on our own “math,” thinking we can beat the system, only to end up hitting the very first tree in our path.

The Wisdom of the Fairway (Proverbs 3:5-6):

1. Trust Heartily: Rely on God’s character and His “course map” more than your own arm strength.
2. Don’t Lean on Your Own Math: Your “understanding” of the shortcut—the idea that you can skip the process—is usually what lands you in the hazard.
3. Submit the Path: When you align your “throw” with His will, He makes your paths straight.

The So What? Christianity isn’t just a list of rules; it is imitating the Way of Jesus. It’s choosing the fairway He laid out, even when the shortcut looks tempting. However, knowing the fairway is one thing—having the strength and consistency to stay on it is another. We eventually realize that even our best efforts require a power beyond ourselves.

Lesson 5: A Disc in the Master’s Hand (The Power of Grace)

I’m a bit perfectionist. I’ve had many rounds where I shank my first drive into a cedar tree. My mental game completely spirals. I get so disgusted with my “poor start” that I want to just walk off the course and quit. I felt like a failure because I wasn’t “parked” on every hole.

Maybe you feel that way about your grades, your sports, or your walk with God. This is where we need Grace. Grace is the “long game.” It recognizes that we learn by trial and error, by a “willingness to give it a go and be bad at first.” In God’s economy, we actually improve by failing and trying again, not by avoiding failure.

Spiritual growth is a “dance of cooperation” between our effort and God’s power. This is captured by Paul’s words:

“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” — Philippians 2:12-13

The So What? Who is doing the work? Both! We take responsibility for our “throw,” but we daily surrender to the power of God working inside us. We stop white-knuckling the disc. We realize that we aren’t the ones who ultimately determine our fate or control the wind. We are invited to place our lives into the capable hands of the Master Thrower.

The Final Scorecard: Psalm 23 (The Disc Golfer’s Version)

As you wrap up your “round” today, reflect on this promise of a life surrendered to the Good Shepherd, or Master Thrower:

“The Lord is my disc thrower; I need not worry. He maketh my disc land softly in green pastures: he tosses me beside the still waters, not in them. He restoreth and cleans off my disc when dirty: he throws my disc in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though round takes me through the dark and thorny thicket, I will fear no evil: for He carries my discs on his hip; his accuracy and strength comfort me. Thou preparest a picnic for me in the middle of the trees; thou anointest my disc by writing your name on it with marker, a reminder that I belong to you; my par and birdie opportunities runneth over. Surely beautiful throws and many fresh starts shall follow me on all the courses of my life: and I will enjoy refreshing drink in the clubhouse of the Lord for ever.”

Pastoral Takeaway: Whatever “course” you are playing today, remember that you don’t have to control the wind or perfect every shot on your own. Trust the Master Thrower—He knows the target, and His grace is enough for every “fresh start” you need.

See you on the fairway!

FURTHER RESOURCES:

Download & print Jeremy’s DISCipleship Golf Bible Study & Discussion Questions

Download & print a Visual Summary of these 5 lessons (embedded below)

Watch an video overview of these lessons below: