Weekly Word: The Comeback

By Robert Williams, Lead Pastor at The Bridge Church

A few weeks ago, much of the Western world witnessed one of the coolest stories in American sports: Tiger Woods won The Masters – one of the most storied major golf tournaments in American sports history.

It was so powerful as ESPN showed video images of Tiger hugging his son after winning the tournament, immediately following with video images of him hugging his own father from more than 20 years ago when he won his first Masters.

Talking to a bunch of friends this week, a lot of households didn’t have a dry eye in the room. It was an absolutely incredible sight to see.

Why was it so incredible? Well, it wasn’t an incredible story because it was Tiger’s 15th major championship, leaving him only second to Jack Nicklaus. It wasn’t an incredible story because it was his fifth green jacket. It wasn’t even an incredible story because he did it at the age of 43. What made it an incredible story was the comeback. …

Tiger was the Michael Jordan of the golf world for about 10 to 12 years — until he wasn’t. His reign over the sport of golf came to a crashing halt around 2009.

That year, reports said that Tiger was found by police officers semi-conscious and bleeding from the head after his car had bounced off of a tree and slammed into a fire hydrant outside his Florida home.

Since then, Tiger has been caught in extra-marital affairs, been through a divorce and even a number of unsuccessful back surgeries that brought his life and career to their proverbial knees. Until this last year when he began the climb toward greatness once again.

We all love a comeback story, don’t we? I think of all the superhero movies out today (I’m a bit of a Marvel nerd, myself.). The hero discovers his power, starts fighting crime, and things are going really well until he meets the villain; someone that is a formidable adversary that brings them to their knees. And just when he/she is at their very worst, they rise from the ashes.

Personally, I think we all love the comeback story because it’s rooted in the greatest comeback of all time, the resurrection of Jesus. And every Easter it seems as though churches across town are packed with people as we celebrate Jesus’ comeback.

But I wonder how much we are truly taking hold of it … allowing it to truly transform our lives.
How many of you reading this today would say that you need a comeback story in your own life? How many of you reading this today would say that you’ve been trying so hard to bounce back in a number of other ways, but it just doesn’t seem to be working?

Let me ask you a couple other questions that might help you move forward: (1) Where are you placing your hope? (2) Did you know that God can help you with your comeback story — that he wants to help you with your comeback story?

During the time of the early church, a man named Paul wrote this incredible letter to a church in Rome and he said this about Jesus’ comeback:

“…if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” — Romans 8:11

God wants to give you your comeback. Maybe it’s time to get back to church. Maybe it’s time to build a new sense of community around people who will push you closer to Him. Maybe it’s time to start over. Maybe it’s time for a real comeback.