When golf professional Paul Azinger learned in 1993 that he had cancer, he said, "I was in shock. I had thought that Dr. Jobe would tell me they had discovered some form of weird infection in my shoulder or possibly even a stress fracture. The one word I never expected to hear him say was cancer."

The good news was that it was curable. Now, after some time away from the professional golf tour for chemotherapy and radiation treatments, the man who's called "Zinger" is back, cancer-free.

When people ask Azinger if golf is still important to him, he says, "Yes and no. Yes, of course golf is important to me. I love the game; it is how I make a living. But no, golf is no longer at the top of my priority list. In fact, it runs a slow fourth. My priorities now are God, my family, my friends, and golf. Golf is no longer my god. Golf is hitting a little white ball. God is my God, and God is a whole lot bigger than golf."

A serious disease has a way of putting things in perspective. First place belongs to the Lord; we are to worship nothing in our lives above Him (Dt. 6:13-19).

Make God number one in your life, and your dearest pastime on earth will become only a "slow fourth."  — David C. Egner