Christian Scottie Scheffler won the British Open last weekend. What Nike did with his win could be a sign of the cultural shift we need in America. But Scottie's boldness led the way.

I got back this last weekend from a three hour drive with the family and loved it. It was great. I like car trips because we're all together. I came across this clip recently from this TV show called the middle. I've never heard of the show, never seen the show, am not endorsing the show, I know nothing about it.
But I came across this one scene where the mom and dad, I'm guessing they have older kids who are out of the house now or on the way out, and the dad's reminiscing.
You know when I was happiest? I mean really happy? When I was driving everybody. When they were small, I'd be driving, didn't matter where. It was just me at the wheel and you next to me, those three idiots in the back.
I knew everything was okay. I was driving. And I had it.
I had everybody.
We have a nine hour drive coming up in a couple months with the whole family. Can't wait for it. We spent the night at my house my wife grew up in and we love doing that because it's like 1200 square feet and we all camp out in the living room, big slumber party in the living room. Johnny and I sleep in the lazy boy reclined all the way back.
They've never seen a lazy boy before, I guess. So they're like, what is this? So that's just as good as it gets. Did you see the newest Nike ad? I saw it and I thought it was fake. I didn't confirm that it was true.
And indeed is true. So Scottie Scheffler, he won the British Open in golf and after he won, him and all the big wigs are on the final green and up waddles in the scene his one year old son and then he trips on the little hill, the sloped green, falls down, oh the whole crowd.
Dad goes over and gets him and it was a nice little moment. So Nike took that moment as inspiration and they made a new Nike ad and it's a picture of Scottie kneeling down with his putter in front of him and the baby is crawling towards him reaching out for the club and the ad says in the Nike font it says says, you've already won. This could be a data point of a massive cultural shift that's happening in our country.
And I pray that we keep having in our country. Every Monday on Sirius XM show, we have gratitude Monday. People call in the first segment of the show and say what they're grateful for. And guy called in yesterday said he was excited because he's getting married soon it's awesome and and I asked him first are there no oil the old ball and
chain or none of that none of those jokes because it's a beautiful thing and marriage needs to be celebrated and I asked him why why get married why not just yeah keep shacking up Are you just doing it for tax purposes? What's the reason? He said, Oh no, we're doing it so we can help each other get to heaven. He was getting off the night shift at a chemical plant in Louisiana. The answer he had to that question had more wisdom to it than anyone at Ivy League school or wherever.
So Scotty Scheffler, when he won, he said, the first person I look for is my wife. She's always the first person I want to celebrate with. So just a lot of loving your family. A lot of celebrating families. That's a good thing.
I saw this video, I saw like 10 seconds of this video and what I heard, I was like, oh, that's Ecclesiastes. I didn't know he's a Christian or not, but sure enough, his Instagram handle says Christ follower pro golfer. So he has his priorities, right? Oh, one last thing about Nike ads.
This cultural shift, like people have been posting like old Nike ads, actually old, like 2020, 2021 Nike ads where our culture was really leaning hard into ugliness and it'd be like an obese black woman grinding and be like, get on the floor. Nike. I like what, gross. And here's Scotty Shuffler, him, his baby, you already won, you're like, oh yeah, like that's clearly the direction we need to be going in as a country.
So here is Shuffler, this is before he won. This is a couple of days before in the press conference. It's a few minutes long, but it's worth it all.
You know, I think it's kind of funny. I think, you know, I think I said something after the Byron this year about like, it feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for like a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling. And I like to win the Byron Nelson championship at home.
I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf, to have an opportunity to win that tournament. And you win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sisters there, it's such an amazing moment. And then it's like, okay, now what are we gonna eat for dinner, you know? Life goes on.
Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf yet? I mean, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about because it's literally worked my entire life to become good at this sport and to have that kind of sense of accomplishment I think is a pretty cool feeling.
You know, to get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, it's like I'm not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I'm not here to inspire somebody else to be the best player in the world, because what's the point? This is not a fulfilling life. It's fulfilling from a sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.
There's a lot of people that make it to what they thought was going to fulfill them in life, and then you get there and all of a sudden, you get to number one in the world, and then they're like, what's the point? And I really do believe that, because what is the point? You're like, why do I wanna win this tournament so bad?
That's something that I wrestle with on a daily basis. It's like, showing up at the Masters every year, it's like, why do I wanna win this golf tournament so badly. Why do I want to win the Open Championship so badly? I don't know. Because if I win, it's gonna be awesome for about two minutes. And then we're gonna get to the next week and it's gonna be like,
hey, you won two majors this year, how important is it for you to win the FedExCup playoffs? And it's just like, we're back here again, you know? So we really do, we work so hard for such little moments And I'm kind of a sicko. I love putting in the work. I love being able to practice. I love getting out to live out my dreams. But at the end of the day, sometimes I just
don't understand the point. Because I don't know if I'm making any sense or not. But am I not? It's just one of those deals. I love the challenge. I love being able to play this game for a living. It's one of the greatest joys of my life,
but does it fill the deepest wants and desires of my heart? Absolutely not. I mean, I love playing golf. I love being able to compete. I love living out my dreams. I love being a father.
I love being able to take care of my son. I love being able to provide for my family out here playing golf. And every day when I wake up early to go put in the work, my wife thanks me for going out and working so hard. And when I get home, I try and thank her every day for taking care of our son. It's just, that's why I talk about family as being my priority,
because it really is. I'm blessed to be able to come out here and play golf. But if my golf ever started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or with my son, that's going to be the last day that I play out here for a living. This is not the be all, end all. This is not the most important thing in my life.
And that's why I wrestle with why is this so important to me because I would much rather be a great father than I would be a great golfer. At the end of the day, that's what's more important to me.
But I think that's why I asked the question,
what is losing like for you?
It sucks.
I hate it.
I really do. But that's part of the competition. That is, and I think that's why we try to work so hard to not lose, but golf's a game where you just lose a lot more often than you win. I mean, that's just a simple part of it.
You know, in basketball or football, when there's only two guys out there, you can win a lot more than you lose. But I think I was looking at stats. It was one of the best tennis players. It might've been Federer or Djokovic or somebody.
They only won like 48% of their points or something like that. I mean, playing professional sports is a really weird thing to do. Like, it really is, just because we put in so much effort, we work so hard for something that's so fleeting. I mean, it really is. Like, the feeling of winning just doesn't last that long. You know, when I sit back at the end of the year and, you know,
I kind of try to reflect on things, like having that sense of accomplishment from winning the Masters Tournament, from winning the PGA Championship. I have a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation for it, but it's just hard to explain how it doesn't, it just doesn't satisfy, is how I would describe it. It's an unsatisfying venture. And so I guess what I'm trying to say is this is not the place to look for your satisfaction.
This is something that's where you can have a great appreciation for and a great amount of thankfulness for being able to do this. And it's, I mean, like I said, it's literally one of the most fun things that I can do in my entire life.
I love being able to come out here and play golf and compete. But at the end of the day, it's just not what satisfies me. I'm right here, Jamie, where are you?
You're right there. You could sit there and you could sit that chair if you want. Or you want to come in daddy's lap. He says, I want to go in daddy's lap. Jamie, good timing, by the way, but okay. You could sit right there.
Uh, here is a bit of a more explicit explanation of what does satisfy him.
I would say that, I mean, in the simplest of terms, we have a Creator. You know, God created the earth and he sent his Son to save us. I mean, the Lord covered our sins on the cross and victory was secured over death. We will live forever with Christ when we eventually pass on from this earth and Jesus saved us. He died and saved us from our sins. It's really just as simple as that.
So the victory is secure whether or not I win a golf tournament or never be able to play golf again. You know, my identity and victory secure, know that I'm going to spend eternity with Jesus.
You want me to go downstairs?
Okay.
Jamie, can I just make one last point here?
Okay.
Let me take one last point here. Someone posted on this video.
Hello.
So I'm posting on the video, uh, a quote, if you're not good enough without the gold medal, you're never going to be good enough with it. That is from John Candy in the film, Cool Runnings. It's not fulfilling, of course, none of this stuff is fulfilling because what we are all searching for is eternal meaning
and these earthly things will never give that eternal meaning. The only identity that you can have for eternity is in Christ. And I'll leave you with this because Jamie says, I need to go downstairs.
Second Corinthians 5.17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is passed away. Behold, the new has come. Mike Slater dot locals dot com transcript commercial free on the website,
Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Jamie, come here, say hi. He's playing with the printer. Come here. Come say hi, you wonderful boy. Say hi to everybody.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about heaven. With the recent tragedies—devastating floods in Texas, the passing of John MacArthur, and loved ones of friends reaching the end of their lives—it’s only natural to reflect on what comes next. In the midst of it all, I found a poem from the early 1800s that brought me peace and perspective about death. In this episode, I share that poem and explore why we’re not meant to live forever.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. I've been talking a lot about heaven lately and how awesome it's going to be. So I'll start it with the disaster in Texas, the tragedy in Texas. There's been a few people in my life who have another friend or family member who have passed away, all old age, and just the last couple of weeks here, old age where it's a relief for them

and everyone involved, and a celebration. John MacArthur passing away the other day, we're doing a TV special on him this week, so just heaven dying in heaven has been on my mind a lot lately.

I read a poem the other day

and I have nowhere else to put it. I have to tell people this poem. And I, I don't know, I don't want to spend, I kind of pushed the limits on what we do on SiriusXM as it is kind of outside of politics. So I don't know if I can just sit here and read a poem, maybe a little much, but I just want to put it here and I could put some politics into it.

I could also save it until we have another tragedy, but I haven't stopped thinking about it since I first read it and I just want to share it here because it is written by William Augustus Mullenberg. Should I give a little background to this first? So I bought this book, it was published in 1896 or something. It's called An American Anthology, and it's just poems.

It's thick, it's huge, it's like 1,000 pages, it's just a poem. So every day I've just been opening it up to a different one and this one is early in the book by a guy I've never heard of, William Augustus Mullenberg. He was born in 1796 in Philadelphia,

founder of St. Luke's Hospital in New York City, all according to Wikipedia. He's known as the father of church schools in America. The poem is called, I Would Not Live All Way. Let me read these first two lines and then I'll tell you what I did to make it make sense.

I would not live all way, live all way below. Oh no, I'll not linger when bidden to go. The days of our pilgrimage granted us here are enough for life's woes, full enough for its cheer. I had no idea what that meant. I would not live all way?

What does that mean? It means I don't want to live forever. So it's an old timey way of saying, I don't want to live forever. I don't want to live for always. I don't want to live all way.

No, no. I will not stay here when I'm called to go. The days of our pilgrimage granted us here are enough for life's woes, full enough for its cheer? Would I shrink from the path which the prophets of God, apostles and martyrs so joyfully trod? Like a spirit unblessed over the earth, would I roam while brethren and friends are all hastening home?

What am I?

I'm not going to go to heaven when I'm called to go to heaven. Are you kidding me? I'm just going to roam around here on earth forever? When everyone else is going home? Going home to heaven? No way, I'm out of here.

I would not live all way. I ask not to stay. Where storm after storm rises dark over the way. We're seeking for rest, we but hover around Like the patriarch's bird, and no resting is found. Where hope, when she paints her gay bow in the air,

Leaves its brilliance to fade in the night of despair, And joy's fleeting angel never sheds a glad ray, Save the beam of the plumage that bears him away. I would not live all way, thus fettered by sin, temptation without, and corruption within. Man, it's so good.

I don't wanna be here forever, held down by sin, temptation everywhere around me, corruption everywhere within me. In a moment of strength, if I ever sever the chain, scarce the victory is mine before I'm captive again. Oh, it's so good.

If I'm ever strong enough in a moment where I'm not held by sin, scarce the victory is mine before I'm captive again. Oh, I could fight against this sin for just a moment, but the victory is mine for just an instant before I'm captive again. Oh, I could fight against this sin for just a moment. But the victory is mine for just an instant before I'm captive to sin again.

Even the rapture of pardon is mingled with fears and the cup of thanksgiving with penitent tears. The festival trump calls for jubilant songs, but my spirit her own misery prolongs. I would not live all way. No, welcome the tomb.

Since Jesus hath lain there, I dread not its gloom. Why would you be afraid of dying? Where he deigned to sleep, I'll too bow my head, all peaceful to slumber on that hallowed bed. Then the glorious daybreak to follow that night, the orient gleam of the angels of light, with their clarion call for the sleepers to rise and chant forth their

matins away to the skies, singing, Who, who would live all way, away from his God? That's the best thing about heaven, see? Who would live all the way away from his God, away from yon heaven, that blissful abode, where the rivers of pleasure flow over the bright plains and the noontide of glory eternally reigns? Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet, their Savior and brethren transported to greet, while the songs of salvation exultingly roll,

and the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul. Man, that makes me wanna go there so bad. That heavenly music, this is the last stanza, that heavenly music, what is it I hear? The notes of the harpers ring sweet in mine ear. And see, soft unfolding, those portals of gold, the king all arrayed in his beauty behold.

O give me, O give me the wings of a dove, to adore him, be near him, enwrapped with his love. I but wait for the summons. I list for the word. Hallelujah. Amen. Evermore with the Lord." Come on. How good is that? It's like, I don't want to live here forever. You know, there's that tech guy, that billionaire guy who's doing everything he can to try to live forever, eating just the precise amount of every particular food.

And he's monitoring every single aspect of his body that he possibly, he's worshiping the body. I mean, this is all ancient pagan stuff. Worshiping the self, worshiping the body. And here's someone with a proper perspective. It's like, no, I don't wanna be here.

This life, it's got enough woes. I'm ready to go to heaven. There's one way to get there. Acts 4.11, there is salvation in no one else besides Jesus. And there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

There's only one way. You have to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, came down in the flesh to die for your sins, was killed on the cross and then resurrected on the third day. If you believe that, congratulations, that's it.

The five solas. Sola is alone. Grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, scripture alone, glory to God alone. And you will know that you are doing those things when this poem speaks to you in a powerful way, because this poem is the opposite of what this

world of what the world is trying to tell you. The world wants you to live for this world, for the moment, and this is all there is and all that matters. When the Bible tells you this is but a fleeting moment, eternity is what we need to set our eyes on. Mike Slater.locals.com,

transcript commercial free on the website. Again, the poem, if you want to read it yourself or share it or have it William Augustus Mullenberg, M-U-H-L-E-N-B-E-R-G William Augustus Mullenberg, I would not live all way. Mullenberg, I would not live all way. Mike Slater dot locals.com.

 Have you seen the video of the CEO and HR Chief having an affair at the Coldplay concert? It's something to see sin, which they thought was in the darkness, exposed to the light so quickly. May this be a lesson for everyone: God is greater than a kiss cam.

Welcome to Politics by Faith, thank you for being here. Have you seen the video going around of what happened at the Coldplay concert? So someone was taking a video from somewhere in the stadium in Boston while the Kiss Cam was going around. Because it was a Kiss Cam. So the camera at the concert was going around and putting it on the big screen, people in

the audience. And the band was commenting on it and the camera focuses on a happy couple and the man is in the back they're both standing and the man is in the back and he's holding this woman in his arms they're both facing the stage and they're looking around they're having a grand time laughing big smiles euphoria euphoria and then when they both at the exact same time realize that they're on the big screen,

she covers her face and turns around and the man falls down to the ground.

Oh, look at these two.

All right, come on, you're okay.

Uh-oh, what?

Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy.

He was right on the first one. It was an affair. Now, very embarrassing, pretty funny seeing him get caught. But, if I may, I haven't heard anyone talk about their families. Now I don't know their situations exactly, but they were apparently both married. Oh, by the way, that's the CEO of a company,

some like tech startup company. That's the CEO and apparently that's the HR director. Apparently they were both married. I haven't heard anyone talk about the pain, as we laugh, but the pain that's being felt by their spouses.

And we have kids as well, and I don't know, again, the exact details, but that's all really sad. Now here is the apology that was written by the CEO. Listen to this. He said, I want to by the CEO. Listen to this. He said, I want to acknowledge the moment. This is so passive and not repentant.

I want to acknowledge the moment that's been circulating online and the disappointment it's caused. What was supposed to be a night of music and joy. No, it was supposed to be a night of you cheating on your wife. Was turned into a deeply personal mistake. Nope. The mistake happened way, way, way before the concert playing

out on a very public stage. It's the kiss cams fault. I want to sincerely apologize to my wife, my family, and the team at the company works for you deserve better for me as a partner, a father, and a leader, this is not who I want to be or how I want to represent the company. Again, he's really conflating the company and his family as one.

I'm taking time to reflect, to take accountability, and to figure out the next steps personally and professionally. I ask for privacy as I navigate that process. I also want to express how troubling it is that what should have been a private moment became public without my consent. Oh, no more kiss cams for anyone now?

Private moment. It wasn't a private moment. You were literally in public with someone who's not your wife. It was definitely not a private moment. And without your consent, when you you buy those tickets there's fine print on the back of those tickets that says you can be on you can be photographed i respect artists and

entertainers but i hope we can all think more deeply about the impact of turning someone else's life into a spectacle doesn't no one the camera guy didn't know you were cheating on your wife he's like oh there's a happy couple. Let's all like, right. As a friend once sang, lights will guide you home and ignite your bones and I will try to fix you. He quoted Coldplay in the,

like the lamest lyrics ever too. All right, so that's pathetic. I wanna give a moment to their spouses and kids. I Don't care about these two people's embarrassment they deserve the shame But I also want to steal a point from Daryl Harrison He wrote notice how happy they are in their sin because it's like three seconds before they realize they're on the camera

Notice how happy they are in their sin all it's like three seconds before they realize they're on the camera. Notice how happy they are in their sin, all smiles and hugs until they realize their sin has been exposed. They knew inherently that they were wrong. No one needed to tell them their own conscience having already convicted them. Hence why they instinctively and immediately attempted to hide themselves in shame. He's quoting Romans 2 15 in the front end there. Romans 2 15 says, they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day. When according to

my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, our conscience, it's written on our hearts. It's fascinating how we have a conscience and those two knew that what they were doing was wrong and sinful. Well, who are you to say they were saying, look how they reacted. They knew it was wrong.

We all do when it's exposed. I'll give an example from the other day, my shame. My patience is low with the kids. It was near the end of the day. And I spoke rudely, quickly, rudely to I think Jack and as soon as I did, you know, I was like, I don't know, Jack, it's inside somewhere, man.

You know, something like that. And as soon as I said it, I turned around and my neighbor was right next door, like three feet away from me, gardening at their house. Super embarrassing. And I should have acted like other people were watching, but that's not even it. I should have acted like God is always watching because he is, but we think we can hide.

Adam and Eve in the garden, of course, it's how ridiculous when they sinned and they first experienced shame, they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees in the garden. You can't hide from God. Achan, a famous one, right? He took some plunder from a victory and then hid it in his tent thinking he could get away

with it. God sees everything. And God would have seen their adultery their affair even if there was no kiss scam. You see how belief in God can kind of keep people in line too? We've lost that in our culture. That's why this guy blames the kiss scam not himself. John 3 19 Jesus says and this is the judgment the light has come

into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. These people loved the darkness. They loved the darkness of inside that stadium, away from their family, away from their spouses and kids. They thought it was a dark place,

but then the light shone on them. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. This is all in the Bible. Luke 12, 2 says, nothing is covered up that will not be revealed or hidden that will not

be known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light and what you've whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. What are you hiding? Stop trying to hide. It's exhausting.

And it doesn't work anyway. This one's maybe the most on the nose. This is Job 24. The murderer rises before his light. The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, no eye will see me.

Let's wait for the Coldilight saying no I will see me

let's wait for the Coldplay concert no one will see us there earlier in the chapter it says those there are those who rebel against the light who are not acquainted with its ways and do not stay in its paths. It's our job to not rebel against the light you can't win. Stay in its path. Don't write anything you wouldn't publish on Facebook for everyone to see. Don't do anything you wouldn't want your neighbors and friends to see that you wouldn't shout from the rooftops.

But more importantly, again, than other people and their shame, God is omniscient. No sin is hidden from him. I could end on that note, which is true, but I just want to add a note of good news too, although I think that's all good as well, but no sin is too great. That Jesus's death did not pay the price for it. Colossians 2 13 says, and you who were dead in your trespasses, God made alive together

with him. You were dead. Now you're made alive together with him. Having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. The Greek word here for all means each, every, any, the whole, everything, all things.

Jesus has you covered. But you have to repent first and bring it all to the light. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. I could end with a Coldplay line right here, but that would be lame. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Transcript commercial free on the website.

Transcript commercial free on the website. Mike Slater dot locals dot com.