Tag Archives: Golf Course Design and Maintenance

Pursue the Passion Within Your Heart in 2023

Posted on January 26, 2023 by expressyourself4him

There are certain people that you’ll meet in life who always knew what they wanted to do in life and are living out their dream today. The rest of us changed our minds numerous times, ended up taking a full-time position in a field outside of your major in college and are currently living paycheck to paycheck. While some of you may have prospered during the Coronavirus Pandemic, many businesses, dreams and expectations that had for living an abundant life on earth have vanished, John 10:10.

Keep on asking and it will be given you; [f] keep on seeking and you will find; [g]keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened, Matthew 7:7-8.

Perhaps, 2023 has comes just in time for you to begin to pursue the passions within your heart, Jeremiah 29:11. Back in high school, I wanted to become a golf course architect. My parents helped by purchasing two different software programs which enabled me to place twenty of my designs onto a computer. Following an internship in Golf Course Design and Maintenance, I discovered that unless I was a famous professional golfer, no one cared about my designs and visions for future golf courses.

And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Protect and defend and give me justice against my adversary. 4 And for a time he would not; but later he said to himself, Though I have neither reverence or fear for God nor respect or consideration for man, 5 Yet because this widow continues to bother me, I will defend and protect and avenge her, lest she give me [b]intolerable annoyance and wear me out by her continual coming or [c]at the last she come and rail on me or [d]assault me or [e]strangle me. 6 Then the Lord said, Listen to what the unjust judge says! 7 And will not [our just] God defend and protect and avenge His elect (His chosen ones), who cry to Him day and night? Will He [f]defer them and [g]delay help on their behalf? 8 I tell you, He will defend and protect and avenge them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [[h]persistence in] faith on the earth? – Luke 18:3-8

As I approach ten years from retirement, I have a decade to pursue the new passions within my heart. This quest begins by completing a screenplay that I began in 2021 about my father’s miraculous journey to America by fleeing the Russians who invaded his native Lithuania. Although the odds of becoming a professional screen writer are one in a million, my life experiences in the ministry might open some doors along the way. My other passion is to design a championship level disc golf course, bringing the brilliance of Alistair Mackenzie into modern day disc golf. Pray for me as I shoot for the stars.

by Jay Mankus

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The Tree of Life and Knowledge

Posted on November 28, 2022 by expressyourself4him

As a student at the University of Delaware who majored in Golf Course Design and Maintenance, I was forced to take Botany I and Botany II. These were probably two of the most boring classes that I ever experience, but I did learn tons about plants, especially their Latin names. Although I never studied the Tree of Life or Tree of Knowledge, I did learn about the century year old trees on campus. According to Revelation 22:1-2, the Tree of Life will bear 12 different kinds of fruit.

And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight or to be desired—good (suitable, pleasant) for food; the tree of life also in the center of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of [the difference between] good and evil and blessing and calamity, Genesis 2:9.

This miracle tree will yield a different fruit each month. Meanwhile, John infers that the leaves of the Tree of Life have the ability to heal nations. On the other hand, the Tree of Knowledge is thought to be a fig tree based upon Jewish and Christian traditions. I’m not sure what caused Eve to stare at a particular fig, low bearing fruit? Perhaps, hunger led to a second glance that planted the seed of sin within Eve’s heart. At some point, Adam and Eve talked about this as both gave in without a second thought.

 Blessed (happy and [c]to be envied) are those who cleanse their garments, that they may have the authority and right to [approach] the tree of life and to enter through the gates into the city, Revelation 22:14.

My favorite modern tree is the Japanese Cherry Tree. For the past 25 years, each Spring I waited for the pink flowers to bloom. While millions flock to Washington, D.C. each March to see white and pink cherry trees in full blown, all I had to do was walk out of my front door. Over the years, my kids have taken pictures in this tree to mark their growth. Since we moved this summer, next spring we’ll have to find another tree to celebrate. Then again, there will the tree of life awaiting in heaven.

by Jay Mankus

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Experts in the Wrong Field

Posted on August 16, 2021 by expressyourself4him

I changed my major 3 times in my first three years of college. My indecision forced me to spend five years for my under graduate degree instead of 4. Meanwhile, by the time my I completed my internship in golf course design and maintenance, I realized that I had become an expert in the wrong field. By the mid 1990’s most golf clubs wanted to hire former famous members of the PGA Tour rather than a no name golf course architect.

Did that which is good then prove fatal [bringing death] to me? Certainly not! It was sin, working death in me by using this good thing [as a weapon], in order that through the commandment sin might be shown up clearly to be sin, that the extreme malignity and immeasurable sinfulness of sin might plainly appear. 14 We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a creature of the flesh [carnal, unspiritual], having been sold into slavery under [the control of] sin, Romans 7:13-14.

In one chapter of the Bible, the apostle Paul makes an ironic confession. This individual called by God to become a special messenger to spread the good news about Jesus reveals his own addiction to sin. Despite his missionary journeys and special connection with some of Jesus’ disciples, Paul was an expert in the wrong field (SIN). An entire chapter of his letter to the Church at Rome reveals Paul’s internal battle.

However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin [principle] which is at home in me and has possession of me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.] 19 For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing, Romans 7:17-19.

Romans 7 depicts Paul as an average human being struggling to get by. Perhaps, conviction consumed Paul to finally let the cat out of the bag, that he didn’t have everything together. Instead of living a lie, Paul comes clean to open up about how sin was controlling his life. While not many people want to admit it, we are all experts in the field of sin, Romans 3:23. Although you may try to conceal this, don’t be afraid to come out of the closet as an expert in the wrong field so that other people who hear your confession may be encouraged to make a u-turn back to God.

by Jay Mankus

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Living by Design… Not by Default

Posted on September 18, 2018 by expressyourself4him

I changed my major three times before my junior year of college.  Initially, I went into Business Administration, then Civil Engineering before deciding upon Recreation and Parks Administration.  This indecision forced me to take the five year plan, spending one semester doing an internship in Golf Course Design and Maintenance.  With most of my friends in Cleveland back at school, I volunteered at a local church 2 days a week as an informal youth ministry internship.

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse, Romans 1:20.

After graduating in May of 1992, the default position was to accept an apprenticeship in Boston, Massachusetts.  The company performing the redesign in Cleveland wanted me to become familiar with running all of the high tech equipment before guaranteeing a salary.  Unsure of where I would live and how I would I survive without getting paid for six months, I declined this offer.  Instead, I trusted the Holy Spirit to live by God’s design.  This choice led to a position as the Work Camp Coordinator for Inner city Wilmington, Delaware.  While the pay was puny, the experience was life changing.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, Romans 8:28-29.

Looking back over the past 25 years, I wish I could say that I have followed God’s will throughout my life.  Unfortunately, the older you become, life gets more complicated.  Living by design requires sacrifices that I have been unwilling to submit to and take.  Thus, I find myself today living by default, living pay check to pay check without much purpose or reason.  Although I can’t go back and change the decisions that I have made in the past, I can alter my current course.  Therefore, I urge anyone struggling to find meaning in life to starting living by God’s design, Romans 12:1-2.  Reflect, pray and ask God for vision so that you can begin to seize each day through a life devoted to living by God’s design.

by Jay Mankus

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