The golf world and the First Church was rocked by the news today that Tiger is out for the year. Considering the obvious pain he was in during his epic U.S. Open playoff victory just two days ago and his declaration that he was “shutting it down for a while,” the news was not all together shocking, but the details were.

We have now learned that Tiger somehow (details are still missing) suffered a double stress fracture in his left tibia just two weeks before the U.S. Open. He was apparently told by doctors not to play and, according to his coach Hank Haney responded defiantly (in a quote that would be rejected even by a Hollywood screenwriter), “I’M PLAYING THE U.S. OPEN, AND I’M GOING TO WIN.”

“And then he started putting on his shoes,” Haney recalled. “He looked at me and said, ‘Come on, Hank. We’ll just putt today.’ Every night, I kept thinking there was no chance he’s going to play. He had to stop in his tracks for 30 seconds walking from the dining room table to the refrigerator.

“He was not going to miss the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. There just wasn’t any discussion.”

The are at least three angles to this story and at least two of them are actually positive.

The first is that his victory at the Open, which, based on his two month layoff and his enduring of incredible pain alone, already deserved to go down as one of the most amazing athletic achievements in sports (if not life), is now vaulted into the realm of true legend. In fact, this story is so amazing it is impossible to imagine how it could even theoretically be exaggerated as it inevitably passes into mythology.

Secondly, the Pastor has been rather pessimistic about the long term prospects for Tiger’s career based on what we all saw at the Open (and has received quite a few e-mail from fellow followers insisting he has lost his faith). However, today’s news (if true) actually, while horrible in the short run, seems to be good news for the future. The Pastor could not understand how Tiger could be in such pain if there was any real hope of total healing (and if there was hope of that, why Tiger would bother playing the Open at all). This was based on the premise that the source of the pain was the ligaments and/or cartilage in the knee and that after three surgeries they were simply shot.

What we apparently learned today is that the bulk of the pain was from the fractured tibia which can heal fully and that the ACL is going to be repaired in a way that may not create huge long term problems. This is obviously very good news for the future and Tiger’s historical quest to break every major golf record.

Thirdly, and least positively, is of course the reality that we will be without Tiger Woods for the remainder of 2008. He will miss at least two majors and a Ryder Cup at the age of 32 and in the absolute prime of his career. While, assuming he recovers to near 100% of what he was, the race to surpass Nicklaus’ mark of 18 professional majors should only be delayed and not derailed, we are still being robbed of what should be some of Tiger’s very best.

On a personal note, the Pastor is likely going to cancel a planned trip to the Ryder Cup and will have an awful lot of time on his hands during what he already expected to be a difficult period. This was not a good time for Tiger to take nine months off.

From the religious perspective there are two things to keep in mind here.

First, Tiger does turn 33 this year, which is a year that was obviously not good for Jesus of Nazareth as well as many other bright lights that were extinguished far too early. The Pastor has always feared that something tragic would befall Tiger and take him (or at least his talents) away from us prematurely. The Pastor certainly hopes that this situation is not that event.

Secondly, if there is an obvious lesson here it is to appreciate what you have when you still have it because no matter how great and indestructible it may seem, it can all be gone in an instant.

Is that the lesson Tiger is trying to teach us through this? Who knows. But there is no doubt we should savor every moment we have to witness his greatness and certainly appreciate even more what he accomplished at the U.S. Open.

Will we ever see Tiger at his very best again? Is his pursuit of perfection now over and will be reduced to having to compete as a mere mortal? Or will he once again defy the critics and rise above expectations to provide us many more memorable moments?

Unfortunately we will have to be very patient for the answers to these and many other questions, but, if history is any guide, Tiger will likely make it all well worth the wait.