Focus on the Family

Guest (Female): Your marriage can be healed. A Hope Restored marriage intensive from Focus on the Family can transform you and your spouse's relationship in just a few days.

Guest (Male): We'll go to this thing, but this is it. If this doesn't work, we're done. What we have now is way more than we ever had before and that I ever even dreamed of in the marriage.

Guest (Female): Discover more at hoperestored.com. That's hoperestored.com.

Guest (Male): The following program is sponsored by Focus on the Family and is supported by the prayers and financial gifts of wonderful friends like you.

John Fuller: This is John Fuller, and please remember to let us know how you're listening to these programs on a podcast, app, or website.

Bernhard Langer: Isn't there more to life than just a few years we live on this earth? There's got to be more. There's more than just making money or being successful. There are just far more important things, as I said. Where do we spend eternity? That should be one of the big questions we should all ask.

John Fuller: That's two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer sharing about the most important thing in life: eternity and your relationship with Jesus Christ. He's our guest today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly and I'm John Fuller.

Jim Daly: Thankfully, I was able to meet up with Bernhard last year while he was here in Colorado Springs at a PGA Tour of Champions at the Broadmoor. He was so gracious to agree to tape before he started his second or third round. I'd be like, "What? I can't do that," but he was very gracious.

He has quite a story growing up in humble beginnings in Germany, working as a caddy as a young man, and then falling in love with golf. Through a lot of hard work, he made it to the top of his sport and now he is in his late 60s. He is one of the winningest players in history. I'm not sure if that's grammatically correct, but it conveys the idea. Of course, he landed in the World Golf Hall of Fame, which is a great honor.

But the thing that changed his life and his family's life forever was an encounter with Jesus Christ, and you'll hear that story today.

John Fuller: Bernhard is known as the father of German golf and he's now in his 20th season on the PGA Tour of Champions. He is the second all-time winner on the European tour and he played in his final Masters tournament last year. With that event underway this week, it seemed like a great time for us to share this conversation on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.

Jim Daly: You came out of the womb kind of swinging because your mother had a diagnosis of a high-risk pregnancy. What was going on there?

Bernhard Langer: I wasn't supposed to come out of the womb. My mother had one son who passed away when he was three months. Then she had another son who lives; he's my older brother, five years older and my manager. Then she had another one, our sister Maria.

When she had her, she was told by the doctor, "You should never have another child. No more pregnancy because you will die and your child will die, and then you leave a husband with two little kids behind." But they were strong Catholics and in those days you didn't abort, period. So she got pregnant and that was me. The doctor said, "You've got to get rid of this pregnancy of this child," and she said, "No, I'm not doing it."

Jim Daly: Bernhard, that attitude—at Focus on the Family, we are an organization dedicated to fight for those preborn babies and their moms. So I really appreciate that. I was born into a poor family. I was the last born. My mom was 42 when she had me. Doctors tried to talk her into aborting me. We both sit here making it through that gateway into life. Does it give you a special insight or drive about that passion for life?

Bernhard Langer: It certainly does. I think in my case, I believe there was spiritual warfare from the very first day. The evil one didn't want me to be alive. At least, that's how I see it.

Jim Daly: I think it's accurate. The scripture says in John 10:10, "The thief," meaning Satan, "comes to steal, kill, and destroy," and he had you right at the top of his list, it sounds like.

Moving along from there, you're just a couple of years older than me, but that was post-war Germany. What was that environment like as a little boy growing up in what was a rebounding country?

Bernhard Langer: It was very difficult in terms of we didn't have anything. My dad didn't have a car until I was 12; that's when he could afford his first car. We didn't have a television until I was eight, and it was black and white with three channels.

We never really lacked food because my parents worked both very hard to provide food. But in terms of clothing, I don't think I got new shoes until I was about 12 or 14. We didn't even have a bathroom in the house initially that they built with their own hands—this tiny little house because my dad was a bricklayer. We had an outhouse and we used newspaper and stuff like that.

Jim Daly: In Germany, you had the draft, so you had to do a compulsory military time. There's where you first had a setback physically. What happened in all that context?

Bernhard Langer: It was for me the worst time of my life next to having the yips. I was 18 when I finished my apprenticeship as an assistant pro. I got my diploma as a head professional and I thought I was going to make a living teaching golf.

I won the German National Closed Championship when I was 17 and a businessman in Cologne said, "If you're interested in playing the European Tour, just playing tournaments, I will help you financially." I said, "That sounds exciting." So I contacted him and he sponsored me. We struck a deal and at age 18, I went to the European Tour.

One year on the European Tour, I did okay, finished 56th on the money list and got exempt for the following year. Then I got drafted into the Air Force. I was 19 years old. That meant my whole career got put on hold for 15 months.

The first three months was boot camp. One particular morning, they said, "Today we're going to march all day long." It was in January, frozen ground. 30-pound backpack, rifle, and we go out there walking around the fields and into the woods.

The guy in charge, not even 20 years old, was in charge. He said, "Today we're practicing low airplane attack." We asked, "What does that mean?" He said, "Low enemy airplanes flying at you, shooting machine gun bullets at you. You throw yourself on the ground as quick as you can so you're a smaller target than standing up."

He showed us to throw ourselves on the ground, and we did that hundreds of times. Now imagine a 30-pound backpack and a rifle. Every time you hit the ground, that backpack does that into your back.

I made it through that day. Next morning, 6:00, the alarm went off. I tried to get out of bed and I couldn't. I was in excruciating pain. I couldn't lift my hand, couldn't lift my foot, couldn't roll, couldn't do anything. I was sharing a room with seven others; we were eight in a room.

They said, "Get out! Get up! They're going to give you hell if you don't get up. You know you've got to be on time." I said, "I can't. I can't." They thought I was joking because they were drunk most nights because they treated us so bad. It was a coping mechanism.

And I didn't do that. Anyways, finally an officer came and said, "We know you're just acting like you're in pain or something." I said, "No, I'm in pain, I can't move." Anyways, make a long story short, they called the ambulance and sent me to the hospital. I had a stress fracture in my lower back, L4, L5, and two bulging discs.

I spent six weeks in the hospital with my feet hung up to take the pressure off and I thought I was done. I thought my golf career was over. But I was able to get back, do some rehab, and to this day have not had a back operation even though I've had lots of back problems in the years to come as well.

Jim Daly: That's amazing that you were able to overcome that. Usually, that is a sports-ending career. Let's move to the Masters. I've had a chance to play Augusta—not in the Masters, but played Augusta. It's a beautiful course. It's kind of the dream. I called it the Disneyland for golfers. You just step onto the property and boom, you're in a special place.

That's kind of where a lot of spiritual things happened for you as well. You won it, I think it was in 1985.

Bernhard Langer: I won in '85 after finishing in second in the British Open twice, just in '84 and '81, I think. On the ninth hole, I walked to the 10th tee box and I had a quick glance and there's this big leaderboard and I saw Curtis Strange at the top and I was next.

I said on a live camera and all that, "Jesus Christ, I couldn't believe I was four shots behind Curtis Strange." I thought nothing of it. I thought it was just a powerful expression.

But that night I couldn't sleep at all. And the next night, and the next night. I'm going, "What's going on? You've just become a major champion, it's what you've dreamed about. You just got married a year ago, you've got a beautiful young wife, you have money, you have cars, you're on top of the world." I was ranked number one in the world when the world rankings came out shortly afterwards.

I had everything this world could offer for a 27-year-old and more. But I had an emptiness and I had no idea what it was, no clue. So we drove to Hilton Head for the next tournament. I played a practice round with Bobby Clampett who was one of the young superstars at the time. He was supposed to be the next Jack Nicklaus.

He was a believer. So we finished our practice round on Tuesday and he goes, "Bernie, why don't you come to the Bible study on Wednesday night, tomorrow night?" I go, "Bible study? What exactly are you doing?" I grew up Catholic. I didn't have my own Bible. I went to church, confession, and tried to be a good boy, a good human being.

He said, "We have this chaplain, Larry Moody is his name, and he comes every Wednesday. We spend an hour together and he either teaches out of the Bible or about a topic that can relate to our lives." I was very vague. I said, "Well, Bobby, I'm not sure I'm going to come, but thanks for the invite. I'll talk to my wife, Vicky, and we'll see."

I mentioned it to Vicky. We decided to go. We had nothing else to do Wednesday night. Another story before I continue with that is three days earlier on Sunday evening when I made that comment, "Jesus Christ, Curtis Strange is four shots ahead of me." Larry Moody, the chaplain, and Scott Simpson, another believer, were watching on TV. They heard me swear on international television. They said, "Let's pray for this German fellow that one day he would use Jesus Christ in a different way."

Here I am three days later walking into the Bible study that Larry Moody is teaching and Scott Simpson, who was a skeptic for three and a half years, is there. He went to the Bible study to prove that the Christians are all idiots and they need a crutch and Christianity is rubbish. It took him three and a half years to become a Christian.

John Fuller: This is Focus on the Family with Jim Daly and today we're listening to Bernhard Langer as he shares the struggles and the successes he encountered on his way to becoming a professional golfer. Now at this point in the journey, he hadn't yet surrendered his life to Christ, but you're about to hear how God entered Bernhard's life and heart and filled that spiritual void that had been there for so long.

If you're inspired by this testimony we're hearing today, check out more faith-filled stories from athletes and sportscasters in our Sports and Faith audio collection. It's free when you sign up and you'll hear interviews with John Smoltz, Scott Hamilton, Ernie Johnson, Kirk Cousins, and others. Visit focusonthefamily.com/broadcast for the link or call 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY. And now let's go ahead and continue listening as Jim talks to Bernhard about how he discovered Christ at the height of his career.

Bernhard Langer: Anyways, I walk into the room and what does Larry Moody teach on? John 3:3. "You have to be born again." If he had taught of anything else, I would have said, "Yeah, I've heard that before. I heard that Sermon on the Mount, I heard Jesus did this wonder or that. I've been going to church for 25 years."

But he was teaching about born again and the Catholic church where I grew up never talked about being born again. They talked about being a good person or earning your way there. The Bible says nobody can earn their way there, no one.

So I was very curious. I wanted to know the truth. So I went to Larry Moody after the study and said, "What kind of Bible are you using?" He flipped it over and said, "It's the NIV, New International Version, but they all more or less say the same thing no matter what version you get." He says, "I recommend you buy your own Bible and start studying. If you have questions, you can ask me."

Make a long story short, about three months later, after going to more Bible studies, starting reading the Bible, it was very clear to me that I had to be born again and that I was never good enough on my own to earn my way to heaven. But Jesus did all that for me. I just had to believe in him. So I got on my knees, prayed the prayer, the acceptance prayer, and that emptiness that I had was gone.

I mean, that's so—I could see the emotion in your face even today, all those years ago. But that ability to leap to a point of faith, it's an amazing transition. That hole in your heart—so many people have that hole in their heart. I've talked to gay activists and they've talked about, "If we just get marriage, it'll fill that void in our heart," and I will say to them, "I don't think that'll do it." And sure enough, to their credit, a couple of them came back to talk to me and said, "It's not filling that space."

Like me, I had everything. I had everything you could earthly have. More than I could even have imagined coming from a little village and being a bricklayer's son, being a multimillionaire and playing golf with kings and queens and the heads of state and having success all over the world and all that. It's like incredible, but I still had that emptiness because God was missing in my life.

Scott Simpson actually has been a supporter of Focus on the Family, your friend the golfer. What a great guy. In that regard, you've had so much success in every direction. I just met your son and his wife and your little granddaughter who is so charming. She's a bundle of energy.

So often we look at that and we see this in Proverbs. Is that a great source of joy for you, your four children, your grandchildren? When you think of your family, just speak to the importance of that.

Bernhard Langer: Absolutely, family was always important to me and besides God, my next priority really. So we're very blessed that all of our children believe in God. We have now four grandkids, which is a whole 'nother story. It just gives you purpose on top of obviously sharing the good news.

But one thing I also wanted to mention: when I became a believer, my brother was my manager, five years older than me. He was watching me like a hawk. He thought I'd fallen into the deep end, I'd joined a sect or something like that. He told me that a year and a half later.

He says, "I've been watching you and I was really worried about you, but I want what you've got." So he became a believer, my parents became believers. There's a story about—I built a home in Germany, my wife and I, because I thought I was going to play on the European Tour, not the US Tour.

We had this staircase, wooden staircase going up and put a little niche in the wall and we put—this was before I was a believer—we put Mary in there. Wood carving from Oberammergau with Mother Mary with the Jesus because that's what Catholics often pray to.

One day when I became a believer, I didn't want to pray to Mary anymore. So I took the wood carving out of there and put it in the attic. My mother sees Mary is missing. She goes, "Where's Mary?" I say, "Sit down."

So we had a long discussion. I said, "Where in the Bible does it say I have to pray to Mary? If you can show it to me, I will pray to Mary, but if not, then accept Mary is gone and pray to Jesus, pray to God, because you don't have to go through Mary to get to God, you can pray directly to him."

So we had many discussions along that line and finally they all turned to become believers. That's a life well lived. That emotion that you have—but what a beautiful thing God allowed in your life to draw your family into relationship with him all through your perseverance.

I think the Bible talks about that, right? There's blessings of a thousand generations or many generations, but there can also be curses.

Probably right here at the end, that idea of legacy—we've touched on it a bit, but when you look back, you've had it all. You're still doing great, winning tournaments, making money. At 67, you're still doing great. But when you look at it overall, that legacy that you hope your children, your grandchildren, all the great-great-grandchildren that are going to see that you were their great-great-great grandpa—look what he accomplished. But what would you say to them that they have to know in that context, and that's speaking to the rest of us as well? You've got the money, you've got the fame, but most importantly, you have the Lord.

Bernhard Langer: You have to have a personal relationship with Jesus. That's really what matters because it's all about him. He created us for a purpose. We're his. We're only living on this in this world for whatever amount of time it is. It's like a little dot on a long line of eternity.

The big question is where do you spend eternity, in hell or in heaven? How do you live your life here on earth? We're so—and I include myself—we're so focused on what we're doing today and if things go wrong, we get upset, instead of having an eternal view, we have a worldly view. I fall into that trap many times, like right now I'm focused on the US Senior Open because that's what I'm going to do.

You're teeing off in a couple of hours so sorry we interrupted that, but we're grateful, that's for sure. We're so caught up and the evil one has an amazing way of keeping us busy. We have these iPhones, handies, I mean we can be reached day and night and it takes our time and we don't spend enough time anymore reading the Bible or just being still, spending time with God, which should be the priority of our lives.

The evil one's keeping us busy. We keep ourselves busy and it's less and less of that. Sadly, I have to say I've lived in America now 40 years. This country was built on spiritual principles: "In God we trust." Many are moving away from that and it's not doing us any good.

Jim Daly: I totally agree on that. The opportunity to share Christ, as Scott Simpson did with you and other players that are Christians—Mark O'Meara, I know there's a number of really solid believers both in the younger PGA Tour but also the Senior Tour. Have you been emboldened to do that? Are you able to talk to other players to say, "Hey, I was where you're at, but let me share with you"?

Bernhard Langer: Absolutely. We still have Bible study every Wednesday or Thursday depending what tour you play on. We just had one actually last night here at Colorado Springs. We always try to encourage non-believers to think about it, those that are sitting on the fence or just find the truth.

Isn't there more to life than just a few years we live on this earth? There's got to be more. There's more than just making money or being successful. There are just far more important things, as I said. Where do we spend eternity? That should be one of the big questions we should all ask. It's the question.

We have been extremely blessed by Larry Moody, the chaplain. He was the chaplain on the PGA Tour for over 40 years. He ministered to Scott Simpson, Larry Nelson, Tom Lehman, on and on. There's a list of Larry Mize—I mean I'm only mentioning a handful, there's dozens and dozens that he's poured into.

He's still doing it now on the Champions Tour. He's been out here over 10 years. Faithful service, yes, very much and very solid, great foundation.

Jim Daly: Well, Bernhard, we so appreciate you being with us. We know you've got to go do your thing, but thank you first and foremost for just standing for Christ unashamedly. When you look back to that comment at the Masters of using his name in vain, do you feel that forgiveness? Do you know the Lord said, "Okay"?

Bernhard Langer: Absolutely. I felt that forgiveness as soon as I accepted him. I felt like he promised: all of our sins are forgiven, past, present, and future if you accept him and you repent.

The one thing we didn't discuss and I hope I have one more minute: the second time I won the Masters in '93, eight years later, I was a Christian. They take me to Butler Cabin again and the question was, "Is the first victory more important or your second Masters, which one means more?"

I said something along the lines of, "They're both very important. The first one is the first time I became a major champion, but to me personally, the second one is more important because it's Easter Sunday today and we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

I believe I'm the only guy in Butler Cabin on interviews that mentioned Jesus Christ twice, once in a bad way, once in a good way.

Jim Daly: I love the sense of humor in that and I believe God understands, certainly forgives you, and what a wonderful testimony. Bernhard, thank you so much for being with us.

Bernhard Langer: Thanks for having me.

John Fuller: What an inspiring conversation today with Bernhard Langer on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, and what a great visit, Jim.

Jim Daly: It was so much fun, especially being at the Broadmoor and being with the senior PGA guys. That's who was playing that day. Again, it was so nice of Bernhard to take time before he went out on his round during competition. Just incredible, just a few hundred thousand on the line, but it was amazing and he was so generous.

But what was so good is how much he loves the Lord. I mean, he's had a profound change in who he was from center to believer. That's what he talked about. It was awesome and that's what's most important to him, not the trophies and the money and all those things.

He said it so well right there at the end: if you haven't explored what it means to be a Christian and put your faith in Christ, you might want to think about doing that before your last breath. Now is the best time to start. If you're in that spot and you've never considered "Is Jesus who he said he was and is?" I'd like to encourage you to come to our website. We have an online article called Coming Home, which explains how to start that relationship with Jesus Christ.

Then also Bernhard told us the story of his mother being encouraged by doctors to abort him as a baby. Think of that. She and her husband thankfully didn't give in to that doctor's pressure. Focus on the Family has a wonderful program called Option Ultrasound that provides ultrasound machines and training for pregnancy centers. Together, we encourage women to choose life for their child.

Over 20 years, we've been at this and we know the metrics: it takes $60 to save a baby's life through Option Ultrasound. Jean and I support that every month. I hope you can consider saving a baby for $60.

John Fuller: Call today to donate and to find that article, Coming Home. The number is 800-232-6459, 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY, or stop by focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. On behalf of the entire team, thanks for joining us today for Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I'm John Fuller, inviting you back next time as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.