Mm. Is your marriage struggling? Communication breaking down? Trust fading? Conflict that never seems to resolve?
There's still hope. Hope Restored marriage intensives by focus on the family help couples step away from daily life and focus fully on rebuilding their relationship. And right now, through the Marriage Investment Initiative, Hope Restored is investing $1,000 toward marriage intensives. Visit hoperestored.com/slash marriage-investment. Isn't there more to life than just the few years we live on this earth?
There's gotta be more and um There's more than just making money or being successful. Just five more important things as I said, you know, where do we spend eternity? That should be one of the big questions we should all ask. Hmm. That's two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer sharing about the most important thing in life, eternity.
In your relationship with Jesus Christ. He's our guest today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, and I'm John Fuller. Yeah, thankfully, I was able to meet up with Bernard 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, I think, second or third round. Oh, my goodness.
Yeah, 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. And 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 most winningest players in history. I'm not sure if that's grammatically correct. He raised the idea. Yeah. And 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. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Bernard.
Is known as the father of German golf, and he's now in his 20th season on the PGA Tour of Champions, the second all-time winner on the European Tour. And he played in his final Masters' Tournament last year. And 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. You came out of the womb. Kind of swinging because your mother had a diagnosis of a high-risk pregnancy.
What what was going on there? And I wasn't supposed to come out of the womb. My mother had. One son, he passed away when he was three months. Then she had another son.
That lives, he's my older brother now, five years older, and my manager. Then we she had another one, our sister, Maria, and 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 uh they were strong Catholics and In those days you didn't abort. Period. She got pregnant and that was me.
And so now the doctor says you gotta get Rid of this pregnancy of this child and she says No, I'm not doing it. Yeah. Bernhard, that attitude, focus on the family. We are an organization dedicated to fight for those pre-born babies and their moms.
So I really appreciate that. I always, you know, 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.
And you know, 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?
Well, it certainly does. And I think in my case, I believe there was spiritual warfare from the very first day. You know. The evil one didn't want me to be alive. And at least that's how I see it.
Oh, 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.
So moving along from there, you were 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 like a rebounding country? It was very difficult in terms of we didn't have anything. I mean, my dad didn't have a car till I was 12. That's when he could afford his first car.
We didn't have a television till I was eight, and it was black and white with three channels. You know, things like that. 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 till I was about 12 or 14. Yeah. 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, you know, stuff like that.
So it was.
Now in Germany, you had, I believe, the draft, so you had to do a compulsory military time. But there's where you first had a setback physically. What happened in all that kind of thing? Yeah, it was for me the worst time of my life next to having the Yips. But.
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. But I won the German National Clothes Championship when I was 17 and A businessman in Cologne said, If you're interested in playing the European tour, just play in tournaments, I will help you financially. I said, Ooh, that sounds exciting. And so I contacted him, he sponsored me, we struck a deal.
And at age eighteen I went to the European Tour.
So one year on the European Tour, I I did okay, finished fifty six 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. And the first three months was uh boot camp. And one particular morning they said, okay, today we're going to march all day long.
It was in January, frozen ground. Similar to here, sometimes snow, sometimes frost. 30-pound backpack rifle, and we go out there walking around the fields and into the woods. And the guy in charge, you know, basically not even 20 years old or whatever, but he was in charge. He said, today we're practicing low airplane attack.
And we said, so what does that mean? He goes, well, 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.
So he showed us, throw yourself on the ground, and we did that hundreds of times.
Now, imagine. 30 pound backpack. Rifle. Every time you hit the ground, that backpack does that, right? Into your back.
So I made it through that day.
Next morning, six o'clock, the alarm went off. I tried to get out of bed and I couldn't. I was in excruciating pain. Couldn't lift my hand, couldn't lift my foot. couldn't roll, couldn't do anything.
So I was sharing a room with seven others. We were eight in a room. And they say, 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 say, I can't. I can't and they, you know, they thought I was joking because they were drunk most nights because they treated us so bad that, you know. Coping mechanism. Exactly.
So And I didn't do that. Anyways. Uh finally an officer came and said, you know, we know you 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, sent me to the hospital, had a stress fracture.
In my Lower back L4, L5, and two bulging disc.
So six weeks in the hospital with my feet hung up so 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, uh do some rehab and To this day, I have not had a back operation, even though I've had lots of back problems in the years to come as well. That's amazing that you were able to overcome that. I mean, that usually is a sports-ending career.
Let's move to the Masters. I've had a chance to play the Masters, not in the Masters, but play Augusta. I needed to correct that very quickly, didn't I? But it's beautiful course. It's kind of the dream.
I called it the Disneyland for golfers, right? You just, you step onto the property and boom, you're in a special place. But that's kind of where a lot of spiritual things happen for you as well, right? I mean, that you won it, I think it was in 1985. It was, yeah.
I won in eighty five after finishing in second in the British Open twice, just in eighty four and eighty one, I think. But on the ninth hole, I walked to the tenth T 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 think. And I said on life Camera and all that. Jesus Christ, I couldn't believe I was four shots behind Curtis Range. And I saw nothing of it. I thought it was just a powerful expression.
Uh but That night, I couldn't sleep at all. And the next night, and the next night, and I'm gone. What's going on? You know, you've just become a major champion, is what you've. dreamed about and you just got married a year ago, you got beautiful young women 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 Hubnet 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 Czech Nicholas. He was a believer, so we finished our practice round on Tuesday and he goes, Uh Bernie, why don't you come to the Bible study on Wednesday night, tomorrow night? And I go, Bible study?
What exactly are you doing? You know, I grew up Catholic. I didn't have my own Bible. I went to church, confession. try to be a good boy, kind of good human being.
So He said, Oh, we have this chaplain, Larry Moody is his name, and uh he comes every Wednesday. We spend an hour together and he either teaches out of the Bible or about a topic, you know, that can relate to our lives.
So 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 weekend, we'll see. 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, Kurt is strange. There's four shots ahead of me. Larry Moody, the chaplain, and Scott Simpson, another believer, were watching on TV. And uh you know they heard me swear on national international television and they said, Let's pray for this German fellow.
uh that one day he would use Jesus Christ in a different way. Wow. And 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 he went to the Bible study to prove that the Christians are all idiots and they need a crutch.
And Christianity is rubbish. Took him three and a half years to become a Christian. 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 thought of anything else.
I would have said, yeah, I've heard that before. I heard that Sermon on the Mount. I heard You know Jesus did this wonder or that. I've been going to church for Twenty-five 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, earning your way there. And 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? And he flipped it over and said, oh, it's the NIV, new international version. But they all more or less say the same thing no matter what. Version you get, and he says, I recommend you buy your own Bible and start studying. And if you have questions, you can ask me.
To make a long story short, about three months later after going to more Bible studies. started reading the Bible, it was uh 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. Yeah. I mean, that's so. I could see the emotion in your face even today, those years ago, but that ability to. leap to a point of faith.
It's an amazing transition, right? That hole in your heart.
So many people, Bernard, have that hole in their heart. I've talked to gay activists and they've talked about, you know, if we just get married, 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, talked to me, and said, it's not filling that space. Right.
Well, it's like me, I had everything, you know, I had everything you could do. Right.
Earthly. Everything you could, I had more than I could even have imagined coming from a little village and being a bricklayer's son, uh be you know, being a multi-millionaire 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. And what an amazing transition. Scott Simpson actually has been a supporter of Focus on the Family. Your friend, the golfer.
Yeah, what a great guy. In that regard, I mean, 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, we see this in Proverbs. Is that a great source of joy for you, your four children, your grandchildren? I mean, when you think of your family, just speak to the importance of that. Oh, absolutely. Family was always important to me, and, you know.
Besides God, my next priority really.
So we're very blessed that all of our children believe in God. And we have now four grandkids, which is a whole nother Story is just gives you purpose, you know, on top of obviously sharing the good news. But one thing I also wanted to mention, you know, when I became a believer, my brother was my manager, five years older than me. And he was watching me like a hawk. He thought I'd fallen into the deep end.
I've joined a sect or something like that. And 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 uh I want what you got.
Wow. That's terrific. He became a believer, my parents became believers. I mean, there's a story, but sorry. No, I appreciate the emotion.
It's real. We 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. And we had the staircase, wooden staircase, going up and put a little niche in the wall and we put a... This was before I was a believer. Put Mary in there, you know, wood carving from over Amerigao.
Over Amagao was Mother Mary with the Jesus. Because that's what Catholics often pray to, right?
Well 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 Saddhab.
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 be come believers. Oh man, that is exciting. That's just a life well led. And I mean, even again, that emotion that you have, but what a beautiful thing, God. allowed in your life to draw your family into relationship with him.
Yeah, through your perseverance. I think the Bible talks about that, right? There's blessings of... A thousand generations, or many generations, you know. Uh and but they 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, 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-grandpa, right? Look what he accomplished.
But what would you say to them that they have to know? But 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. Yeah, you have to have a personal relationship with Jesus. That's really what matters because.
It's all about him. You know, he created us for a purpose. were 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.
So the big question is where do you spend eternity? in hell or in heaven? And how do you live your life here on earth? You know, we're, and I including myself, we're so focused on What we're doing today, and if things go wrong, we get upset, and instead of having An eternal view, we have a worldly view. And I fall into that trap many times.
Like right now, I'm focused on the US Senior Open because that's what I'm gonna do.
Well, you're teeing off in a couple hours, so sorry we interrupted that. We're grateful, that's for sure. It's not, but that's just, you know, we're so caught up. And the evil one has a amazing way of keeping us busy. You know, we have these iPhones, handies, I mean, we can be reached day and night.
takes our time and and we don't spend enough time anymore reading the Bible. Been 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.
And sadly, I have to say, I've lived in America now 40 years. You know, this country was built on Spiritual principles, right? And God we trust. Yeah. Many are moving away from that, and it's not doing us any good.
Yeah, I totally agree on that. The opportunity to share Christ, as Scott Simpson did with you and other players that are Christian, 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 I was where you're at, but let me share with you.
Yes, you know, we still have Bible study every Wednesday or Thursday, depending what tour you play on. We just had one actually last night here at uh Colorado Springs. And yeah, 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 the few years we live on this earth?
There's got to be more. There's more than just making money or being successful. Just five more important things, as I said, you know, where do we spend eternity? That should be one of the big questions we should all ask. And we have been extremely blessed by Larry Moody, the chaplain.
He was the chaplain on the PCA tour for over 40 years. You know, he ministered to Scott Simpson, Larry Nelson, Tom Lehman. On and on. There's a list of Larry Mais. I mean, I'm only mentioning a handful.
There's dozens and dozens that he's. poured into And he's still doing it now on the Champions Tour. He's been out here over 10 years. Oh, wow.
So, you know. Faithful service. Yes, very much. And very solid, you know, great foundation.
Well, Bernard, we so appreciate you being with us. We know you've got to go do your thing. Thank you, first and foremost, for just standing for Christ unashamedly. And 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. Absolutely. I felt that forgiveness as soon as I accepted Him. You know, I felt. Like you promised, all of our sins are forgiven.
past, present and future, if you accept them and you repent. And the one thing we didn't discuss, and I hope I have one more minute. Sure. The second time I won the masters in 93, so now eight years later, I was a Christian. And they take me to butler cabin again and the question was You know, is the first victory more important or your second masters?
Which one means more? And I said something along the lines: well, They're both very important. 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.
So 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. Yeah. Well, I love the sense of humor in that. And I believe God understands, certainly forgives you. And what a wonderful testimony.
Bernhardt, thank you so much for being with us. Thanks for having me, Chim. Dude. What an inspiring conversation today with Bernard Langer on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. And what a great visit, Jim.
Yeah, it was so much fun, especially being at the Broadmoor and being with the senior PGA guys. That's who was playing that day. And again, it was just so nice of Bernard 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 sinner to believer. And 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.
And he said it so well right there at the end. You know, 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, right? And 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.
And then also, Bernard 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. And Focus on the Family has a wonderful program called Option Ultrasound that provides. Ultrasound machines and training for pregnancy centers, and together we encourage women to choose life for their child.
$60. We've been at this over 20 years, we know the metrics. It takes $60 to save a baby's life through Option Ultrasound. Gene and I support that every month. I hope you can consider saving a baby for $60.
Yeah, call today to donate and to find that article coming home. The number is 800-232-6459. 800, the letter A in the word family, or we've got the links in the show notes. And 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.
Live your truth. A lot of people say that, don't they? But truth isn't something we decide. God has decided it for us, and it's our job as believers to share his truth with a world in need. I'll encourage you to do that through my podcast, Refocus with Jim Daly.
I visit with fascinating guests about important topics like gender confusion, cancel culture, and more, while helping you share God's love with others. Listen at refocus with JimDaily.com. Uh
