By now, everyone and their brother have blogged about this story. Tiger Woods has not come out and said it outright, but the tabloid and internet gossip is buzzing about accusations of his infidelity. Tiger is probably one of the most well-known athletes in the world, if not the most, but he is definitely the most well-known golfer in the world, and arguably, the face of professional golf. He is also one of the wealthiest athletes in the world, with the prizes from multiple top ten tournament finishes (and large appearance fees to boot) added to the much more lucrative endorsement deals with Nike, Gillette, and Gatorade (just to name a few). Throw in a supermodel for a wife, and you would think that he had anything and everything he wanted.

So, why would Tiger want to be involved in extramarital affairs? That’s a hard question to answer for sure, but I’m sure that one of the reasons it happened was because he could. He had the opportunity. His fame and money has put him in the position where it would be easy – just like any other professional athlete, movie star, rock star or many other major and minor celebrities.

In spite of everything he has, and all that he has achieved, Tiger is still human. Many of us, if placed in similar circumstances could just as easily fallen into the same sort of lifestyle. Mercifully, many of us have never had to face the kind of temptations that Tiger has faced.

I’m not making excuses for him. What he did was wrong. But all of us could come to a place where our humanity gets the better of us. My hope is that Tiger uses this as a opportunity to right the wrongs in his life, and in the process become a better person. I fear that the media onslaught has just begun, and that most of the women that Tiger may have been involved with were just biding their time, waiting for the other shoe to drop, so that they could get what they really wanted all along; a big payoff.

What Tiger needs – what we all need – is the hope that comes from grace. The kind of grace that makes second chances possible. I pray that instead of tearing him down, those of us who have received those second chances would be willing to offer that same grace to him.

I’ve heard it said that everyone deserves a second chance. I disagree with that statement. No one deserves a second chance, but we got them anyway. And we have grace to thank for that.