larger than life...

The other day a good friend referred to his love for Golf as "larger than life." What exactly does that mean? How large is "life" anyways? Is it measureable? If someone could measure the height, width and depth of life, wouldn't they be measuring it within the confines, or limitations, of life itself? I have a habit of thinking too deeply about stuff at times, but I am curious about the conception of such a statement. Who was the first person to refer to someone or something as "larger than life?" If anybody knows let me know.

Jesus never referred to things as larger than life, but he did make reference to the life of a genuine believer and follower as being "abundant." Abundance is a quantitative statement, a reference to an amount of life, more than the size of life. I do not personally believe that the quantity of life referenced in "Abundance" refers to longevity of age or materialism. So what does it refer to? The obvious answer seems to have to do with "fullness" of life, the full measure of all of life's components; such as happiness, joy, contentment, etc. When you look at it from this angle, many people are settling for much less life than God intended for them. The life that Jesus came to give us is not always the life we choose to live, therefore robbing ourselves. For me this has become a very important daily decision. Any given day I can choose a life less than abundant. But any given day I also can choose to live a life full of the fruit that comes from being in His steps. The abundance is the authentic outcome of His company that I choose daily to keep.