So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of a blessing at the appropriate time. (Galatians 6:9, NLT)
It wasn’t my first one, but when I made a hole-in-one last month, my wife said to me, “I want one of those!”
It would be nice if I could go down to the golf store and buy her one for her birthday or our anniversary, but that’s the trouble. Aces aren’t like mulligans; you can’t buy one, earn one, or force one. Like many things in life, they just happen.
‘I would have never attended a religious function, but this is not even that. It’s the conversations and relationships that keep me coming back!’Even this latest hole-in-one was totally unexpected. So it was exciting, but not as exciting as my first one, which I was fortunate to make more than 25 years ago. That one also happened when I had no idea it was coming.
It would be possible, you know, to think that golf owes us a hole-in-one. If we spent many years practicing the game, improving our skills, and getting out on to the course, we might think, It’s got to be my time. After all, you hear about these people who make a hole-in-one their first time on the course. Why do I have to wait so long? But golf doesn’t work that way. Neither does life.
When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he addressed the possibility of growing discouraged in our efforts for the sake of the Gospel. We can grow tired of doing good. But Paul said, “Don’t! Not now! There are still blessings to come, maybe when you least expect it!”
As a region director for Links Players, my role is to help start new Links Fellowships in our region. You would think it would be simple to do so. Don’t golfers like hanging out together? But after six years on the job, the challenge remains.
I was in sales for over 25 years and I was taught to close the deal, to get that purchase order. I took that attitude when I started with Links Players. I had some success and but also delays and disappointments. What I learned was that I could not give up. Our leadership and other mentors reminded me that all things come in God’s timing, according to his plan.
Let me give you a recent example. After one of my devotions was released a few months ago, a guy from in my region, who has been a long-time reader of the Daily Devotional, saw that my role involved helping people start Fellowships. So he sent me an email. The Lord was tugging at his heart, he said, and God had inspired him to do something at his club. We met a few weeks later and I invited him to visit one of our Links Fellowships across town; he saw what God was doing in a Links Fellowship.
Although he was involved in ministry in his church, he saw Links Fellowships reaching people he golfed with who would come to a Fellowship before ever going to his church.
I am so blessed that this man felt God’s calling and reached out to me. His Fellowship has been meeting over a month now and is known in the golf club; many people have been attending and growing. As one person put it, “I would have never attended a religious function, but this is not even that. It’s the conversations and relationships that keep me coming back!”
If God is tugging at your heart, please contact a region director in your area and see if God is calling you to start a Links Fellowship in your area.
—
Dereck Wong
June 13, 2016
Copyright 2016 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.