…being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience… (Colossians 1:11, NIV)
Good for Inbee Park.
The succession of number one women’s players in recent years looks like a stretch of bones on an old westward wagon route. Jayai Shin. Yani Tseng. Lydia Ko. Each shot to the top, then faded into a struggler’s oblivion. None has left the Tour, but the magic seems to be gone.
Then came Inbee, she of suggested unparalleled putting prowess—men or women. The easy-going South Korean first reached number one in the Rolex World Rankings in April 2013. It was the first of three ascents to the pinnacle, and her total stay at the top has amounted to 92 weeks, fourth best in “history” (this list has been kept only since 2006).
But when Inbee fell off in late 2015, she looked too to be headed toward lasting demise. Five women, starting with Ko, have followed Park as number one, but on Sunday the winner of seven majors made her claim to revival. She won the Founders Cup by five smooth strokes.
Whether she will climb all the way back to world’s best is something we will have to wait to see, but for now she’s a winner again—one who has pushed past both injury and the admitted temptation to take it easy after having already accomplished a Hall of Fame career. All the while, she provides for us a lesson in endurance.
You may not be a fan of the idea of endurance. Those who endure have had to encounter something uncommonly demanding. I think of the Barkley Marathons, a crazy annual event held in the hills of Tennessee, where competitors attempt to complete five consecutive marathon-plus length circuits in 60 hours or less. In 32 years, the grueling test has produced only 18 finishers. Physically speaking, there may be no greater concentrated challenge.
Of course, some measures of endurance, like Inbee Park’s, last for years. Those who have written books or built monumental structures or battled cancer or just raised children—these are the people who understand long endurance.
Hard as endurance is, you may be encouraged then that it was something the apostle Paul and his ministry partners prayed for in the people they were discipling. You are well aware that the Christian walk is one of those long trails of endurance. It demands that you hold fast when your friends do not, that you stick with God’s people even when they make big mistakes and create endless irritations, that you “consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2), that you bear the brunt of insult and persecution for what you believe, even when it comes from within your earthly family. It was into the midst of troubles like these that Paul wrote of his prayer: “Be strengthened. Be encouraged. Be patient.”
You may even now be enduring things you never expected. You may feel injured or ready to turn away to an “easier life.” Don’t. Not now. Not ever. Keep going. Right to your glorious eternal reward.
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Jeff Hopper
March 20, 2018
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.