Be Prepared to Give an Answer (1 Peter 3:14)
A few years ago, on a beautiful autumn day, I had a full schedule of golf lessons lined up on the practice tee. My last student for the day was a woman in her early sixties whose husband had gifted her beginner golf lessons in the hopes that they could enjoy the game together.
On this day, she was coming in for one of her final lessons. She and I tended to engage in friendly chatter during our lessons, so I always made sure to schedule her last, ensuring that we had some extra time together.
However, I couldn’t help but notice that at each lesson, she was struggling to make significant progress. It became apparent that she hadn’t been practicing the techniques we were working on with her swing, and it seemed like she didn’t particularly enjoy golf.
Nonetheless, as she arrived at the lesson tee, she greeted me with her usual kindness, ready to give the swing another try.
About five minutes into the lesson, she suddenly burst into tears. While this might have caught me off guard in other circumstances, after spending twenty-five years on the lesson tee, it wasn’t the first time I had the privilege of helping someone unburden themselves and share their heart. I have always found the lesson tee to be a sacred space on holy ground.
Without hesitation, I prayed for guidance from the Holy Spirit to discern what was happening in her heart and how the Lord wanted me to help her. Through her tears, she confessed that she no longer had the will to live and that the only reason she had been coming to finish her lessons was because she enjoyed our conversations.
As she shared her deeply personal story with me (a privilege she had entrusted me with), I was reminded that God calls us to always be prepared to minister to one another, just as Saint Paul urged the Galatians, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2).”
Here was this beautiful woman, blessed with a loving husband, children, and grandchildren, materially well-off yet spiritually poor and suffering greatly. She needed Jesus. As she poured her heart out to me, I poured out Jesus to her.
Isn’t this our mission as Links Players? As ambassadors of Christ, entrusted with fulfilling the Great Commission, we are called to share Christ and to be ready to provide an answer for the hope we have in Christ, just as Saint Peter encouraged, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15).
You may be reading this devotional right now and have experienced a similar situation like this where someone shared their heart and burdens with you during a round of golf. Or perhaps you have encountered someone seeking hope in a fellowship gathering.
Alternatively, you might be the one currently suffering in the depths of despair, maintaining a smile on your face like the sweet woman who reluctantly attended golf lessons. Perhaps it is time for you to share your burdens with a trusted individual.
I would encourage you to find a local Links Players Fellowship near you or, better yet, reach out to one of our directors.
At Links Players, we aim to facilitate a change in the conversation at golf clubs and courses, shifting the focus from surface matters to matters of substance, from self to caring for others, and from temporal concerns to eternal ones. This transformation takes place through a ministry of presence.
Today, be present for someone. Embrace the role of a Links Player at your club, allowing the love of Christ to shine through you as you share hope, provide solace, and walk alongside those in need.
Prayer: “Lord, help us to be present for your people.”