…and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, ESV)
In 1996, Paul Stankowski won for the first time at the NIKE Louisiana Open. As the sixth alternate the following week, he won the Bell South Classic, defeating Brandel Chamblee in a playoff. The following year, he won the Hawaiian Open.
All in all, Paul won five times internationally. Making 326 out of 550 cuts and with 42 top ten finishes, he was an “up-and-comer.” Like me, you might wonder what ever happened to Paul.
When Paul Stankowski says, “2005 was the best and the worst year of my life,” he echoes Charles Dickens’ opening lines in A Tale of Two Cities. Paradoxically, these two things can be true!
In 2005, Paul found himself battling serious wrist injuries, so much so that these injuries forced him to leave the Tour. Unable to compete and provide for his family, he discovered that, now at home, he had the opportunity to “get to know my kids.”
What gives a man the wherewithal to ride out the storms of life? For this three-time All-American, it began in 1988 when he attended a meeting with the College Golf Fellowship. The speaker was Scott Simpson, the 1987 U.S. Open Championship.
Ironically, he didn’t want to listen to Scott because Scott had defeated his golfing hero, Tom Watson, to claim the U.S. Open. However, all of that would change when he heard him speak about a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Wondering how that was possible, Paul chased down Rik Massengale, a former PGA Tour player and then National Director for CGF, asking him what he should do.
Among other recommendations, Rik advised him to read the Gospel of John. That would mark the start of a lifelong journey to personally know the one who died and rose again on his behalf.
If we fast-forward to another pivotal moment in Paul’s faith journey, we discover him reliving a morning in 1996, the morning he would eventually take home the title of Bell South Champion.
It turned out it was Easter. Going to church that morning with his wife and friends, he heard a hymn: “Because He Lives.” He would write the words to the chorus in his yardage book: “Because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living, Just because He lives!”
Walking the fairways of Atalanta C.C. that final round, he sang the words to that hymn. Although nervous, he went on to win.
If you, like Paul, are curious about a “personal relationship with Jesus,” you are not alone. You may wonder, “How can I have a personal relationship with a historical figure that lived over two thousand years ago?”
That’s precisely the question you should be asking. After all, we can know much about historical figures like George Washington, Winston Churchill, or Douglas MacArthur, but we cannot know them personally. Why? Well, for one, they are dead.
There is our clue! Jesus died but rose again! As the hymn says, “He lives.” And because “he lives, I can face tomorrow.”
The magnificent thing about Jesus is that he radically differs from any other historical person. Though now bodily at the Father’s right hand in heaven, he will send his Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, to dwell in your heart—thus, we can know him personally.
There is a vast chasm between knowing about someone and knowing them personally. Knowing about Jesus is relatively easy if you live in the West. Going beyond intellectual awareness to personally encounter the One who died and rose again requires total surrender!
Prayer: Jesus! Come and take up residence in my heart by your Spirit.