May the LORD bless his people with peace! (Psalm 29:11)
My favorite time of the year for golf is very specific.
It is the second Tuesday in August, marking the first round of qualifying for the Carnegie Shield, the top amateur golf event held every year at Royal Dornoch Golf Club in Scotland.
I grew up in and around Dornoch, where my summers were consumed as a junior golfer, spending hours each day at the course, playing and caddying.
Winning the “Shield” was the dream of local youngsters like us. The famous trophy, given by Andrew Carnegie in 1901, stares at you from the top of the stairs in the clubhouse, proudly lit up for all to see.
Walking past the famous trophy every day as a junior golfer, admiring the detail in the silver and all the names of local legends associated with it, is something I still remember well. It was, and remains for local golfers, the goal of their golfing aspirations.
There is something about early August, when the dew is starting to get heavier, the peace and stillness of the early morning round, the course at its absolute best, the practice having been done in preparation, and the anticipation of the week ahead.
The lower-handicap players are always off first for qualifying, and it is rarely anything but still on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. It is competition golf heaven.
The week itself is a marathon if you play well. You play two rounds of medal qualifying. The medalist wins the “Silver Medal,” a prize given since 1878.
Then, on Thursday, the match play starts with the 32 qualifiers, followed by two matches a day until Saturday afternoon’s final, typically played in front of a growing crowd.
How well do I remember my successful Shield week in 2010? I was 29 years old. On Sunday morning, I was sitting on a North Sea beach, after perhaps too many celebratory drinks the night before, feeling completely empty! I had achieved a lifetime goal I set for myself at the age of seven. Surely, I wasn’t meant to feel empty like this?
A victory like this was meant to lift you, not leave you feeling completely flat. There was a void, something missing, but I didn’t know what.
Little did I know then that God was revealing Himself to me through the emptiness, long before I even gave Him a second thought.
A few years later, I made the life-changing decision to follow Christ. A sweet woman who would be my wife led me gently to the Savior. I returned to the loving Jesus whom I had abandoned after my Sunday school years.
Soon after that, I was fortunate to get another chance at the local “Major,” the County Cup, for the second time. Tied with the best player in the County after 36 holes, I prayed before that playoff for His will to be done, that He be glorified in it. I was blessed with an absolute peace that I could not have dreamed about when I first won the Shield.
I remember the Sunday after that victory so clearly. I was off to church- thankful and peaceful. There was no drop off, no void, no emptiness. I was genuinely full of God’s joy and peace, grateful to Him for blessing me in that way, for filling the emptiness I had always felt in my life.
I finally had Peace. It did not come through my victories, but through the cross of Christ.
I hope you have found that same Peace. His name is Jesus.
Prayer: Jesus, Prince of Peace. Give your Peace, right now, to every person reading his simple testimony. Amen.