While waiting on my car to be repaired
some months ago, I struck up a conversation with a local business owner who was
waiting on her car. I noticed she was
reading an eBook on her iPad so I turned the conversation to books, which
eventually led to revealing me being an author.
She immediately bought one of my books online as we were sitting
there. I shared with her my next book
idea on golf devotionals and she told me an interesting story about her great
uncle. I put the story in the book (with
her permission) because it proves an important truth. Here is an excerpt…
“On a warm summer day in 1991, on a
pristine golf course in North Carolina, James Yeaman was lining up his
putt. He was playing in a benefit tournament
that he had assisted in establishing. As
any devout Presbyterian, James was constantly thinking of others and how he
could help them. While serving in the
Army during World War II, he would take clothing and other items and just show
up on his family’s doorstep in Scotland, giving or sending items they might
need. This day was no different. Although he dearly loved playing golf, this
was not just for his pleasure. This
round was for those in need.
Standing on the 18th green, James checked for any undulations
in the path of his ball. Was it fast or
slow? Would it leak a little to the left
at the hole? After taking one final look,
he bent over his putter, took a peaceful breath, tapped the ball and watched as
it fell into the center of the cup. It
was the last breath James Yeaman would ever take. No sooner had the putt been sunk when James
fell to the green and died. He had
played his last round, made his last putt, and his time on earth was done.
One of the interesting things we have in
common because of watches, cell phones, and clocks on the wall is that we are
constantly aware of what time it is.
Many times a day you check to see what time it is. A common question people ask is, “What time
is it?” Every once in a while we immerse
ourselves in a book or a hobby and lose track of time. But very quickly we recover and figure out
what time it is. Always checking to see
the time is a constant reminder of the thing that is most depressing about
us. Our time is running out. We have calendars to tell us how fast the
months go by and how fast the years go by.
Watches show how fast the hours go by and how fast the minutes go
by. Instead of asking what time it is,
perhaps we should ask a better question:
What am I doing with my time?” – From Morning Round, Day17, “Pace Of Play”
Morning
Round will be out in
print later this year but it is available now as an eBook on AMAZON KINDLE and soon on iBooks, Nook, and other
digital retailers. If you are ever in “Bouncin’ Bears” here in our area, make
sure you thank the owner for sharing her story.
It reminds us to live as if our days are numbered, because they are.
