There we were, along with twenty-five other teams, hoping that it would quit. Surely it wouldn't continue for the rest of the round. Surely it would stop. I mean, this is for a good cause. We're benefitting a quality mission organization here. Someplace along the way we have to get a break. At every next tee it was the same frustrating story. It was still raining.
This past Monday some twenty-six teams gathered at The Peninsula Golf Course near Lancaster, Kentucky to play a scramble event to benefit Teen Mission, USA. Several holes into the event it started drizzling. Then the drizzle gradually intensified until we were playing under a rather brisk rain for the last several holes. It was difficult to hold onto the clubs. Accuracy became a thing of fortune rather than skill. The score ceased to be the concern. Getting done was the major goal.
Several of the golfers joined me in one sentiment. We thought it might quit before the next hole. We thought it would get better at the next tee. Ah yes, "Hope springs eternal." Had it not been for the worthiness of the event, had it not been for the encouragement of each other, our team would have packed it in. I looked into the faces of Paul Martin, Tiger Pennington and Donald Clark. They were wet, cold and miserable. But they would not quit. Nor would the others.
There was once a man named Paul. In trying to be an encouragement to those who were facing a steady downpour of obstacles he penned the following. "In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep.
In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness - besides the other things, what comes upon me daily; my deep concern for all the churches." 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 But hope springs eternal. In 2 Corinthians 12:1-4, Paul tells of the glorious vision of heaven. The end of the round is ahead. God's eternal blessing lies at its completion. Keep going.