God defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. (Deuteronomy 10:18, NIV)
Have you noticed all these young players and their fans on the PGA and LPGA tour? Last weekend, you probably saw a small fan on television wearing a BIG orange hat. Rickie Fowler sure has an impact on that upcoming golfer!
The First Tee and other local organizations are teaching youth not only how to be fans of the game, but how to play the game right. I am impressed with The First Tee’s nine core values: honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy, and judgment (you’ll find them well-defined here).
When I first read these, I thought to myself, I would like my children and now grandchildren to learn and live by these core values. For one thing, they match a lot of my biblical values!
A few chapters ahead of today’s passage in Deuteronomy, we read that God wants his people to raise their children with a knowledge of who he is and how he wants us to live (see Deuteronomy 6:6-7). For this reason, our church, like many churches, prays over parents and dedicates their children to the Lord. The parents promise to God in their hearts that they will talk to their children when they sit at home, walk the golf course, ride in the car, drop them off at school, or tuck them in bed. Always, they are reminding. Always, they are mentoring.
With my grandchildren now, I get a mulligan. All of us miss some great opportunities with our kids. So when I tuck my grandsons into bed, I read books and Bible stories to them. I pray over them when I rock them to sleep. When they get old enough to play golf, I look forward to walking with them and mentoring them on the golf course—and not just about golf!
We all have the opportunity to mentor someone, even if we don’t have our own children or children at home. Go to any golf course and you will see all kinds of kids picking up the game. Some of them could really use your help. One of our local Links Players is spending mentoring time each week with a high schooler who is trying to make the golf team next year.
Another Links Players recently shared that he was waiting at the airport and sat next to a Marine who had just served overseas. In their conversation, the much younger Marine said to my friend, “I know the meaning of life.”
Surprised, my friend asked, “Really?”
“Yes,” the Marine responded, “to know God and to make God known.”
There was a young man telling an older man just what it means to mentor someone in the Lord! Find a young person who needs to know God, and then spend the meaningful time it takes to make him known.
—
Dereck Wong
March 13, 2013
Copyright 2013 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.