I have only really been interested in Golf during one period of my life. During my High School years, my friends and I would go to the par 3 course every Wednesday afternoon. The only clubs I had were my Grandfather’s 40 year old right handed clubs. The problem with this is that I am left handed.
I used the backside of the putter so that I could putt left handed, but to tee off I had to hit right handed. I always finished last when we played but I became very comfortable playing right handed.
I played for 2 years as a mutant right handed / backward left handed golfer. One afternoon when we were playing a round there was a group of older gentlemen in front of us. They decided on the 6th green to wait there and let us play through.
One of the older gentlemen had watched me tee off and finish putting with the backside of my putter. He came over to me and asked if I would like to try his left handed clubs. I thanked him but told him I was fine and that I had played this way for two years and it was working for me so I didn’t need to change now.
We continued to play through the 10th hole with me struggling to get a drive on the green and putting backwards. As I stepped up to tee off on the 11th hole, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was the older gentleman. He took the club out of my hands and handed me his driver. “Just try it,” he said. I hesitated but decided to give it a try.
After a couple of practice swings, I reared back and swung through the ball, hitting a shot that bounced a couple of times and landed two feet from the cup. It was the best shot I had ever taken. I turned around to the gentleman and told him how wonderful it was to actually hit a ball on to the green. He told me he had had the same problem until he realized you could buy left handed clubs. I told him that I should have changed a long time ago and started to pass back the driver to him. “Keep it” he said, “from one left hander to another.”
Often we go through life used to the way things are. We don’t stop and open our eyes to realize that the world changes, people change, and technology changes. We start using phrases like “well that is the way it has always been or that is the way we have always done it.” Sometimes not making changes hinders us over helping us and we get stuck being a left handed player playing with right handed clubs. We have to understand that change helps us to reach out to serve God in different ways and brings others closer to God. When God offers us a “God Sized Dream”, we have to take that opportunity, grab that left handed club and aim for the green.
