SURPRISE Blessings Come in Surprising Ways
TBT — So our car dealership manager called to ask if we’d like tickets to the LPGA Tour the next weekend at Tulsa Country Club. Of course we did — we loved watching Annika Sorenstam, Juli Inkster, Nancy Lopez, Kerry Webb, among other women’s golf greats. He went on to say, “And, oh, by the way, Ron, how about playing in the putting contest? You and your wife have a current passport, don’t you? You could win a great prize!” We didn’t know what it was, but my mission was on….to get him practicing his putting everyday until then. And, Ron’s Mom gave him some great advice “When you get up to make your putt, take your time, pray, and picture that hole like Goliath’s head, then like David, take aim and sink that ball like David sunk Goliath!”
It was the day of the 50-yard putting contest. There were about 50 contestants who putted in alphabetical order. They had to hit the ball in an almost L-layout of the greens. The closest to the hole was 3-feet when it was Ron’s turn. Like his Mom, told him, he took his time — in fact, the announcer called his name twice before he actually hit the ball. The Golf Network was televising this whole event. Ron stood there, looked at the course, looked at the ball. He looked at the course, and he looked at the ball. The announcer said, once again “And now, Ron Wuerch!” Of course, like his Mom told him, he had been praying. When he finally took his stroke, it was as though that ball was on a laser course……it made it’s L-turn perfectly, and…..that ball went straight into the hole. The cheers went up in a roar, and Ron held his arms and hands up like he was Tiger Woods. What a moment of achievement and celebration. But the best part?
That hole-in-one got us a prize of an all expense paid 8-day trip on the 747 jet, with the entire LPGA Team the next day to Barseback Golf & Country Club, Skane, Sweden, for the 2003 Solheim Cup.where they would be playing the European Team. We were beyond grateful, excited, exhilarated, and truly felt God’s favor over our lives.
Since the official games didn’t start until Thursday, we became adventurers and went to Denmark, and if that weren’t enough, we decided to adventure to Germany, where my husband’s family is from. We took the bus from Sweden, to the ferry that we voyaged on through the night to Rodstadt, Germany, rode the taxi on the autoban to the train station and rode the train to Berlin.
What inspired me to detail this adventure, was hearing about the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall last Sunday that heralded not only the last days of communism in Eastern Europe, but also the emergence of a reunified and reinvigorated Germany — a country that is now Europe’s economic leader. What a blessing it was to be at the site of the fall — to be able to put our feet on the place where history was made and a new day and a new beginning began.
So grateful for the treasured memories of the past…..as well as the brand new day, today! What a sweet life it’s been — and as sweet as the journey was in the past…..delighting in God and His mercies that are new every morning, it gets sweeter as the days go by; it gets sweeter as the moments fly; His love is richer, deeper, fuller, sweeter — sweeter, sweeter, sweeter as the days go by.
