Recently I played in a golf tournament fundraiser for an organization. When the word “tournament” is involved, it always stirs something inside me to want to put my best effort into it.

We all know that when there is competition there are winners and losers. And no amount of trying to hide that fact escapes those who are on either side.

When my son was young and playing hockey, they wouldn’t post the score on the score board after one team had a certain lead. But you could ask every boy on either team what the score was and they would be able to tell you!

In this golf tournament, I was all about our task to produce a competitive score.

The course was in great shape, the weather held up nicely throughout the round … the environment was perfect for a great round.

The only thing that let our team down was our own skill level. When the round was over and we turned in our score card, we had failed to make enough close approach shots, didn’t run up as many chips as we needed to, and didn’t make any long crucial putts.

It didn’t matter too much because, as good Canadians, we had fun playing and could purchase draw tickets for prizes at the end.

… That’s right, prizes were awarded based on your ticket being drawn and not so much on how well your team did against the other teams. I didn’t mind that but I sure would have liked to know how we did compared to the others in the tourney.

After a great meal, the score was forgotten and it was on to the prizes that were given out. I had bought one draw ticket when I registered and then, after the round, I bought two more. So I figured I had a chance at maybe getting something.

There were about five or six people handing out prizes, randomly arriving at the tables we were sitting at with prizes for those who had their tickets drawn.

About every few minutes one of these prize ushers would show up at our table with a prize. After five or ten minutes I realized something: every one of the guys at my table had a prize except me. There were seven of us.

I’m not sure if the other guys at my table caught it but they all walked away with some loot.

I started to think, “Hey, how come I got left out?” and I began to think it was all a little unfair.

Then I remembered that I had been invited to this tourney and it hadn’t cost me anything to play. I don’t think I would have been able to afford to play so it was a pretty awesome privilege just to be there.

As it turned out I may have been the most fortunate golfer at my table!

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we can think that life is unfair to us when compared to others. But we need to remember that God doesn’t treat us fairly, He treats us graciously. That’s better than fair. We don’t deserve anything from God but He is so gracious that He offers us something better than good things in this life – He invites us into His family, through His Son, Jesus Christ.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What keeps you from enjoying God’s grace? Leave your comment below.