His Winning Check

I readily admit I still like the idea of golf.  In fact, driving a golf cart is one of my favorite pleasures in life – although I’m usually on our parsonage grounds, or in my neighborhood, not on the course when I do it.  I took golf in college so that I could learn the concept and grow an appreciation for exactly what it is that’s compelling about driving a ball into a hole, a great distance away. I passed the class with an A, so I can only conclude I earned credit for showing up on time and with enthusiasm. But alas, I have really had no idea how to play the game.  I do remember what “air shot” means, only because I was that person, who would swing and miss the ball a lot. Some of the other male classmates would call me “Air Shot” when it was my turn to putt, but it was all in good fun. I’d flex my nonexistent muscle and try my best; only to hear the whoosh of air as the club drove through the air with misguided purpose.

So, when I came across Robert De Vincenzo’s story, I didn’t recognize him as the tough, famous Argentinean golfer. He didn’t receive an enormous amount of press coverage or accolades in his career, but one story from his life demonstrated an immense quality of substance as a human being. What an amazing illustration he gives us.

One writer tells the story as this, "After winning a big tournament, DeVincenzo received his payout, his actual check, on the 18^th hole. Cameras were there to take the mandatory photographs, autographs were given, and lots of fan adoration was displayed. After the fanfare was over, DeVincenzo walked back to the clubhouse alone. As he finished enjoying the moment and was returning to his car, he was approached by a sad-faced woman. “It’s a great day for you sir, but I have a baby who’s sick. An incurable disease. It’s of the blood, and the doctor says she will die soon,” the lady said.

He slightly paused. DeVincenzo then asked, “May I help your little girl?” He took out an ink pen and the tournament check from his pocket. He quickly endorsed his winning check and pressed it into the lady’s hands. “Make her last days good ones,” he said.

A few weeks later when he was having lunch at the club, someone from the Professional Golfer’s Association approached him and said, “Some of the boys told me you’d met a young woman after you won the tournament. You got ripped off. She’s a phony! She has no baby. She fleeced you my friend,” he said.

DeVincenzo’s surprised eyes looked at the other man. He asked, “Are you saying that there is no baby dying without hope?” The PGA official nodded. DeVincenzo grinned and said, “That’s the best news I’ve heard all week.”

Wow! His attitude is an incredible example of charity! My response probably wouldn’t have been so charitable or nearly as gracious. I’m embarrassed to say, I may have thought first about the money I had given her! Perhaps feelings of injustice that I had been mislead.

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

I challenge you to examine yourself…what would YOUR first attitude have been? Did you react to the money or the “baby “first?

There's no doubt in my mind, that the blessings from God to Mr. DeVincenzo, have far exceeded the amount of his tournament check.

Look UP my friends!