The Lost Golf Ball #402

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The Lost Golf Ball #402

If you’re a golfer like me, you’ve probably spent more time looking for golf balls than you’d like to admit. You stand on the tee, pick your target, and hope to hit the ball in the fairway. Rarely does the ball cooperate for me, though. It disappears into the long grass, weeds, or even the woods. Then the search begins.

You walk or drive toward where you think it landed, searching the rough. You drive back and forth looking for one little golf ball. Meanwhile, the ball is just sitting there waiting to be found.

If I’m being honest, I feel a lot like that golf ball lately.

I believe God sees me in the rough and hasn’t abandoned me, even when I still feel like I’m waiting in the grass to be found, hoping He picks me up and shows me where I go next.

You see, I thought I knew the direction I was heading, but instead life landed me somewhere different. Now the fairway is difficult to see, and the next shot looks even harder.

Has life taken you off the fairway and away from where you aimed too? Your career, marriage, finances, family, business, health, or future may look nothing like the green you pictured. You still know God is there, but right now you feel buried in the grass, wondering what comes next.

The lost golf ball made me think about the lost sheep Jesus describes in Luke 15. A shepherd has one hundred sheep, but one is lost. Jesus says the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine and goes after the one that is lost “until he finds it” (Luke 15:4 ESV).

The shepherd doesn’t decide that one sheep isn’t worth the effort. He doesn’t search for a while and then give up. Just like the golfer keeps looking for the ball, the Shepherd keeps searching because every soul matters. And when the shepherd finally finds the sheep, Jesus tells us, “he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing” (Luke 15:5 ESV). He picked it up.

I realize the lost golf ball and the lost sheep aren’t exactly the same. The golfer searches because he may not know exactly where his ball landed. Jesus doesn’t have that problem. He knows exactly where you and I are. Feeling lost and being lost to Jesus are two completely different things.

That’s worth remembering while sitting in the rough.

Personally, I can’t tell you that I’ve walked out of the rough and am back on the fairway again. But I’m still praying, “Jesus, here I am. Find me, pick me up. Put me back in play.”

If you’re praying the same thing, don’t forget the Shepherd who went after the one. You matter to Him too. But unlike a golfer searching for his ball, Jesus already knows exactly where you are.

So you may feel like you’re lost in the rough now, but the Shepherd knows where you are. And for today, that can be enough.

If you’re in the rough and want help back on the fairway. Visit lighthouselegacies.com to learn how. Also, listen to The Living Your Legacy Podcast.