a most excellent friday

Out of focus, from the 2nd tee

his is how my morning started: 66-degrees and golf, with a tee-time of 7:05. How awesome is that? By the time we finished – somewhere around 11:00 – the mercury had risen to a mere 80-degrees.

I played with Tim Black, Lloyd Lasher, and Lloyd’s dad. The morning was relaxed, pleasant, and unspoiled by the bad tempers and negative attitudes that too often go hand in hand with the quality of golf that falls this far short of perfection.

Heading down #16

I won’t pretend that my score was notably low (although 88 is decent for a once-a-month-er), but I will say that everything about the experience was most excellent.

REFLECTION: Then, somewhere around the fourth hole, my “Upper Room Daily Reflection” email came in. It was a selection of quotations, interestingly enough, from the book “10 Life-Charged Words.”

A most excellent day to each one of us - DEREK (Here’s the post from the Upper Room:)

EXCELLENCE is a life-charged word that calls to the best in us. What this world needs is an epidemic of “most excellent” followers of Jesus, those who are brilliant, outstanding, and first-rate in Christ.

More than being excellent in their relationships to one another, Christian men and women are called to model excellence in all things. What each of us needs, both as individuals and in our relationships, is a commitment to the very best — distinction, quality, and merit — in every aspect of the way that we live. - Derek Maul 10 Life-Charged Words…

From page 30 of 10 Life-Charged Words: Real Faith for Men by Derek Maul. Copyright © 2012 by Derek Maul. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question: In what areas of your life is God calling you to aspire to a higher level of excellence? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture: Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16, NRSV)