Tuesday, January 28, 2003
Tuesday, January 28, 2003
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life,
and have it abundantly.
Soon he quit his job with Walt Disney and submerged himself in his new business of golf ball
diving. He became known as the Used Golf Ball King of Florida. He called his business "Second
Chance," and in 1994 it was doing so well that he sold it for $5.1 million.
Jim Reid made a good living finding golf balls that others thought were lost and irretrievable. It
wasn't always easy work, but it brought him great rewards.
Jim Reid is not the only one who specializes in finding that which is lost. God is the ultimate
finder of that which others have marked off as irretrievable. What God finds is not lost golf balls
but lost people. Jesus Christ reminds us that when we stray from being what God has created
us to be, God comes to us to give us a chance to start over.
(John 10.10
NRSV)
In 1971 a man named Jim Reid moved to Florida to work for Walt Disney World as a surveyor.
In his spare time Reid took up scuba diving and searched for sunken treasures in old
shipwrecks. One day he put on his gear and dove into a water hazard at the local golf course.
To his amazement he discovered in that tiny lake thousands of golf balls. Telling the course
manager about his discovery he was offered ten cents a ball for all the balls he could retrieve.
Reid made almost as much in one day as he did all week as a surveyor.
God of hope, thank you for the many second chances you give me everyday of my life. Amen.
