Scripture: Mark 8

Today’s Verse: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul? Or what shall a person give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36,37)

Not a lot of press coverage was given to the tough Argentine golfer, Robert De Vincenzo, but one story from his life shows his greatness as a person.

After winning a tournament, De Vincenzo received his check on the eighteenth green, flashed a smile for the cameras, then walked alone to the clubhouse. As he went to his car, he was approached by a sad-eyed young woman who said to him, “It is good for you today, but I have a baby with an incurable disease. It’s of the blood and the doctors say that she will die.” De Vincenzo paused and then asked, “May I help your little girl?” He then took out a pen, endorsed his winning check, and then pressed it into the hand of the young woman. “Make some good days for the baby,” he said.

A week later as he was having lunch at a country club, a PGA official approached him, saying, “Some of the boys in the parking lot told me you met a young woman after you won the tournament.” De Vincenzo nodded. The official said, “Well, she’s a phony. She has no sick baby. She fleeced you, my friend.”

The golfer looked up and asked, “You mean that there is no sick baby who is dying without hope?” The PGA official nodded. De Vincenzo grinned and said, “That’s the best news I’ve heard all week.”

Sometimes our focus is in the wrong place. Jesus teaches us to care about one another and we sometimes focus more on our possessions than we do our fellow human beings.

Holy Creator, help us to view life as Jesus did, with a focus on humanity rather than worldly possessions!