Two Beautiful Fall Days in the Carolina Piedmont #Thankful

Jeff, Keith, Derek, Howard, George (at TPC Wakefield)

Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking. It is for peace that you were chosen to be together in one body. And always be thankful. Let the teaching of Christ live inside you richly. Use all wisdom to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Everything you say and everything you do should be done for Jesus your Lord. And in all you do, give thanks to God the Father through Jesus.
Colossians 3:15-17

This week I have enjoyed the almost unprecedented experience of two golf outings in two days. What an amazing privilege and blessing! Perfect weather; perfect North Carolina scenery; two perfect groups of guys to play with; perfect stress-free recreation.

If I were any more relaxed I would probably dissolve into a transcendent puddle of mellow and become one with the universe.

Both were charity fundraiser tournaments for worthy causes. “BSA” (formerly known as Boy Scouting) and “We Care”, serving the needs of military families.

Monday at Hasentree:

The Hasentree outing was unplanned, a last-minute “could you please fill in?” request when someone else dropped out. I played with Louis, Hugh, and Rick – all friends from Wake Forest Presbyterian Church, and the day could not have gone any better. Our sponsor was Jim Crawford, representing N-Zyme Specialist consulting.

We did respectably well, enjoying one another’s company and laughing our way around what is always a challenging golf course.

Next verse, same as the first:

Tuesday’s round had been planned for a while. I joined my friends Keith, George, and Howard (see opening photo at top of this post) at the beautiful Wakefield Plantation course. Our sponsor, The Lonnie and Carol Poole Family Foundation, is one of the leading philanthropic organizations in the Raleigh area. Their focus is on helping people “up but not out”, homelessness, substance abuse recovery, and youth.

If Hasentree is challenging, then Wakefield is straight up hard! But what a spectacular setup, and a dramatically beautiful slice of the North Carolina Piedmont. None of us had our “A” game going but we managed to squeeze out a handful of birdies and finished in the 60’s without the benefit of a single “Mulligan” or “Red-bomb.”

Again, the focus of the day was to enjoy the company of good people in a lovely setting on a remarkably beautiful day while supporting a worthy cause. That amounts to win, win, win, and win.

One feature of the “We Care” tournament is the addition of an active duty military member to our team. Our guy, Jeff, is an E-8 working with a program that helps connect military members to educational opportunities.