October 27, 1999.

Sometimes you just know where you were.

I was in my super-small apartment on Greystone watching a memorial service.  Sure, it was my birthday, but one of the greatest gifts I’ve been given.

Yes, while watching a funeral.

Golfer Payne Stewart, just days before, died in a tragic plane crash.

Paul Azinger, former pro and current golf analyst for ABC/ESPN, repeated a phrase throughout his eulogy.

“Only God can do that … because only God can change hearts.”

I have never been a big golf fan.  I love the beauty of the greens and fairway, the uniqueness of course or hole, the lay of the land, the danger of the sands and rough, the mind of a golfer.

But that day, I became a Payne Stewart fan. Azinger, too.

Stewart’s life parallels what I see often within the Gathering.

His widow, Tracey, wrote a best-selling biography about him.  She didn’t write with rose-colored glasses.

She clearly communicated the lack of commitment in his faith until the last few years of his life.

He joined a group of guys from his Orlando (home office of the Gathering) church weekly for “fellowship,” as he called it.  They may have watched a game together, taken in a fishing trip, prayed, study God’s word, whatever, they were together, and shaping each other, by God’s grace.

Azinger nailed it.  You can’t be apart of seeing lives changed, until you are a changed life.  Stewart impacted many, because he allowed God to be the center of that process of remodeling.

Come hear Michael Franzese’s powerful and unique story of “a changed life” on Tuesday, Sept. 21 for our 3^rd Annual Outreach Breakfast.

Where do you need to experience an “only God can do that” touch in your life this week?  He’s willing and able.