SALVATION: IT REALLY IS FREE
Reader's Digest wrote of the late Harvey Penick: "For 90-year-old golf pro Harvey Penick, success has come late. His first golf book, Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, has sold more than a million copies, which his publisher believes makes it one of the biggest things in the history of sports books. His second book, And If You Play Golf, You're My Friend, has already sold nearly three-quarters of a million. But anyone who imagines that Penick wrote the books to make money doesn't know the man.
"In the 1920s Penick bought a red spiral notebook and began jotting down observations about golf. He never showed the book to anyone except his son until 1991, when he shared it with a local writer and asked if he thought it was worth publishing. The man read it and told him yes. He left word with Penick's wife the next evening that Simon & Schuster had agreed to an advance of $90,000.
"When the writer saw Penick later, the old man seemed troubled. Finally, Penick came clean. With all his medical bills, he said, there was no way he could advance Simon & Schuster that much money. The writer had to explain that Penick would be the one to receive the $90,000." People often have Penick's reaction to the fabulous gift of salvation offered in Jesus Christ. We ask, "What must I do?" God answers, "Just receive."
-- Eric Hulstrand, Binford, North Dakota. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 4.