Celebrate the Goodbye

Celebrate the Goodbye!
g.simonsen

As we left the store on this dark and gloomy day, the smile on my face was as wide as the
moon.

Today, my dad bought me my first driver golf club and he would not be denied his first
opportunity to take me golfing to test this new club out. The rain was hard. The wind was
fierce. We even saw lightning strike a power line on our way to the course.

This was golf in Oregon. This was golf with dad. This was for the love of the game.

A father and son… A new club…

We arrived at the small 9 hole golf course located out in the country. The parking lot was
empty. We had the whole course to ourselves as the stormy weather had kept other
golfers away. The first hole was a short par 4 and straight as an arrow. A metal framed
barn sat in the near distance, just past the green about 150 yards… to the left, a country
road. We made our way to the green, the rain washing us clean as the wind howled past
us on every side.

There we were… just dad and me.

As I stood over my ball preparing to putt, dad was shuffling through his clubs to find his
putter.

“SLAM!”

The metal framed barn across the way just got hit with lightning! Too shocked to be
scared, I scrambled to throw my putter in my bag. No sooner than I could do that, I
turned to see what all the commotion was behind me. In a flash, several clubs had fallen
out of dad’s bag. He quickly picked them up and proceeded to run faster then I have ever
seen him run in my life!

Normal protocol for a kid my age was to be overwhelmed with fear. However, thanks to
dad’s sprint to the club house, I found myself laughing out loud as I tried to keep up with
a sprint of my own. As we arrived at the clubhouse, my dad, slightly irritated at my
laughing as well as my lack of urgency, sought out a “rain-check” for another day.
We did play another course that day. We just waited for the lightning to stop.

And so it was growing up with dad.

Four years ago I lost my father, yet today, I have this memory.
~~~~~~~~~~
In retail, our schedule revolves around holidays, but every day we have product with
eternal value, we have products that can make memories.

Never underestimate this.

A close friend of mine who manages a retail clothing store once shared with me a brief
conversation she had with an employee of hers who had become stressed out about an
item. She simply told the employee…”Relax, we’re just selling shirts; we’re not
performing heart surgery!” Point taken.

However, in Christian retail, in a way…we are in the “transforming” hearts business,
with products and service that should seek to consistently reflect our lives in Christ Jesus.
You just never know how this product will be used once it leaves the store. Friends, we
don’t sell golf clubs, but we do sell product with a Christian message.

With products and service that consistently reflects Christ…who knows what memory
you might help make…

When that next customer leaves your store, celebrate the possibilities!

Celebrate the goodbye…chances are...a memory is about to be made.

Please feel free to post your comments. I can be reached at: gunsim@msn.com