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Show Saturday, January 24,2015 STANDARD EXAMINER 33FAITH Pastor tells how golf led to miracles By JaNAE FRANCIS Standard-Examiner staff LAYTON — When the Layton Christian Academy golf coach tells his players that God will bless them if they stick with a talent or sport, he speaks with experience. That's because Alfred Murillo can't even count the number of blessings God has poured out for him and countless others. And many of those blessings started with golf. "I made a promise to God," said the South Weber resident, while explaining about his reaction to his then 4-year-old son, Isaiah's brain tumor in 1997. "I said I will help kids at risk." That promise, which was part of asking God to save his son, has led to countless programs to help kids in the years that followed. And his own efforts at helping one of his own four children overcome radiation and other cancer treatments led him to golf. "He couldn't do contact sports," the father explained. "I needed a sport that would work on his left side." Murillo explained how right-handed movements develop a left side of the brain. At 12, Murillo said Isaiah was so stunted from his treatments that he looked like he was 6 or 7 years old. The father remembers Isaiah lining up with the other kids his age at a Mutual of Omaha golf competition inLehi. The two had to reassure others many times that Isaiah was actually with kids his age. During the driving part of the competition, Murillo recalls wondering if his son would hit the ball. But a miracle happened. "He closed his eyes and swung," Murillo said. "It felt like angels in the outfield. That ball hit the ground and it just kept rolling." When Isaiah won a first- place medal in that contest, Murillo said Isaiah's life transformed for the better. "From that point on, golf was it," said the father. Isaiah has remained cancer free from about the time he found golf to the present, Murillo said. He also found a way through golf to get the self-esteem he needed to succeed in an atmosphere where he was waiting to physically catch up with his peers. And following that miracle, Murillo said his daughter, Gianna, also allowed golf to change her life. "She saw that I was spending a lot of time with Isaiah and golf," the father said. "That led her to join in." Both children since have won college scholarships for their talents. And now, both are on a mission to share not only golf but their beliefs in God. The two were both accepted to Youth with a Mission. The effort is designed to take youth around the ZACK/Standard-Eiamine Alfred Murillo (left) helps Layton Christian Academy student Logan Sunderland with his swing a Toad's Fun Zone in Marriott-Slaterville. Murilio's son, Isaiah, had a brain tumor when he was 4 and the family used golf as a way to stay active and positive, Murillo currently coaches the golf teams at Layton Christian Academy. world, focus on a sport or a talent, and share the gospel in the process. Murillo said this is the first year the program has ever had a golf group. "This will be a strong team," Murillo said of his children's group. "Golf is one of those sports people in the foreign field want to learn." After three months of training in Phoenix, Ari zona, which includes Bible studies in the morning and coaching with golf pros in the afternoon, the two will take their golf techniques on the road where they will train both the privileged and the needy in golf and share their beliefs along the way. He quoted 1 Peter 3:15 in explaining how golf would open the doors for his children to share about Christ. "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyons who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have," reads 1 Peter 3:15 in the New International version. "But do this with gentleness and respect." Murillo said it was Gianna's golfing that led him to be the Layton See GOLF, Page 4C |
