gracious God

My whole life I’ve heard people define grace as “getting what you don’t deserve.” That definition is usually contrasted with mercy, which is “not getting what you do deserve.” I think those are pretty good descriptions of two rather inexplicable concepts. Lately I’ve seen God’s grace around every corner, under every rock and in every room of my house. Allow me to elaborate on just a few examples.

I usually try to block off my Fridays as a Sabbath, a day of rest. I don’t do any church related stuff and usually don’t even check my email. This past week I decided to take Josiah out for a little father/son time. We headed to the beach to participate in one of his favorite activities: rock throwing. He set a new record not only in distance, but number of rocks thrown. We saw a live crab (very cool to a three year old), a soaring bald eagle (very cool to a thirty two year old), a close up of the train (which blew its whistle just for us), a helicopter, seagulls, crows, and all kinds of other “wonders” that I normally just take for granted. Then we headed to the mall for some lunch and a few minutes at the indoor playground. It was nothing spectacular and didn’t cost hardly any money, but on the way home here is what Josiah said. “We had a good father/son day, Daddy.” “Yeah, we sure did buddy,” I replied. “I love you so much, Daddy.” GRACIOUS GOD!

In less than two weeks I’m getting a very special treat. I have a ticket to see Jerry Seinfeld live in Seattle. I noticed that he was performing his stand-up routine in town and my lovely bride, Carla, even checked on prices for me, but they were very hard to come by and quite expensive. “Oh well,” I thought. “No big deal.” A couple days later, though, the phone rang. It was my cousin (and great friend) Jon. He had bought two tickets and was taking me! Did I mention that they were hard to come by and not cheap? I know it might be silly to many people, but it’s going to be great fun for me and I felt extremely blessed. GRACIOUS GOD!

Joslyn is one of the most precious little girls I’ve ever met. She’s one of Josiah’s best friends and part of our weekly Kid’s Church. This past week she turned three, and guess what she wanted…a Bible. Matt and Angela, her dad and mom, let us know that she loves the Bible that Carla uses on Sundays in Kid’s Church, so we bought her one and took it to her party last week. Well, when she opened it she was obviously excited. She gave us great big bear hugs to prove it! Evidently, though, when everyone cleared out of her house after the party, she sat down on the floor with her new Bible and read that thing for over an hour. GRACIOUS GOD!

Yesterday was the very first Easter service at Holy Seed Community Church. (Even though we were meeting sporadically last year, we did not meet on Easter Sunday.) We were a little nervous and a lot excited about celebrating this day with our new community of faith. Well, the day just turned out fantastic. We had 18 amazing friends in our home to worship God and commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After our service, we spread out blankets in the living and dining rooms and shared a wonderful picnic together. More than three hours and many heaping plates full of delicious food later (thank you, Tracey!), everyone left with big smiles, full bellies and joyful hearts. GRACIOUS GOD!

God isn’t just good in the big things. He’s good in the little things. We don’t deserve any blessings, but we get scores of them poured on us every day. May our eyes be opened to them this week. God is in the details. I pray that we learn to recognize Him there.