Monday, September 22, 2008

Grace and Love in Action

"...From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:48

I had one of the most awesome experiences of my life this weekend. B. J. and I took our boys camping for the first time Thursday - Saturday. It was very exciting for them to get to sleep outside and have a campfire, etc. But, God was up to something even bigger.

We truly wanted to get away and have kind of a "spiritual retreat" for just our family. No TV, no computer, no cell phones. Just our family and the Lord. We had no idea what God had in store through some people that we met on the mountain. When we arrived on Thursday it was already getting late so we had to hurry to get our tent up and get our fire going before it got dark. Our "neighbors" came over and introduced themselves and offered to help us in any way they could.
Their names were Gary and Miriam. As we were talking about where we were from, Miriam said that her "sponsor" was from where we lived. We were a little puzzled, so I just asked her, "sponsor in what?". She proceeded to tell me that she was a member of NA or narcotics anonymous and that this weekend was an annual spiritual retreat for NA. She laughed and said, "Oh no! I can't believe you didn't know! You will be surrounded all weekend by a bunch of recovering addicts!" We just laughed and said, "that's fine with us!". We finished setting up and went on to bed.

Over the course of the weekend, we did meet some more people, but spent a good bit of time with Gary and Miriam. What they had in their lives was truly amazing. All day cars pulled up to their site. We could see them hugging, praying, and encouraging everyone that came into their presence. They brought us ice cream and invited us to breakfast one day. During that meal, I asked Miriam if she would tell me her story. She did and it was an amazing story of redemption and restoration through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I learned something from her. She has so much grace for others because she has been given so much grace and she is so thankful. She has so much love for others because Christ has so much love for her. She said that drugs had taken her to the "very gates of hell" and now she knows what it's like to be rescued from the fire. Thankfulness, grace, and love radiated from her very being. It was truly amazing.

Today, can we ask God to help us be a graceful person? When you get right down to it, we are all recovering addicts. We were all once "sin addicts" and Jesus rescued us and put us into a right relationship with God. May we remember the verse for today and remember how much we have been given and how much it cost Christ. Ask God to fill you with the fullness of His grace and love that it might spill over to everyone around you today.
"...From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:48

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