Yesterday’s devotion contained the story my friend, John
Mehrling sent to me in an email about his church Reformation class, and how one
of the 6th grade students found grace. Today – my answer to John about how grace is so
surprising…even when it takes years to bear fruit:
Twenty years (or more) ago I performed the wedding for
a couple who came in off the street looking for just the right sized
chapel. They had no sense of God
entering in to what was their day. She was the original
"Bridezilla".....as obnoxious as can be.
I spent 5 counseling appointments with them (my
requirement)...and then 3 meetings with florist, wedding coordinator and
"the mother". In all, when the
ceremony was done, I had about 40 hours in this thing. My low-ball estimate was that they
spent around $10,000 for the flowers and gowns.
They gave me a card with a $20 bill signed "Thank you for your
help". (I gave it back to them as a
wedding present).
Ten years later I got a call one Sunday morning as I
was preparing for worship. It was
Bridezilla. She and her hubby were
still together. They were going to be
baptized that morning, and wanted to thank me for those counseling sessions.
She remembered one thing in particular, that I had
told them they couldn't have a marriage without Christ. They could live in the same home....eat at
the same table.....do all the things that married people do – but only Christ
could sanction a marriage. Without Him
in their hearts there would only be a ceremony and a common address.
Remembering that, she wanted to thank me for being
faithful to God's Word. It had been a very
long, stubborn ten years, trying to prove me wrong. But, she and her guy were ready to surrender to
Christ.
Is grace amazing or what? I preached differently that morning.
Today
You’ve got maybe a dozen to eighteen hours before you lay
your head back down on the pillow tonight. The question is:
In that time frame will you plant seeds that God will cover
with His grace?
No matter how long the growing season?
No comments:
Post a Comment