Grace & Mercy
Dear Friends:
Last night, I was supposed to land in Savannah, GA (my home airport) in the late afternoon, drive the short 45 minutes to our home in Bluffton, SC, and enjoy dinner and a quiet evening with Judy after a very intense week of travel. Not so. My flight out of Lexington was delayed, and then my flight out of Atlanta was delayed, and then it was cancelled. I ended up in a hotel room in Macon, GA, having rented a car in Atlanta in order to drive the five hours home. It was not an ideal travel day and it reminded me that we live in a fallen world.
Sometimes our fallen nature means that we sin in relationship to God or in relationship to other people. I know my own sin pushes me to rely deeply on the mercy of God through Jesus Christ. His mercy means that I don’t get the punishment I deserve, rather, I get His forgiveness and unconditional love.
Sometimes, though, the fallen nature of humanity looks more like a bad travel day. “Things” just don’t go according to plan, and circumstances don’t even look remotely like I thought they would when I woke up on a given morning. Rather than my own bed and a restful evening, last night looked like a rental car in the rain and a highway hotel room. I needed God’s grace. I needed resources that I did not possess.
In my situation last night, I did not deserve anything from God. However, as I looked to Him for patience, for wisdom, for energy, and for clarity, He provided me with each of those things. His grace – the abundance of His everlasting resources out of His loving heart toward me – allowed me to finish the evening in fellowship with Him. His grace allowed me to drive home this morning, tired, but grateful for His presence and guidance, even in the midst of frustrating circumstances. His grace allowed me to experience gratitude, even in my thwarted plans.
Daily, we encounter fallen-ness in its various forms. If you are walking a road that is not smooth today, ask God for His sufficient grace to carry you through the bumps so that you can know fellowship with Him as you rely on His resources.
I pray that He astounds you with both mercy and grace that will encourage your heart toward an eternal perspective today.
Blessings,
Ron
Hi Ron,
This is THE finest presentation on Grace and Mercy that I have ever heard.
Thanks so much for your sharing this wonderful explanation with us.
Your friend,
John T. Carr
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Ron, thanks for sharing this experience. I was speaking with a retired minister the other day. He told me that he had taught about the grace of God and preached about the grace of God but that he had never really experienced God's grace (not speaking of his salvation)until his daughter got leukemia and passed away. Then when he really experienced God's grace was when his wife of many years became very sick and passed away. We wept toghether over the phone rejoicing in God's tenderness and love and His abounding and amazing grace. It is hard to explain how this works, but in those valleys and sometimes very deep valleys, He lets us know and feel His loving care that surpases all understanding. My, how we should love Him and seek His presence daily. Thanks for sharing and thanks for the blessing you are. We appreciate you.
Roy E. Nunn
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Amen God is good. "If Grace was an ocean we all would be drowning" -David Crowder
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Ron, this morning things started on the wrong footing for me. I felt like Alexander, the character in the bestselling children’s book “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"
So, after “leaning on my own understanding” left me exhausted and disappointed, I decided to pray for clarity. God immediately answered my prayer with more than I could ask or imagine – His grace and mercy.
This is a timely post for me and another great way God is using KA to help us on a daily journey! Thank you for your encouraging words and reminder that we're not alone when things aren't going right and that God's tender mercies and amazing grace is more than enough.
Joel Ceballos
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