Wednesdays Word....Grace

Grace can be different things to different people but one thing is for certain; it is one of the most amazing gifts we've been given. A lot of people think of some one's lack of clumsiness as grace others may think of some one's fall from grace or it is used in conjunction with saving grace or by the grace of God but regardless it seems to be directed towards God and for good reason. Grace has been documented from the beginnings of time as God freely pouring out his favor and love to his people despite their actions. Trust me I'm thankful for this because I always seem to be like Paul in 2 Corinthians begging for my circumstances to change feeling I'd be better equipped to do God's work if only things would be the way that I thought they should be. But listen to verses 9 & 10 of chapter 12...
⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Regardless of your beliefs those few words make up 4 of the most powerful sentences ever seen by man. We all have our weaknesses but they will become our strengths through God's Grace if we let them because His Grace is enough.

Here to lyrically provide us this illustration is Matt Maher with Your Grace is Enough...now some of you are probably saying wait I thought Chris Tomlin did that song. Well you are right but Matt wrote it some I'm giving him his due.  

Great is your faithfulness oh God

You wrestle with the sinner's heart
You lead us by still waters into mercy
And nothing can keep us apart

So remember your people
Remember your children
Remember your promise, oh God

Your grace is enough.
Your grace is enough.
Your grace is enough.
Your grace is enough for me.

Great is your love and justice God.
You use the weak to lead the strong.
You lead us in the song of your salvation
And all your people sing along.

So remember your people.
Remember your children.
Remember your promise, oh God.

Your Grace is enough
Heaven reaching down to us
Your Grace is enough for me

God, I see your grace is enough
I'm covered in your love
Your grace is enough for me

For me

80's on the 8th....Back to School

Now that everyone is back in school I figured what a perfect time to hit on that 1st day of school in the 80's. Considering I hit em all from grade school, middle school and high school in the 80's I think I kinda know what I'm talking about. Wait don't answer that...never mind it wasn't a question.

 In seeing my kids get ready for school this year I remember back to my days in the Carroll Public School system and I'm thankful I grew up in a town the size I did where I knew everyone in my class not to mention nearly all the ones in the several grades above and below mine. In seeing my 2 middle schoolers prepare differently for school; 1 who loves school and a challenge  that puts a lot of pressure on himself who has been there for a few years and 1 who it's his 1st year in middle school who has read every book of Diary of a Wimpy Kid & seen the movies so has some preconceived notions about life in middle school and I can see life through their eyes because I've been there and done that. And then there's my 2nd grader that is the class clown and I'll leave it at that.

I think back to grade school and all the glue I ate or mixed with my chapstick to create some weird gooey mess and  I remember all the bus rides, licking the metal fence pole ala A Christmas Story, summers of typing classes which helped a lot until I broke some fingers but most of all my sister defending me (sorry Mike hope the family jewels work someday when you need them). Shopping for school supplies was fun because we were still allowed to have any folder we wanted unlike my kids theses days who are required to only have specific colored ones and are not allowed to express themselves via paper products.

Fast forward to middle school and kiss the bus goodbye...we lived across the street from the school. Too bad for me I still hadn't grown in years while my friend Mike had started shaving in like 4th grade. At the time our middle school was a part of the high school which is never good news for someone of my stature. At the time it wasn't about your trapper keeper it was about your Swatch and Buckle clothes.

Then came life in high school in the late 80's with all the bangs and pinch rolled jeans. But yet again I still didn't grow until the 90's so life as a freshman was not good for someone as mouthy and sarcastic as me. But I survived; barely. I always had the fear I'd forget my locker combo; like every day. Oh yeah back to the bus.

So the more things change the more they stay the same as there will always be some kids freaked out about going back to school and others will have been doing science experiments and reading War and Peace all summer long in anticipation of the new school year.

Wednesdays Word.....Hope

I threw this following comment onto Facebook knowing it was too long to fit in a post so it would be converted to a note and some of it would be cut off and only viewable if clicked on.
Can't we just skip Wednesday and wake up to Thursday and the dawning of a new season. Wednesdays are pretty much useless anyway. Really it's probably embarrassed by the whole Hump Day name anyways. So I'm proposing that once a year we should skip it. (that was the part you could see) The NFL can't kick off soon enough...I had that at the beginning but I figured some would have rolled their eyes and skipped my epic hump day football post so I rearranged it to suck you in to think it was about something meaningless like what I ate or was watching on reality TV. Sorry none of that here...just thinking about football. You can roll your eyes now.

I posted that because right now every fan of every NFL team has hope because they are all undefeated and in their mind have a chance to win the Superbowl and they haven't even done anything on the field yet. Also because I'm appalled at the number of people I see complaining and obsessing over garbage TV like; Hoarders, Jersey Shore, Toddlers and Tiaras, Teen Mom and way too many others to fit here. Of which I am proud to say I have never watched an episode of. But I have a tip if you get so mad over watching it.....don't watch it. Period. Ok back to the regularly scheduled post.


We are all pretty much in that same boat. We haven't done anything to deserve to win but we are already guaranteed victory. That's pretty amazing especially if we honestly take a moment and just look at our actions & thoughts of today during our commute, at work and then at home tonight. I'm sure we'd all have a couple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties tossed our way. Now expand that to week, a month a year and if you're like me you've forgotten where you put your keys 5 minutes ago so even trying to fathom what we've done in our lifetime is pretty much out of the question. Just imagine the fines we'd be accumulating during those times if we were governed by the NFL's conduct policy. And come to find out the League doesn't let someone else pay your fines. Just ask Chad Ochocinco.

Luckily we have a God of grace and mercy who has already paid off our fines long before we ever even thought of screwing up. Not too mention He is willing to forgive and forget our mistakes each and every time...each and every one. Crazy to think this was all this done on his own accord without our asking. Now it's up to us what we decide do with this opportunity. So let us reflect this love onto others that we've been so graciously had bestowed upon us. Be that light in a world that is obsessed with sports, that hangs on every celebrities move and that has taken for granted the gifts and talents, both big and small, that we have been given to share with others. Give others Hope when they feel that it has all been lost.

Oh yeah and go Eagles!