Lawrence’s Momma Showed Much Grace

Hi PoC,

I love ya!

So, I was talking to a new friend of mine named Lawrence.  He’s a Christian brother who went through years and years of drug and alcohol abuse and family heartache.  He was telling me a story about his momma, how she used to wait up for him to come home from his binges.  It would be 1 or 2 or 3 in the morning, or worse, every day.  He would stumble up to the locked screen door and would call his mom.  He said there was always an agonizing pause – the time it took her to walk from the living room to the door – when he would begin to panic, thinking, “What if she won’t let me in the house?”  Every night, she would say the same thing, “Lawrence, I’m going to show you the same grace God showed me.  I’m going to let you in the house.  Tomorrow I’ll be praying for you to see if God wants me to keep showing you grace.”  He finished by saying, “She let me in every night.  Never shut me out.  I will never forget that.”

It reminded me about a time when I was a college sophomore.  I had been less than “a good boy” the weekend before and was called on the carpet by one of the college deans.  I got a note in my mail box there on campus and quickly “got the story straight” with a few of my friends and then marched over to the dean’s office.  That same panic Lawrence experienced welled up in my chest as I wondered what the outcome would be.  It was a waiting time.  Agonizing.  It was a waiting time with only two options:  rest or confess.  Well, it wasn’t a long meeting or a long confession, and it ended with much grace.  Evidently my dean and Lawrence’s momma shared the same Spirit.

Grace is something that we do not deserve.  It’s a gift.  There’s nothing YOU have to do.  There’s nothing you HAVE to do.  There’s nothing you have to DO.  And, that’s the awkward-making feature of grace.  We can’t manipulate it or mold it to fit us or anticipate it, predict it or demand it.  So many of us are so sure of our scheming, sinful or natural, that “the waiting” is exhausting and it brings us to a point of decision where we can either confess sin as sin to our Redeemer, and/or simply choose to rest in His providential care for us as His children.  Sometimes it seems to take forever for Jesus to walk from the living room to the door.  Oh, the waiting.

PoC, I can’t wait . . . can’t wait . . . can’t flippin’ wait to see you all this coming Sunday. We’re going to rejoin Joseph’s brothers as they make the trip back to Egypt with their brother Benjamin to see how Joseph, the Prime Minister, will treat them.  They will be greeted at his house by his chief steward, served dinner, and then, they will have . . . to wait . . . for judgment . . . or grace.  Joseph seems to be taking forever to get from His chambers to the dinner table.  What could be taking so long?  What will happen next?

Hey, it’s not too late to invite some friends to join you Sunday, especially those who are waiting to confess to Jesus or rest in Jesus.  Get on that, PoC.  I’ll be praying and can’t wait to see you.

Let’s Keep Talking About Jesus,

Pastor Todd