let me give it to you straight

grace.

grace equals total freedom. grace means no merit, not even an iota. grace means total acceptance. grace is unconditional love with no expectations of performance.

even in the face of total failure. even in the face of crippling sin. even in the face of uncertainty. even when i blunder about and mess everything up worse than it ever was before. even when my failures have spilled over into other people's lives. even when my mistakes hinder not just me, but everyone around me.

grace is a gift. freely given. voluntarily given. joyfully given.

grace asks for no explanations.

grace can't hear your reasons why.

grace won't stand for your excuses.



grace is your second chance. grace is your fresh start.

every
single
moment.


and every moment, you are utterly covered by grace. there is no fault too grievous, no crime too heinous, no misstep so crippling, no failure so far gone that grace cannot overcome.


may you know -- truly know -- the grace of Jesus Christ.



"I have done it, and I will carry you;
I will bear you and I will deliver you."
isaiah forty-six

it's not on me. and that is my only hope. the truth of grace is all my hope.

forty years.

would my faith last that long? what would be revealed about the condition of my heart if the promise's delivery were prolonged for forty years? i can hardly last three months ... nevermind forty years.

"...the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart..."

deuteronomy eight:two


for a long time i thought that character was built on the most difficult days. surely it was in the midst of the hottest fire and the greatest pressure that my gold was refined and my diamond was formed.


but did you know that even if great pressure is exerted onto carbon molecules, it doesn't necessarily mean it will form into a diamond? and even if diamond crystals do form, the conditions have to remain perfect and stable for thousands of years in order to produce a diamond. AND when the diamond is formed, it looks nothing like what you think of when you think of a diamond. it actually looks kind of like a translucent shiny rock. sometimes they are lumpy or dirty.

all that is to say that i don't think it's the moments of greatest trial that produce good character. i believe that the moments of greatest trial reveal the character that has already been built in the every day, in the mundane.

because if i can't trust the Lord with my plans for next week, i'm sure as heck not going to trust him with my life in a year, or five years. if i don't want to apply the Word of God to my interactions with my close friends, i certainly won't do it when i encounter the surliest of strangers.

i really hope that i understand the gravity of the every day. it's how i order and live my life every day that prepares me for the catastrophic moments that are sure to come. and when they come, they will rip open my heart and reveal what is truly inside for the whole world to see.

will it be black and bitter? stubborn and hard as a rock? crusty and despairing?

or will it be living and lovely? will it be soft with surrender? will it be full of faith and compassion and hope?


it's not going to rain every day. but i don't throw away my umbrella just because it's sunny today.

slightly off-color, yet frighteningly accurate.

thank you, susan, for pointing me to the official list of stuff white people like.

i am much, much whiter than i ever thought possible.

reason # 32 i don't like walmart

this is hilarious ..... i'm rhett and link's newest and most devoted fan.