More talk about Grace

I had never paid much attention to thoughts about Grace until I had decided to stay in Orlando, was married and we were living in the cutest little cottage, behind the home of two ladies, sisters, who were as close to being "polar" opposites as any two people I had ever known.  Someday I may tell you about them as their life stories were fascinating.

But today, I need to talk about two really "real" ladies before they came to be, two of my "most favorite"  people.  Well, one was not quite the "lady" in those days.   She was what we used to call - a teeny bopper" and she raced in and out of our cottage like someone who was possessed.  I guess it was because she really did not want to exercise patience as her mother described her experiences at a retreat she had attended in Dallas, TX.  We tried to ignore the "whirling dervish" as her mother was so intent on encouraging us to attend another of those Seminars.

Eventually, we did, in the company of another guy who would become the "best friend forever" I have ever known.  The Seminar was led by Bob George and the subject was - Grace.  For three days we lived and breathed - Grace.  It was fascinating to me and as I returned to Orlando, I opened my Bible to all of the scriptures with the word, Grace, and copied everyone onto a legal pad.  I studied them as if my life depended on them and I still had those papers, years later, after moving away from 

Orlando.

But during those days, we were introduced to another fellow by the name of MaJor W. Ian Thomas who has become my personal, greatest purveyor of the gospel I have ever known.  If you were to ask me what I have learned about Grace, I would refer you Zondervan's, Clarion Classic Series and Thomas' two greatest books on the subject of Grace, The Saving Life of Christ and The Mystery of Godliness.  If I had my "druthers" I would have you stop, now, call your book store and order your own copies.

I had every intention of becoming an "ambassador" for Grace as peering into the scriptures, I discovered in absorbing all that those two volumes had to say, I was a man on fire.  Then, I moved to Tennessee and learned that far too many of my new friends and neighbors were far more intent o rescuing their friends from the horrors of Hell than seriously considering the "abundant" life that Jesus offered to virtually everyone of the scripture passages in which He was directly involved.

So, I chose to continue along the pathways of life He had opened to me and it will soon be forty years since that eventful day when He chose to take over my life.   My only confession is that "I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered Himself up for me.  I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly,"  (Galatians 2:20-21)

There will be more, much more as I trust that in reading this that you will join in with the legions of angelic beings who long to see, what Jesus came to provide - as a gift.  Every time I pick up my copy of the Constitution, I am drawn to the spiritual references and I realize more than most, it seems, we have divided the word of God into various sects, each claiming to be a bit better than the others.  That would be OK - considering the hundreds of tribes that existed in Jesus' day.  The problem is, there is one God. one Savior of mankind, one Holy Spirit to guide us along the pathways leading to salvation and we tend to waste away our hours debating with one another.  How sad it is to see when one has found rest - not in our divided opinions, but in the life of the One who came to seek and save the lost.

Stay tuned - your responses will be appreciated