Last week I was held hostage. No, not like being held hostage in a Turkish prison but in a Sonoma County sort of way. My wife Kelli and I were trying to hurry home to pick up the kids and I forgot to completely stop at a four way stop near my house. Just as I was stopping and yet moving forward past the white line to keep momentum, I looked to my right and saw a parked police car. Too late. I kept moving forward (slowly I might add) past the stop sign, the red lights turned on and the police officer pulled me over. Before he could come up to the window to get my driver's license, my beautiful lovely wife did not remain composed and she let me have it. As the police officer approached the car he noticed that justice was already being served. No need to punish me twice. He let me go without giving me a ticket. Grace! A free gift.
In difficult times like these, we may be feeling like we are being held hostage by something. The problem is that we are not sure how we are going to get out of the mess we are in. We try things on our own but nothing seems to work. The good news is that God wants to set us free. During these difficult times, we need to give ourselves some grace. These are the times that God is trying to teach us something. My prayer is that we would be teachable. These are also the times we need to give grace to the people around us the may have wronged us. Forgive. And these are the times that we need to receive grace. God wants us to put our faith in Him and when we do, we experience His faithfulness.
As I experienced grace from the police officer this past week, it made me grateful and it created a desire to pass on the gift. Let's build a culture of grace at NVC. Imagine a church, a family, a city, a state, a country, a world filled with people giving the gift of grace. It can happen.
