Grace

Friday, September 13, 2024

We may think we are alone,

But God is with us,

even in the solitude of the ice,

saving us by Grace.

Psalm 17:7

Wondrously show your steadfast love, O saviour of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.

1 Peter 4:14

If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

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Words of Grace For Today

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God’s saves, graciously, and sends us out to be the hands of God’s saving grace for others. Our adversaries may revile us, but that is only part of the cost of being the hands that do Grace.

In a Word: Walking Partners

After her last miscarriage and hysterectomy, that left Henry and her childless for sure, Mary became a marathon runner. She was in great shape so it came as an unexpected shock when she died of a massive heart attack.

Two years later, out of the blue, Gwen, a member at his church, showed up at Henry’s door, knowing from her own loss the inescapable loneliness of surviving one’s spouse, and knowing that the Holy Spirit saved her and kept saving her as she shared that Grace with others. She asked Henry – he was old enough to be her father – to take a walk with her. In a word, they became walking partners. Named, it became the definition of what they gave to each other. It was not always easy, but they sacrificed a bit to make it work.

Gillian’s Safety-Net

Gillian, as a new mother, struggles with sleep deprivation and poverty. Today there just is no money for milk for the three kids, or diapers for the baby. She had already looked in all the places they put money for a rainy day. But there’d been too many rainy days lately.

Then to her surprise there’s a knock on the door. An old man from church, Henry, stood there, saying he knows it can be tough. He’d helped with his nieces and nephews. He offers to watch the kids for a half hour. Grateful, Gillian disappears into the bedroom and falls asleep. She wakes two hours later. Henry’s still there. He’s had groceries delivered, milk and diapers included. There’s even fish and chips for the kids’ supper, and a microwave meal for her and her husband, Michael, who is due home in an hour. Henry says good bye and hands her an envelop with two $50 dollar bills in it, and says, “If ever you haven’t enough for the essentials, my card is in there, call. I can always help out without noticing the extra expense. I’m not rich, but I have more than enough each month. I’m your safety-net.”

Grocery Delivery In A Word

It’s just a word, but the ‘grocery delivery’ Henry arranged for Gillian was not possible online thing three decades ago – so this is how it happened.

Henry, needing to change the baby’s diaper, found the last one. So he looked around, made a list, and called Gwen, his walking partner. Gwen took a break from work at her car dealership, went shopping for the list that Henry gave her over the phone, plus a few things she grabbed from her experience raising her three young kids. Henry tried to pay her for them but Gwen said she didn’t need it, it was her contribution.

Grandma Gillian

Gillian, now a grandma, knows about the cost of grace. Her husband, Michael, died in a car crash caused by a drunk driver when their youngest was in High School. Times always were and still are tight. She volunteers two times a week at the food bank, and patrols the streets for 4 hours when it’s either real cold in the winter or blistering hot in the summer, to help mostly homeless people find shelter.

The Prices Paid

What Gillian never knew was Henry gave up one meal every third day to have a bit saved up for her rainy days. It wasn’t often, but she had asked once or twice a year as long as the kids were at home.

What Henry never knew was Gwen went in debt helping him and others, eventually having to sell her car dealership to pay off her debt. She retired in poverty, knowing she’d helped as many people as possible after her husband, Frank, had died of cancer in their 40s.

Walking with Henry was her one constant, a costly joy, for she lost out on more than a few opportunities to make a sale by leaving to walk with him.

That day he’d called for her to go shopping for milk and diapers, she’d walked away from a sale, telling the customers she appreciated their support of her business, but that she needed to go help someone with no money. They’d pulled two fifty dollar bills out of their wallets, saying, “Maybe this can help.” That money ended up in the envelop Henry gave Gillian.