Chapter 3 ~ Surprised By Grace

As I reflect on this chapter I realize that there are two individuals that come to mind.

The first individual is as fresh in my mind as if I'd seen them yesterday. The second is one of those memories that come back from time to time that haunt more than inspire.

Let's start with the latter story...

I could smell Fred through the small opening his food was passed through. It couldn't have been any larger than 6" high and 12" wide. One half square foot to talk through. It was for the well being of both of us that this was the avenue through which we spoke. He was in jail for attempted murder, I was in jail as well, as a chaplain. My assignment that day, to talk with a man who began to realize the extent of his actions, so he wanted a chaplain.

Fred had been arrested after a standoff with police. He had held a child hostage, one of his own children, held his hands around their throat to guarantee his safety from the possible assault from the police officers. His words to me that day have faded in my memory, but the smell still seems to creep it's way into my mind from time to time, like today, it even seems to invade my nostrils. Funny the way the brain can remember such details and forget others.

I visited with Fred a number of times, then he was transferred to another facility, one that could handle his paranoia in a more productive way. I don't know what ever became of Fred, not sure he ever faced trial, took a plea bargain or was eventually set free.

I wonder, hearing Fred's story, what would you have done with Fred. I know what I wanted to do the first day I met him. Life! His Life Possibly! My disgust at first was enormous, but my duty was to see him as a person in need. I later realized that is exactly what he was.

Don't misread me, I believe crime should pay, but what do you say when it doesn't? What goes through your mind when things happen without appropriate results?

Fifteen plus years have passed since I sat with Fred.

The second person was Tracy (Yes, her real name.)

I remember where I was at, what I was doing and even the weather of the day I got the news. I was sitting on a beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. My six-month old granddaughter was underneath the umbrella out of the sun between my son and I as we were watching the waves slap against the white sand on the beach. The rest the family was also enjoying the beautiful day, the warm weather, and the sea. While everything around me was peaceful and calm a familiar noise came from my pocket. I reached to grab my phone to look at who had texted me and much to my surprise and hurt the text informed me that Tracy had died.

Unlike Fred, Tracy had lived a life of service and of loving kids. When she learned about her cancer she is just four months after having her first child. As I think about what Andy says about getting things that you don't deserve Tracy certainly came to mind as I was reading. Tracy was only 24 years old, was happily married and just had a brand-new baby girl. Her and her husband were bus captains for the local church picking up kids in the neighborhoods and bring them to SundaySchool and church so they could learn about Jesus.

What do you say when you see a 24-year-old who just found out they have stage IV breast cancer four months after their first baby. That was January first nine years ago, it's hard to believe how much that story still sticks in my heart. And yet if you had met Tracy I have a feeling that her story would still be stuck in your heart as well.

In my humble opinion, which isn't always correct, Tracy did not deserve to have cancer. Where is the grace of this scenario? And yet Tracy would say she disagrees with me. She would say she had been shown grace. She would say that grace it covered all of her sins and that she can have hope in the midst of her cancer because of God's grace. She would say that she wanted her doctor to have the same grace that she had experienced. She always believed that during her cancer God learn to reach out to her doctor. You and I would say that's great faith, Tracy would say that's great grace. The Apostle Paul would identify this as "grace sufficient."

I am sure that these two stories could be repeated in many different settings. As you read these two stories I'm sure there are stories in your life that come to mind that are identical. One person who has chosen something really bad and it seems as if they are not going to pay or maybe even get away with it. Then there someone, someone you think is good, who has been trying to do all the right things and yet something like cancer interrupts their life. No matter how hard I try to reconcile those two thoughts it doesn't seem fair.

But isn't that what we're talking about, getting something you don't deserve. Isn't that what grace is really about. Don't you and I deserve to have the things that God says, judgment, separation, because of our sin and because of our choices? Aren't we more like Fred than we would like to admit. We may not have done something on the outside that others find deplorable, but on the inside each of us know that things are not right. That left our own devices that sin would ruin us.

As you have read chapter 3, are there individuals who came to your mind? As you read Joseph and Ruben's story what situations came to mind?

No matter the case, take a few moments and share your thoughts about grace being a surprise. Share about instances where you or someone we know getting what we don't deserve.

Comment away, I am looking forward to reading your thoughts...