Consider the Blessing of Grace

Consider the Blessing of Grace

"Grace, grace, God's grace,

 Grace, grace, God's grace,

 Grace that is greater than all our sins."

                                                -'Marvelous Grace of Our Loving Lord' Hymn

            This writer has always felt like he was on the outside looking in. God of mercy and grace, made arrangements for this writer to travel the world (8 around the world trips, every continent, passport stamped in 157 countries). Through out the world, I never saw human beings working any harder, living in more poverty, than those I knew in Eastern North Carolina... the sweat and hard work of the tobacco fields, the picking of cotton, pseudo-slave labor in cotton mills. In this world of hard work, there was not much temptation or opportunity for sin.

            This totally blind, 100% disabled, service, medical officer, veteran of the Korean conflict, in the sunset years of my life, looks back at the grace that brought US this far. Living alone, preparing my food, every time I use the microwave, I think of my mother and grandmothers, using a wood burning cook stove, and yet, they thought that was nice. They knew how their ancestors had cooked in large iron pots over an open fire in a fire place ( I still have the large iron cooking pot, probably brought over from England, used by my ancestors to cook in a chimney). Every time I take a shower, brush my teeth, and other bodily hygiene, I think of decades of ancestors who never had a real bath.,

            Father down the dirt road from our farm home, crop land owned by my father, giving the mules a rest while I was plowing, I would go across the road to visit with Mrs. Letoria Waddell, who lived in a small house on a small piece of land, which, in some way, had been left to her. She lived alone, totally crippled with arthritis, told me she had never talked on a telephone. She was completely dependent on the Christian charity of others, people like my mother, bringing her some food which she could prepare on her wood stove. The question in this boy's inquisitive mind, then, and even more so now, WHY?

            In the school yard, I was never chosen by the other boys for their ball team. From a small child, I was never athletically gifted. Later, teenager, never chosen by the girls, because most girls like a boy who is mischievous and boisterous (he is so cute... have you ever heard a girl say that?). The meaner the boy, the more the girls love him. Some grown women actually love an abusive, ne'er do well male.

            "Wrestling" (Ephesians 6) Against the powers of darkness in this world, grabbing for every education advantage, graduating from a small county school, 13 in the graduating class, I knew from an early age that I was chosen by God for something much better.

            Disparaged at the university, when I learned that sons of prominence received special treatment. One of my friends was the son of a county judge, the university made sure that he was well cared for... financially- academically. I was always looking towards the fraternity- sorority houses. Wondering just what went on there, with elitist students. At Kenan Stadium, I looked towards the areas where the state's political-financial hierarchy was gathered- "cocktailing", "buffeting" from their high perch, looking down at the peasants, even at a state supported university. WHAT MAKES SOME HUMAN BEINGS CONSIDER THEMSELVES MORE IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS?!? Is money or influence the determining factor?

            6,000 years ago, perfect garden, in a world which God had created, authority was established, God's rights... "the no-no tree". We can not have it all, and, rules were established for everyone, not just a few. In spite of themselves, chosen people of the old testament and new testament, have always spoken for God AND, thankfully, many have lived for God. "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1: 21). Nothiningness to somethingness, God created everything, and all created for his glory. For God to be God, he does not need anything, does not need us. This writer has found that most of the elitist of the world, the power brokers, political and financial, so egotistical, so full of themselves, wants God in their image.

            The Ovum of a 14 year old girl, fertilized by the holy spirit of God, and Jesus, putting on a tent of human flesh, walked among us. He preached himself, was either the greatest hoax world has ever known, or he was who he said he was, on Calvary, a Roman Cross, sacrificed for the sins, sicknesses of the world. He did, indeed, rise from the dead (a historic fact which can not be disputed), caused an elliptical- ecclesiastical change in the lives of even those who knew him best. We know little about the life of Jesus from the age 12 to age 30, but we can be sure that he experienced much of the same life challenges as we mortals. His disciples all martyrs. Men will die for truth, but not for a lie. More important than any political power, financial gain, pleasures of this life, to be chosen by God, demonstrating his righteousness before others, and then, at the end of life, knowing the splendor, of eternal closeness, actually being showcased around eternity. Life on this Earth, no matter how important-rich-outstanding you are, not to be compared to the joy found with those who know his grace.

            This writer was on the island of Bali, corrupted by false religions, I had been visiting a "monkey temple", a place where human being worship monkeys, carry nice food to them.. while all around the temple, children are dying from malnutrition. I have stood on the mount of olives, looking over Jerusalem, the many Christian church steeples. Rome, church steeples, the sounds of bells. On this side of the cross, 2,000 years, still so much of the world's population have never heard about the grace of God, and, Western civilization, where the Christian church is responsible for so much prosperity. Many, who do know, just play games with God, never read the book written by him. IF, those who know the saving grace of God, faith in Jesus Christ, were really concerned, the wealth spent on warfare and pleasure would be used to bring everyone to a knowledge of the power and peace of God.