Unexpected Grace

By Brent James
Lead Pastor

On Sunday morning, I left as I usually do, late headed home to have dinner with the family at 1:00 PM.  My mind was centered in Zen-like concentration on the pumpkin spice Belgian waffles and the bacon that I had waited for since last Wednesday.  Our waffle maker could not cook fast enough.  The time had come, I could now truly celebrate.  And I took my first bite and thought, "hmmm, it's good, I mean it's amazingly wonderful, but it's not as amazing as I made it out to be in my mind."  I could barely make it through one waffle and I had to give up on the second.  Two weeks ago, I could have mowed those down in record time, and I thought, “Hmmm that's an unexpected grace of doing this fast.”

 On Monday, I braced myself for what could be an ugly day, but you know what?  Not too difficult, I wasn't a tenth as hungry as I was the week before - unexpected grace.

I'm still contemplating and processing the many thoughts and words of wisdom that I heard Sunday morning.  One man told me that after a week of doing this fast, his high blood pressure had dropped 20 points in one week - unexpected grace. About five or six guys told me that they had dropped 5 pounds - unexpected grace.  One man told me, that it was hard for him to walk into a grocery store that was filled with so much and to know that he could only buy these staple items and it made him angry - not at the fast, but at the fact that there so many people who don't have access to many unappreciated graces that fill our lives in United States.  That is an unexpected grace.

It's amazing how when we give things up for God, God has a way of filling our lives, souls and bodies with more.  My Dad always told me as a kid, "Brent you can't out give God."  I'm learning on this fast how true that statement is, which is a (you know!).  May we be aware of the unexpected graces of God today.