Grace is Beautiful

Grace for Augustine, is God's freedom to act without any external necessity whatsoever- to act in love beyond human understanding or control; to give his Son freely as Mediator and Redeemer; to endure the Church with the indwelling power and guidance of the Holy Spirit; to shape the destinies of all creation and the ends of the two human societies, the "city of earth" and the "city of God"....I think this is beautiful and I'm learning so much about God's grace right now.
It all came full circle today when my sister and I were talking about this paper of religion she is going to be writing and ideas of what she could write about...she actually asked me to help! Yeah I am stoked beyond measure to be able to talk about what we think is right and wrong and whatnot..she's not a dull crayon and happens to be quite opinionated..no surprise about the opinionated part!
While we were talking this morning, I remembered that the other day I found a tract in one of her work books while I was cleaning around the house. It was a million dollar bill that had religious language..not Scripture around it and actually told you what God thought about you if you were a sinner. Can you believe it? As I read it I was baffled beyond belief...no Scripture...human words were telling me that if I was a sinner God looked at me with disgust...not love, but merely as a distasteful creation. I couldn't believe how bad the theology behind this piece of religious advertisement was...surely this wasn't the God I serve. The Jesus I serve "loved me even while I was still a sinner." "He sent His only son so that I wouldn't have to perish." That's what God thinks about me and you and every other Joe or Janice in the world. He is willing to sacrifice it all. I asked my sister if she received things like this often and she said yes and that it's usually something about "turning or burning" or "the 10 steps to take to get to God." She even told me a story about a guy that looked strange at her the entire time he was sitting in her section waiting to get his food, and she could tell he was judging her..making presumptions about her and then she had confirmation when the creep left a tract on the table. He made no effort to get to know her.
I was extremely angry about this and deeply saddened. What are these people thinking? They don't know anything about my sister. They don't know the deep questions she's had about God or what prevents her from fully giving her life over to Him. They don't know her past or where she is right now. They know nothing and that's the way they prefer it...as long as at the end of the day they can say they handed out a piece of paper. Sorry that's not going to cut it pal- try living with sinners. Try really loving them. (Now I'm not saying I have evangelism figured out but stories like those remind me of why I need God's grace, why we all do.)
I went to Joshua House tonight with a good friend from high school. Joshua House is a 20's - 30's ministry at a different church than my own, but I love it because it's alive and vibrant. I listen to their podcast sometimes and there's a great speaker that happens to be a woman, she gets thrown into the preaching rotation every now and then. Well, during meet and greet time I turn to my side and she came all the way from the back of the room to greet my friend and me. We started chatting and realized we both have a couple mutual friends on staff at IWU. Not only this, all the while she doesn't have a clue I listen to her preaching and love it, and she invites us to her small group Bible Study on Thursday nights. Alleluia! Even during school I said I wanted to join a small group this summer..one that has depth and whatnot..and here it is hand delivered. Grace? I think so.

Coffeetopia

Yesterday afternoon I was talking to a great friend of mine that lives in the paradise known as Santa Cruz, CA and she was telling me about this great new coffeehouse, Verve, that opened fairly recently. Now it's not a chain like most of the coffee places in the Midwest, it was opened by 2 guys - Colby Barr and Ryan O' Donovan and they roast the beans right next to the shop...you can get a cup made from beans that were roasted just the day before..it's all the rave. Ryan actually used to work at Peet's Coffee in Santa Cruz, which happened to be my favorite cup while I lived there 2 summers ago. Needless to say, I can't wait to visit this place and maybe even check into an internship for next summer, if I end up out West. These guys understand the passion behind the roast.

If you want to read the review of the shop you can: http://www.metrosantacruz.com/metro-santa-cruz/03.26.08/dining-0813.html

The Truth of Humanity

There aren't a whole lot of movies now a days that I would watch again. I ran into a masterpiece Thursday night when I saw Juno. Some of you maybe be asking, "Is that the one about teenage pregnancy?" Well, yes...but it's so much more that the simple aspect of teen pregnancy shouldn't leave the truth the movie portrays in the dark. It's a movie with an element of raw truth dealing with humanity. To a world that lacks commitment it sends a strong message of what could be and what should be/shouldn't be. I have to say this movie was more than just a good flick- it moved me. The main character, Juno, talks about "losing faith with humanity" and I resonate with this. How easy is it to look around you and see all the mistakes people are making, let alone - evaluate some of our own poor choices and lose faith. Yet, this movie brings hope that things can turn out right...oh yeah.
I've been hanging out with my good friend Margaret lately. She is my 80 year old friend that was just widowed 6 weeks ago. We went out to lunch on Friday and shared stories and laughed. It was a great time of catching up since I hadn't seen her since around Spring Break. She tells stories about her husband, who was also a friend of mine, and her eyes still light up and her entire face still glows with a smile at remembering things that he said or did. At other times she shares how hard it is to loose your mate and not have someone to "hang around with" all day and in moments like those I feel like my heart is being ripped out of my chest...I can't even imagine losing someone that you've been married to for 50 years. I'm learning so much from Margaret though and I'm thankful for that..surely she is full of wisdom, even beyond her years.
After lunch we went back to her house and as soon as I walked in the door I saw the yellow envelope, the one that held a card I had sent her last week, laying on an end table in her foyer. Now, someone keeping a card might not mean much to you, but it does to me. I don't have any living grandparents and I only grew up knowing my grandmother who passed away when I was a sophomore in high school. I always looked back wishing I had written her more because she loved getting cards and letters...in a lot of ways I see God's provision through Margaret and now I get to take advantage of what I've been given. A second chance I guess, a second grandmother in a lot of ways...this brings me hope for humanity, but even more hope in a great great God.
Then as we preceded downstairs and she showed me some stuff she's been learning on the piano. I'm happy to say that she's been taking some more lessons and working on getting some new things to do. She turned to me after playing and told me it was my turn...last time I had a piano lesson I was 7 and got so frustrated I quit and changed my extracurricular activities to fit my natural abilities haha. Music is not my forte, I have to work pretty hard at it...yet she made it seem so easy and before long my hands were moving through the keys and I found it quite fun. I guess we're both learning new things in life together and I'm loving every minute of it.
Next stop: the Book Loft in German Village on Tuesday and I can't wait!