Pastor's Weekly Word

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8)

The other day, I thought of a story from my childhood that I shared with you in a sermon a few years back. I thought I might share it again here as some stories are worth repeating.

When I was growing up, my best friend had an uncle named Ron. We loved Uncle Ron. He was funny and crass and full of life. But one thing we learned quickly was that you did not want to upset him. We had seen how he got when he occasionally lost his temper, and we never wanted to be the recipients of what we saw, never.

One summer Uncle Ron asked us to wash his brand new Ford Bronco. He ordered the works, and we eagerly accepted. The day came for us to do the job, and we gave it our all: wash, wax, buff, the entire enchilada. And then it happened. Without thinking, my friend and I crawled on top of the truck to wax and buff the roof. Almost immediately the roof bent in leaving a huge dent that could not be hidden.

Who was going to tell Uncle Ron? Not me! You do it, you’re his nephew. No way! Should we tell him at all? I mean, he’s going to kill us, like really kill us. We finally decided to do it together. If we went together, maybe two of us would make it out alive. With shaky knees and quivering lips we entered Uncle Ron’s study to confess our mistake. There he sat behind his desk like Don Corleone in The Godfather. We were terrified. He listened to our confession, and without saying a word, he walked out to the truck to look at the roof.

“Where is it?” he asked.
“Right here,” we told him, pointing to what was completely obvious.
“I don’t see anything,” he replied. He then pulled out $40. “You did a fine job boys.”
A few weeks later, I noticed that the roof had been repaired.

Sometimes in this life as we stand there with shaky knees and quivering lips knowing that we are going to get the full brunt of all that is coming to us, we experience something different. We experience instead a glimpse of the unmerited unearned favor of God. It is more than just being forgiven for something you have done. It is grace.