I love grace. Seriously, I’m consistently astounded by the grace of God.

The thing about grace is that, if you ask 10 people what grace means, you’ll get 10 definitions for the word.

You might hear things like the following…

“God’s unmerited favor” “mercy bestowed” “divine pardon” “endowment of benefit” “bounty” “a gift” “bestow a blessing” and one of my favorites, “God’s ability in my inability”.

But, you know what?  I’m a picture guy.  I understand things better visually so I want to share a picture with you.

The other day, my seven year old son wanted to go for a bike ride.  He saw his older brothers riding up and down the street and wanted to explore the neighborhood.  I’ve tried many times to teach him how to ride but he just hasn’t gotten the hang of it.  He was really upset with his limitation and was tired of just hanging around the house and yard.

I felt bad for him so I dug an old tandem bicycle out of the garage and told him to hop on.  He loved it! He was free from the confines of his limitations, there was joy in his heart as we raced down the street, and he laughed with glee as we explored the neighborhood.  It was a new sense of freedom for him and all he had to do was sit back and let me pedal and steer.  What a deal!

That’s grace!  We don’t deserve it, but Jesus paid our fine, set us free, and empowered us! All we have to do is… hop on.

What are some of your favorite definitions for grace?

Grace

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Hudson and I announce the winner of the messenger bag giveaway…

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I was listening to a message recently that listed the top four reasons people give for not going to church.  They are as follows:

Services are boring
The people are unfriendly
They just care about money
The questionable safety of their children

I know I’ve felt all four of those things at one time or another, but I still love church.

Do you think those reasons are valid?  Can you think of any other reasons why people don’t like to go to church?  Feel free to list them in the comments.

But hold on!  Not so fast! It’s no good listing faults if you can’t suggest any solutions.  What are some realistic things the church can do to remove these excuses?  Let’s hear your best ideas!

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