Evidences of God's Grace

I believe it is good to reflect and praise the Lord as he shows His grace, His undeserved favor to us. This weekend for me was one of those stretches were evidences of God's grace were overflowing. I'd like to share them in three segments with you.

Sunday - June 15th - Shannon and I celebrated 5 years of marriage (Shannon will be visiting her fam in Montana on the 21st). By God's grace 5 years has gone by and I love my wife more and more. What a joy it is to know that she forgives me, carries burdens with me, prays for me, does ministry with me, and respects me all as a response to the Gospel of Christ. In addition to those things she allows me to yell at the television during sporting events, stink up the upstairs bathroom when I feel like, and drink from the bottles/cartons in the fridge (although that hasn't happened since we have children - so that priviledge if you can call it that - looks to be on the way out). I am a blessed man - by my wife's choice - not mine - we celebrated with going golfing and then heading out to eat wings at Buffalo Wild Wings and watch Tiger sink a 20 footer on the 18th hole to tie Rocco Mediate in the US Open. Man I love my wife!

Sunday - June 15th - God's grace has been poured out to me in having a daugter that I absolutely adore. She adores me, responds to me, prays with me before we go to bed, and hardly ever listens to me (we are working on that more and more everyday). I received a gift on Father's Day that consisted of a card with my name on it (although it had scribbled crayon all over my name), a new book on puppies to read to Aunika, and her latest picture from a coloring book. One of her latest fasinations is to put my shoes on and walk around. She must think her daddy is pretty cool to be wearing his running shoes - bet we won't be seeing this for long.

Saturday - June 14th - I got the priviledge of seeing God's grace in the lives of two great friends. I got to perform my first wedding and share how the lives of two individuals can be a reflection of Jesus and the Church. What a joy it was to see two followers of Jesus express their love to each other in a way that glorifies God. God's grace was seen through the weather this day. The wedding was an outside wedding and the rain stopped at 6:20 pm. The wedding was at 7 pm and went from 7:20 to about 8:05. The 50 mph winds and more rain came at 8:20 pm. The two hours that were needed for this wedding were granted as it was calm, sunny and beautiful outside. My favorite part as the officiating pastor was to see a man I admire as a father, who has raised his daughter with a great example of what to look for in a man, escort his daughter down the aisle with a smile on his face and a couple tears in his eyes.
Tuesday June 16-Thursday June 18th - God's grace is given to me in the undeserved gift of having great parents. We are leaving for a while as my parents take my family on vacation to Medora. It is our Christmas gift this year as my parents wanted time with them more than anything. "You can't put a price tag on that!" are the words of my folks.

God's grace is everywhere and shows up most importantly through Jesus Christ. May we know nothing else besides Jesus Christ and Him crucified for evidences of grace flow from that truth!