The other day, I gave my first sermon in 3 years.
After 13 years of preaching and taking offerings, I admit I was a little rusty, but some things just stick with you.
I was in a weight room and my audience was the custodian.
I had seen him for several weeks. We exchanged pleasantries and small talk, but nothing else.
One day, three weeks previous to this impromptu sermon, he asked me to pray for him.
He had no clue that I had been a minister and, to this day, I have no idea why he asked me. Nor do I have any idea what precipitated this request of a veritable stranger.
Nevertheless, I said I would and I did.
He is about 25, a nice enough fellow, and reasonably happy with his job. Other than that, I don’t know anything about him.
The other day, I was weightlifting and he walked into the weight room. Again, out of the proverbial blue, he said, “I never understood what “There, but for the Grace of God, go I’ means.”
Then he cocked his head and, with a quizzical look on his face, asked in a very sincere manner, “What does that mean?”
I said, catching my breath, “Well, think about a guy in a wheelchair, a guy who gets killed in a head-on collision, or a guy in prison who ‘fell in with the wrong crowd.’ If not for the goodness of God, something like that could have happened to you or I.
”It’s an expression of being grateful for your current state of life, even if it is not perfect. It makes you count your blessings and be glad for the little things that you would otherwise take for granted.”
“What does ‘Grace’ mean?” he asked.
I said, “It is the ever-available and inexhaustible goodness of God, ‘the gift freely given,’ as Paul said, that we don’t have to earn, but too often forget about.
”Here’s the best definition I’ve ever heard: Grace is like being a bootlegger for 25 years only to discover the county you live in is wet.
“Everything was OK all along, you just didn’t know it.”
He laughed and seemed to understand. Then he went on his way.
I was kind of pleased with myself until I realized how woefully out of practice I am.
I forgot to take an offering.
Copyright 2004 by Tony Papajohn. Tony writes and speaks on success. Subscribe to his free SuccessMotivator e-zine at http://www.successmotivator.com.
