Counting Losses

Destroyed. 

A year ago our community [re]built this playground from the dirtwork up. What required hundreds of hours, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a shared commitment to work hard and see it through . . . is totally gone. Utterly destroyed. 

I blink at the image and triple check the time stamp. Harsh reality punches my gut while my head insists it can't be real. What now? Who can be held responsible? How can we get our time and money back?

We can't.

My stomach aches at the waste.

My heart hurts at the loss.

Amid the shock and pain, there is a broader truth on display here, and I feel compelled to point it out. Everything we work toward is temporary. Our employment eventually ends, our bodies ultimately die, our possessions will be destroyed or distributed, and every single relationship will be severed in the end. Think about it. It all seems quite hopeless and futile. Unless. Unless we live within the belief that none of it is ours anyway. Unless we die first and THEN live in Christ. Unless we lose the whole world to gain what we can never lose.

Listen to why I have hope and why life is FILLED with meaningful endeavors. Because of Christ. Without Him, I would be trapped in dutiful misery, striving to obtain my own peace, straining to do and make everything right. The insanity of that lifestyle almost did me in. But at the base of the pit I had dug, I found Jesus who had found me first. He offered forgiveness and freedom and a new way of living. And, with nowhere left to turn, and nothing right about me except a broken, needy heart, I accepted His mercy and received His grace.

It's like I've flipped to the last chapter, realized He wins in the end, and then let that quiet confidence filter through each day and the challenges that accompany. 

If there is any good in me, it is Jesus. If there are inconsistencies or glaring shortfalls, His love is covering all that too. I have limited time, but thanks to Jesus, I have rich resources readily available, and I want to make a difference . . . to work and give and help and speak the truth in love. As I live I want you to know I live in and through Christ. When I die, rest assured that I have found my home.

"For the thief comes to kill and destroy, but I have come that you may have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10

Sufficiency

Grace enough.

There has always been plenty. 

For all my insecurities, my judgemental tendencies, and frequent cold shoulders - there has been abundant grace.

For all her bold moves, her radical choices, and perpetual hot water - there has been marvelous grace.

For our crossed paths winding to and fro, for the tangled web of circumstance and consequence unraveling in a heap, and brave leaps of faith weaving tight and true - so much unmerited grace.

More than enough to see it through. 

To see us through.

To share our story and the hope we know that there is grace enough.

For me and you.