When Grace is Grace

When Grace is Grace...Probably a title of a book I am sure, but nothing like self-discovery.  Last night I said to my son, "Grace is not grace until there is repentance." Then I lay awake through the night pondering that statement.  Does God's grace hinge on the work of repentance in the child of God?  Does my grace toward my children rest conditionally on their turning from their wrong toward me, their family, our God or others?  I pictured then the father of the prodigal on the porch night after night.  Was he full of grace on the porch each night or did his grace spring from the porch only when he saw his son on the horizon?  Upon much contemplation, I have much to learn.  I must be as that father, my grace and love for all, especially my loved ones, is offered free from any sign of their turning.  Certainly the grace I felt from God when He saved me was not withheld conditional upon my own heart turning in  repentance.  It is grace that leads to repentance. "Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?" Rom. 2:4
Coach/PJ

Two Precious Baptisms

Praise the Lord!  Two precious children baptized yesterday at Crosspoint!  What a confirmation for the parents of God answering prayers and rewarding their making of disciples in their homes.  Good day!
Coach/PJ

Next Generation Church

When your adult son sends a text "Dad, I am leaving your church."  That is a time for celebration. You may be puzzled by that statement, for surely it does sadden me to see my son leave our church.  But the reality is that the short text sends more than a post.  It is truly a milestone, a rite of passage in a young man's life.  I see it as my son truly leaving boyhood behind to be a man.  Consider this, one change of a word in that text could break a father's heart.  What if the text simply read, "Dad, I am leaving the church." That would speak so much more to a failure to pass faith in Christ and love for His bride to the next generation.  Today, I am a very happy daddy! "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child and I reasoned like a child. But when I became a man, I put my childish ways behind me."  I Corinthians 13:11
Coach/PJ