When we first began the ministry of Grace Place we had a single Mom come in with her two children.  She didn’t get much for herself, she was mainly interested in taking care of her children’s needs, as is most parents that come in.  When she was finished shopping she went downstairs and sat in the fellowship hall, where we had prepared a light lunch and where some of our volunteers were taking time to enjoy fellowship with many of our Grace Place Store shoppers.

This lady got her and her children something to eat and after eating, she just continued to hang around.  She sat there and talked with a lot of our volunteers.  It was almost like she just enjoyed having another adult to have a conversation with.

A little later, one of our volunteers that was up helping shoppers in the store came downstairs and saw that this single Mom was still there.  They began a conversation and our volunteer discovered that the single Mom had not gotten anything for herself.  Our volunteer began to ask questions and discovered that the single Mom had a lot of different needs.

She needed jeans for a lady, but was getting by with jeans for a man.  She needed a winter coat, but was getting by with her ex-husbands old jacket.  She needed things that she did not even realize that she needed and before anyone knew it – everyone was all back upstairs helping to take care of this single Mom’s needs.

The volunteers were bringing her clothes to try on and managed put together several outfits, that would eventually include shoes and some accessories.  The single Mom later described it this way by saying:  “Thank you for helping me to feel like a girl again!”  “I have girl clothes and some of them are actually pink!”  “This grace has changed my life!”

Now jump ahead about five months!  Grace Place opens for it’s big 2nd Saturday of the month sale, which is always a big day for shoppers.  The single Mom that shopped here five months ago and experienced grace that changed her life, walks in and begins to volunteer by going into the kitchen and preparing a pizza that she had brought from home.  She tells the Pastor – “The pizza will be ready in about 10 minutes!”  “I hope it’s okay, I just thought someone might be hungry and like a little something extra to eat!”

The pizza goes fast as a group of kids tear into it like ants on a piece of peppermint candy, and it was gone in the blink of an eye.  She tells the Pastor:  “I am going to run and get a few sub sandwiches to cut up, in case anyone else comes in and is hungry.”  She gets them, cuts them up, puts them on plates and begins to serve them.

The Pastor sits back and sees the vision that God gave him months ago take another big step at becoming a reality!  This single Mom does not have a lot of money, but she manages to take care of her and her kids and then is willing to sacrifice her time and money to minister to complete strangers – why?  Because that is exactly what happened to her!  Her life was forever changed by complete strangers who were willing to take time and money to share grace with her, just a few months before!

No one asked her to do any of this!  As she looked for a way to serve, she found a need that needed to be met and then began to take some of the grace that God had given her and share it with others.

All I can say is “G3! = GIVE GOD GLORY!”

When I look in the mirror what do I see?  Is that a middle-aged man staring back at me?  Those eyes look familiar, so does that crook in the grin.  I see a man, who in many ways is still just a boy.  I see a boy who longs to be a man, but not just any man – God’s man.  I see the creation of God, fearfully and wonderfully made with amazing potential.

I see a sinner saved by grace.  I see a failure, who still somehow manages to succeed so that people’s lives are better and God is glorified.  I see a past that was well worth living and a future with a lot of question marks.

I see someone who is continuing to change, grow and develop as he faces the challenges, frustrations, disappointments and victories of life.  I see flesh that does continual battle with itself.  I look beyond the flesh and I see a heart that is tender, yielded and totally in love with its Creator.  I see that there is a lot more to see than meets the eye and I am thankful that God sees what He needs to see and with His love has placed great value on me!

I love you Lord and thank You for creating me.  It is the great joy and privilege of my life to serve You and I pray for Your strength, wisdom and anointing to serve you better today than I did yesterday, not so that I can enjoy success, but so that my life might bring glory to You – my Great God And King!

I am generally a pretty positive person, but every now and then I, just like a lot of other people in our world have a little bit more than I can handle.  There are times that I feel so alone!  I love God with more of my heart today, than at any other time I can remember.  I am excited about serving Him and I so want to bring glory to His name, but sometimes, I feel so alone in working to make it happen.

It’s not that I am alone, there is a handful of people who I can count on to walk and work with me and I am very thankful for them.  If not for them, I am sure there are days that I would throw my hands up in desperation and just walk away.

I am not a 50% kinda person!  I am a 100%, “all in” kinda person!  There is no halfway with me.  If it’s worth doing, then it’s worth doing right!  If we are going to do it, then let’s really do it for God’s glory!

I am beginning to think that maybe I need to stop trying to get the people around me to become 100%ers!  Maybe I just need to go out and look for 100%ers and see what God puts together.  People will disappoint you quicker than anything I know!

Please don’t read this wrong:  It’s not that I don’t have hope, it’s just that I want to make sure that my hope is in the right place and with the right people, because God deserves a whole lot more than He is getting!

Don’t worry about me, because I am fine.  I am just another one of God’s servants on a journey to find what really matters for Him and His glory.  I am tired of playing games, going through the motions and waiting for people who say they get it to really get it!

I am not giving up and I am not throwing in the towel.  I am just simply sharing my heart and the struggle that it goes through in the midst of some amazing ministry.  While I sometimes feel alone, I know that I am not alone!  I know that God is with me and that is enough!

When the Spirit of God has given you a picture of what could be and the people of God seem to have little to no interest in developing that picture, then you can’t help but to have some negative emotion.  It’s what you do with that negative emotion that counts!

The good thing about the negative emotion is that it helps me to put my focus where it belongs and that is not on people, but on God.  With my eyes and heart set on God, I know that I am not alone and a new picture begins to develop and my loneliness turns to hope and that experience is what I call grace!