My views of Grace have changed measurably over the years.

Each year they get wider and more tolerant.

Grace really became far wider when I went to work for Adult and Teen Challenge, the Christian drug and alcohol recovery program.

It was all new to me, and to be honest, I saw many men,

that up till then I would have written off,

and I truly felt they would have had no hope.

Oh but I saw the God of all hope steal in and swoop up lost and broken hearts, work so tenderly with them,

overlooking glaring shortcomings

but always pressing to the goal of wholeness.

Lives that staggered, swayed and stumbled seeking God,

with behaviors that repelled me

and over and over I saw men tread the grace of God underfoot.

Relapses so virulent and outrageous I wrote them off as reprobate!

But they would come

dragging back,

bodies wasted,

minds blurred,

actions detestable,

and yet,

God's arm was outstretched still.

How can His grace be so big!!!!!

That being said, at no time were they comfortable in their sin, far from it.

To the altar they would fly and pour out tears of repentance,

vowing to walk obediently. Of course, they could not,

but God patiently and tenderly raised them back up towards the goal of holiness and wholeness,

never compromising the goal,

never accepting the sin,

but always forgiving the sin that was hated and turned from,

though they returned often to their own vomit.

If we seek comfort in our sin we will pay a heavy price,

but if we seek,

ever so feebly,

to renounce our sin, Grace will be there no matter how much we falter.

We may look like a pin-ball bouncing, ricocheting and falling against the walls, but we will find our way home if the walls are

on the "Narrow Path" that leads to life.