..there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not . Luke 15-7

I am not what I ought to be...
I am not even what I hope to be...
But by the grace of God
I am certainly not what I was
-John Newton

"Chad" came in Friday. We have come to know him and to love him. He is in his 40's. He has led a life that has not glorified God. And the result of that life is written all over his face. He has raised four children. He has fathered more. He does not work regularly. He is in bondage to addictions and sin. He is a quiet, gentle man in our presence.
Last month after he left, Marlene said "I like that guy, there is something about him." I agreed.
On Friday, he told me that he wanted to talk to me. He seemed agitated and disturbed. When he sat down in the "green" chair, he seemed beat down. His hands were shaking. I learned that he was behind on child support payments to a child that he had fathered 16 years ago. He said that he had made sporadic payments over the past months, but that he had accumulated a balance of "missed" payments that he could not pay. If he does not pay $500 by next week, he will go to jail. We began discussing his situation. He looked at me and said "Please do not think that I told you all that so that you would try to help me get the money. I guess I just needed to talk to someone. I am sorry." Years of harsh living had caught up to Chad and they were staring him straight in the face. Little did he truly know, that I could relate to his story. The years that I had spent apart from God in my younger days, could have easily led me to the grave. I breathed a silent prayer and began to speak...
We talked about the prodigal son, about John Newton, and anything else that the Lord so graciously brought to my mind. I so desperately wanted him to see and love Jesus the way that Jesus sees and loves us. I was relating a story that I had learned when I took the Alpha Class about a man who was a judge and was on the bench when his beloved childhood friend came in front of him on day. He had not seen his friend for many years. This friend had taken a very different path from him. A path that led him to a court of law to face charges that he was indeed guilty of. The judge, of course, had to pronounce him guilty. He had no choice. After the verdict though, a strange thing happen. The judge rose and took off his robes and stepped down from his seat of judgment. He took his old friend by the hand and led him down to the place in the courthouse where the penalty was to be paid.
At this point in the story, Chad's lips began to quiver. His eyes filled with tears. He knew at that very moment what the judge was going to do. He had stepped down and come to his estranged friend to pay the required penalty for him. Out of pure love, pure mercy, pure grace. Chad knew that I was telling him about Jesus.
I said to Chad "Now, what are you going to do? Are you going to accept that Jesus paid the penalty for you and he is offering you new life through His sacrifice? Or are you going to turn and walk away?"
Praise God for our new brother in Christ. I could feel the foundations of heaven shaking over the rejoicing!! Thank you Jesus that you love us all. Thank you that you love Chad! Thank you that you love me! Sinners in need of a Savior. I pray that all who read this can join in with Chad and I as we can sing with a precious understanding, those poignant words of another lost sinner
who was saved by the grace of God.

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.
-John Newton



Praise God!!!!