endless

i was sitting with two dear friends today... friends you like to tell people about.  friends that stand beside you on your wedding day.  friends who, as my dad says, will carry your casket one day.  we were catching up on life and one friend was filling us in on somethings in his life that were really going well and then he continued to tell us how this one deal just was really messing with him.  i hated for him that he is having to process through this kinda sucky situation, but on the other hand i was jealous.  he is experiencing God's grace and unconditional in a way i am not even sure he knows yet.  as we was venting to us i ashamedly drifted off for a second to my own world,reminding myself how i have experienced this incarnational love and grace he is showing.  through my beautiful wife, my loving parents, a hurt sister, a life long friend, perfectly timed notes, and in so many other ways.  all of these moments that have been filled with grace came into my mind.  i finally waded back into the conversation after my selfish metal break and heard him talk about how he was not angry, but just saddened by the brokeness of our world.  i think this is how God feels most of the time. i do not believe in a God that has positioned himself on a throne with a iron scepter in hand, waiting to strike down vengeance on his children when they fall.  i believe in a God, who like any proud parent, watches while we learn to walk and picks us up and dusts off whenever we fall.  our God's heart breaks for the brokenness of the world.  the brokenness we all cause. but in the midst of us turning our back, saying no to his protection and freedom, he offers what we need most- love.  and through his dying love comes his saving grace.  grace that known no end.  

i'm very proud of my friend.  and very thankful.  you see it was through him that i was reminded of a Father who stands waiting for me with open arms... with dying love... with endless grace.