Were it not for grace...

Sometimes it is really easy to let that feeling of hopelessness overwhelm you, especially when working with unsaved children and teens. (My friend Jo blogged about this very thing just a few days ago.) It seems so unlikely that these kids will ever accept Christ and live for Him. Their lives are so completely different from my teenager life that I just lived merely a few years ago. But, yet, they are just the same. They are wanting to feel accepted by their friends. They're are trying to figure who they really are on the inside. Ultimately, I think they do want to do the right thing. But how do we get them across "the bridge." How do we get them to see that it isn't about going to church, but knowing the One who began "church."

D was going to come tonight, but T said she got in trouble. I asked her what happened, and she said that D had got caught stealing lip gloss from Meijer. But T, on the other hand, goes to court this Friday because she hit her mom a few weeks ago and ran away from home.

I just sit and silently shake my head. I really cannot understand the lives these girls lead. But yet, they are living the life that should have been mine. I could have very easily been the one going to court Friday and the one arrested for stealing. Were it not for grace...

Lord, Is it ok that I truly don't understand Your grace and how You measure it out...I don't understand why I was born into a Christian family, went to Christian school, learned about your love at such an early age, attend a Bible College, and have accepted Your gift of salvation. I don't understand why it was me, and not them. But God, I do know that you give us ALL grace. Help me to sprinkle Your grace on the lives of those who live so differently than me. Lord, I may be the only Christian that they know - Help me to be a true Christian. May they see Jesus - His love, compassion, grace - through me.