Re-discovering Grace

From 5-8 September (so basically this past weekend), I attended something called The Walk to Emmaus. It is a 72 hour program focused at Christians in order to just refocus their lives, and to RE-present Jesus to them, to encourage you to be a disciple, and to get involved in church.

Over the weekend, you listen to a series of talks. For me, the talks were very good, but the things that struck me the most were the experiences that they arrange to help focus you. I would love to tell you about these experiences, but so many of them are just indescribable. Also, I do not want to ruin it for anyone that might go, as the whole idea of Emmaus is to surrender and just let go.

You are asked to leave your phone and watch behind, so you have no clue what the time is, and also none of the people who help on the Walk will never tell you what is happening next, so that the experience is one of amazement and surprise. It is an absolutely beautiful experience.

You might be wondering why I am writing this blog post then, if I do not want to tell you about anything that happened on the Walk. Well it is simple, there is one thing I can tell you. It is one of the most vital and important lessons I learnt on the walk after reflecting on a talk about grace. I am going to type out exactly what I wrote down in my notebook during this time of reflection.

________________________________

"Even though God was seeking for us while we were sinners, it is amazing to realize that He is still seeking after us now that we are with Him. There are times we turn away (deliberately or accidentally), and yet every time He is following us, like a mother following close behind a baby who is still learning to walk. He is on His hands and knees, close enough to catch us if we fall, but just far away from us to allow us to fall, cause without being able to fall, we will never learn."

"It is only after we are up and walking again that we look back and realize that God was with us from the beginning. It is at this stage that the responsibility is on us to be aware that we must look back and realize God's hand over our lives, and then to thank Him for looking after us and protecting us."

________________________________

Having grown up in a Christian household, and going to church since the day I took my first breath, the concepts of the LOVE of God and the GRACE of God become somewhat cliche, and so it starts loosing its potency. This is part of the point of the Walk to Emmaus, to make God's love and grace become very obvious to you. 

For me, over the past few years, the love of God has become more and more real, but not His grace, and with this comment that I wrote in my notes, the grace of God has certainly become a lot more real! Praise be to God!

DE COLORES!

Andrew