Grace and the GPS

A couple of summers ago I was asked to explain a Baptist’s definition of God’s grace to someone who was brought up in a religion that taught grace through works.  I had fully intended to use the “Free $100 Bill” demonstration that Pastor and others have shown me in the past.  But God had a different plan for me.  He challenged me to make the demonstration something that spoke to his everyday life without resorting to “Christianese”.  Not too hard, right? Well, I was stumped. But a door soon opened up for me.

I was driving around downtown Ft. Worth trying to get back to where I was staying which was on the other side of the Metroplex about 45 miles away.  I had a GPS unit and was following its directions when, somehow or another, I got turned around and missed a major exit.  If you know me you won’t find that hard to believe!  I tried to get myself corrected but ended up getting myself hopelessly lost in the part of Ft. Worth that no one but gang-bangers and the folks from the COPS TV show dare venture to.  If you know me and my horrible sense of direction you will know how bad off I actually was!  Finally I looked at the GPS unit to help me out of this situation.  The GPS told me it was “recalculating route,” and then showed me the way home from where I was. And that was when the light dawned on me.  As Christians we rely on God to “get us home.”  Along the road we are sure to make mistakes.  We mess up. Some of us will try to get ourselves out of the situation but will, more than likely, make it worse.  But God’s grace forgives our mistakes and He will recalculate the route that will get us home.