beka stays faithful : undeserved grace

Honest to goodness truth: When I walked into church on Sunday and saw the communion table set up, I started to panic. Not because I have an aversion to wafers and juice or dislike the special Sundays when we do observe the Lord’s supper. But because my heart was not in the right place for communion. More like 8,000 miles away from the right place. Clear on the other side of the spectrum of places.

So I sang. And I prayed. And I listened. And I actually forgot all about communion until the end of the service. I went to the table and then back to my seat with the grape-soaked bread still in hand. I sighed. I began to list all of the ways in which I’ve failed as a Christian lately: being too busy for reading my Bible, too distracted for heartfelt prayer, too silent when I should be vocal and too vocal when I should be silent, too blinded by my “needs” to see the needs of others. So I sank into prayer. “Lord, I SO do not deserve to accept communion right now.”

Far be it from me to attribute any thought that pops up in my own head as something God himself speaks to me, but the next thought seemed fairly congruent with something he might say:

“Child, when have you ever deserved it? That’s the point of grace: you can’t earn it.”

Well. That made my head spin a bit.

All of my efforts to work harder at being a better Christian so that I can achieve God’s favor? Futile. Because he already did the hard work on the cross. And because I’ve put my trust in him and in his saving grace, nothing that I do – great or terrible – can alter his love for me.

It’s so contrary to popular belief that I can’t understand it. It literally doesn’t make sense to me. But I’m so thankful for undeserved grace, for the unexpected reminder, and for these verses from Romans 8:

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶As it is written:

   “For your sake we face death all day long;
   we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

beka stays authentic : the perfect day

On Sunday, I had the definition of a perfect day. I…

• Slept in a little bit. Which, for me, means I was up by 7am and stayed in pajamas until 8am. I know, CRAZY.
• Watched a little bit of SportsCenter, read a few blogs/books, and  hopped around the internet for a while before getting ready for church.
• Made three classic Sunday meals that I love – oatmeal with dark chocolate peanut butter for breakfast, scrambled eggs with toast for lunch, flatbread pizza for dinner. A lovely trifecta.
• Went to church. I love it there.
• Visited the Brighton Farmer’s Market for the first time ever, a visit that is sure to become a frequent occurrence. It’s the perfect size! There’s a large selection of a variety of items but it’s not so huge that you have to elbow the guy in front of you just to get to the potatoes.
• Watched the FOX NFL pregame show – my favorite, and a ritual that dates back all the way to high school.
• Went grocery shopping at the Pittsford Wegmans. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to live a mere 3 miles away from the mecca of all things grocery.
• Listened to the Packers game on the radio via NFL mobile. As much as I enjoy watching games, I really love listening to them! The level of exhilaration is much greater when you’re visualizing each play and hanging on the announcer’s every word. It literally gives me chills. Love it.
• Spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen whilst listening to the game – a perfect combo! I made the amazing bittersweet chocolate cookies, these oatmeal peanut butter bars, more pumpkin pie oatmeal, and the aforementioned pizza for dinner.
• Rode my bike over to a friend’s apartment to deliver a package of above baked goods. It was a beautiful early fall day and it was nice to see a friend after spending a large chunk of quality time covered in powdered sugar/yelling at the radio.
• Did laundry. Which, for the record, I loathe, but acknowledge it as a necessary evil so getting it out of the way felt good.
• Watched my favorite evening pregame show, Sunday Night Football on NBC.
• Spent the rest of the night reading blogs and watching football and editing pictures and falling asleep on the couch.

The only way the day could have been better would have been if a Bruster’s employee showed up on my doorstep with a pint of Graham Central Station. And even then, it still would have been only marginally better than the original. I wasn’t kidding with the intro; it really was the definition of a perfect day!

Community Question: what’s your definition of a perfect day? Chime in below!