A Lesson in Grace! 

I haven’t put pen to paper in a blog for such a long time but there are times when something just hits you right between the eyes……..We are not in Tenerife at the moment but I wanted to post this on our Church page because this is important.

Back in Northern Ireland I learned a lesson in Grace last night!

We live in a ‘graceless’ world.. ’dog eat dog’.. ’only the fittest survive’…..the world of ‘The Apprentice’!! AND by in large we experience little Grace in the places or from the people we most expect it from BUT last night I discovered GRACE in the unexpected place.

Joanne, our daughter who has been so ill, and the cause of our return wanted to get out of the house. It’s her birthday on Monday 3 November and she had had some birthday money she wanted to spend. It was so good watching her try on this and that and then buy some jewellery. She was ‘having a ball’ and Lorraine and I were happy being spectators to it all. To finish the day off she wanted to ‘eat out’ so we went to this fabulous restaurant in Portrush, The Neptune and Prawn’ where Joanne  insisted she treat us to our meal…Now if that wasn't Grace enough there was more to come…… 

We settled on our choice of food and I was given the task to order from the counter. We wanted two steaks and one chicken which the waiter wrote down and repeated back to me before putting it through the till and me paying the bill. Well it wasn't long before the meals arrived at the table.. TWO CHICKEN and ONE STEAK???

“No!! I didn't order that” I said, “TWO STEAK and ONE CHICKEN” Without hesitation the extra Chicken was taken away and the assurance of the other steak would be on its way shortly. Then it dawned on me!!! A quick look at our receipt and yes…I had got it wrong…Somewhere in the ordering my brain switched off and I ordered the wrong thing!!

What followed was the lesson in GRACE from the unexpected place!

No less than THREE members of Staff arrived at our table apologizing profusely for THEIR mistake and despite my self-admission that it was indeed MY FAULT the apologies just kept coming, even from the very waiter who took my original order. There was no sense of ‘I must do this’ or of any kind of attitude, just a genuine word of apology that was not at all warranted, I kept repeating that it was not theirs but my own fault! Next to arrive was a freshly cooked meal, the second steak! BUT that was not the end of it. 

No sooner had the meal arrived but yet another member of staff came hot on the heels of it with an offer of puddings for all three of us as a further token of apology…Joanne and Lorraine didn't know where to turn.. …. all I could do was drool over the prospect of 3 puddings!!! (joking)  and they were good to their word…

A final  handshake with the guy behind the counter who obviously bore the brunt, staff side, of the error and from him a huge small and stiff handshake in return and a word that sent me out with the purpose to write this…”Great to have you, see you again soon”

GRACE…undeserved favour….it’s what the Gospel is all about isn't it…

Perhaps as Philip Yancey suggests people don’t want to hear the Gospel (Good News of God’s Grace) because they see, they hear, they find little of that GRACE in those of us who have the most reason to exhibit it… it rather seems to come from the most unexpected places??? 

A LESSON LEARNED…A LESSON WE CHRISTIANS ALL NEED TO LEARN!