Experiences of Grace

I have tried to summarize the significance of my experiences in Honduras and what to take to the States with me as I strive to maintain the “mission” mindset. It came to me one day after watching a movie. I had been wanting to see Freedom Writers for some time as I had heard of Erin Gruwell’s story in undergrad. I wondered if they would glorify her as some amazing person with a super personality or maybe some great teaching techniques. I was impressed by the two things that I noticed about Erin Gruwell: she was willing to struggle with her students, to engage with them and she strove to provide them with experiences that they had never had before. She was willing to take a chance on them, several chances really.
You see, the beautiful thing about grace is that it is free and undeserved. Erin Gruwell did not look at her students as a group of ruffians who did not deserve trust or respect. She saw the opportunity to expose a group of hurting people to some things that would expand their world view and change them.
Christ did the same thing. The woman at the well. The woman caught in adultery. The many people he healed. He saw them. He reached out to them and showed them grace. He didn’t blow them off. He didn’t rush to his next appointment, meeting or speaking engagement. He fully engaged in those people’s pain and freed them.
That is what we are called to do. We are called to engage in people’s experiences, not because they deserve it, but because they don’t. But neither do we. None of us do. That’s the point. Grace is undeserved. That’s why it is so beautiful when it is freely given. That is why it is so effective. Grace is the heart of the Good News.
Whether I am in Honduras or at my teaching job or in the grocery store, I pray that I would extend some form of grace to those I meet. That I would engage with them, if even for a moment. That I would extend a smile, a caring voice, a prayer, or even, Lord willing, a life-changing experience. Because He first loved me.