GOING THE LONG HAUL | THE SECRET
We took a road trip back in time to celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary.
One year ago this week, Chuck and I took a road trip back in time to celebrate our 41st anniversary.
Our itinerary traveled through decades of highs and lows: the road where a flat tire deflated our engagement night, the sinking house that almost sunk us, our dream home with a lake view, followed by an apartment overlooking a dumpster. We paused at churches that grew us and hospitals that almost took us down.
The map appeared to take us in circles. But after every hard stop, we came to the same conclusion.
Somehow, we made it through.
Somehow, we moved forward.
"What's your secret?" the bartender asked at the end of the night.
"The grace of God," we said, in sync. Humans make too many mistakes to take credit for 41 years of forward motion. Grace is receiving what we don't deserve.
One bottle of wine led to another, and by 2 a.m. I was at a Detroit hotdog stand, barely standing.
"41 years! What's your secret?" A newly engaged woman wanted to know how to begin her own journey right.
"The grace of God," I said in a drunken haze. "Jesus." I fumbled for more, but that was all I had.
More than I deserved.
She'd heard of Him. She leaned in to listen. And I couldn't deliver the most important news she’d ever receive.
"Follow my wife at Just a Broken Believer!" The hot dog soured in my stomach. Leave it to Chuck to market me at the most inopportune times.
I was ashamed of who I was despite who I claimed to be.
Yet the grace that carries us through miles of spins and spirals doesn't waver when we go back to the same mistakes. Because we all end up somewhere we never intended to be.
The old habit. The divided heart. A shameful past. Your one regret.
So turned around, you wonder if you'll ever see past it.
The way out isn't the express elevator back to the bar.
It's falling to your knees in a hotel bathroom.
Repenting.
Receiving.
Then, returning to follow Jesus.
"By the grace of God I am what I am." 1 Corinthians 15:10
And what you are is forgiven.
Redeemed.
Set apart for the glory of God.
Despite my epic failure, God gave me another chance to tell that young lady about the grace of God.
Somehow, she remembered that I was ‘Just a Broken Believer.’
Only God can take the hard stops in us and turn them into someone else's eternity.
The secret to going the long haul isn't a perfect road map. It's following a perfect Savior.
By His grace, we are who we are and end up exactly where He wants us to be.