Waves of grace

Once again, God has blown me away by his grace and unexpected surprises.

On the way home from the play last night, my friend Dave and I were chatting about him heading home to Toronto for Christmas. I asked him how he was getting to the airport (I would have offered to drive him, but, well, I'd need a car for that!). He mentioned that his roommate was probably going to drive him and then leave the car in front of their place while they were both away for Christmas. He'd have his landlord keep an eye on it for those two weeks. In the very next breath he asked me, "Hey! Do you want to borrow my car while I'm away?" OH. MY. GOODNESS! I was speechless. "Really?!?! Uuuh... wow!" I hope he didn't think I was trying to lead him to that conclusion! I totally wasn't! The use of a car over the holiday alleviates SO much stress for me. I don't have to worry about Christmas shopping taking forever (yes, I still have shopping to do!), I can actually GET myself to my parent's place for Christmas, the whole bit! And hey, it's going to make shopping for my own car SOOOO much easier! His reasoning? He tries to remember that everything he has doesn't belong to him, but to God, and so wants to use what he has to help others whenever possible. Just another glimpse of a character that reflects Christ in so many different ways. I want to be more like that.

Then today I found an envelope from the Canadian Teacher's Federation (CTF) among my mail. That seemed somewhat odd. During the teacher's strike back on October, teacher's took a big financial hit, and the CTF set up a "Teacher Hardship Fund" to give grants to teachers who qualified. I applied, and got a letter about two weeks ago saying that I wasn't going to get a grant/assistance. So today's letter from the CTF was kind of strange. I guess they got more money for the fund, or something, because there was my cheque! WOW!

Even as I write tonight, I think back to one of the things I wrote last night - that I was beginning to fear that God would begin to lose patience with ever-wandering me. I know that's not true, but sometimes that thought still creeps in. After all, Jesus isn't just a meek little infant in the manger. He's also a pretty fiesty character. He's the Lamb of God, but also the Lion of Judah. Is there a limit to his grace? It's in gifts like the use of Dave's car for two weeks and some unexpected money right when I need it the most that I hear God's voice gently answering my question. Grace and blessings have no limit, and are not dependent on me deserving them. Once again, God is wooing me to himself. How can I resist a love like that?