My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
—2 Cor. 12:9 NIV
Some years ago, my family of native Floridians who had never seen more than a bucketful of snow in our lives, decided that it would be a great adventure to take a winter vacation and learn to ski. Snow ski. Most of the group took to the slopes like champs, as if they had been born to the mountains.
Not this one. Do you know how fearful a mountain looks when it’s covered with snow and the sport is to maneuver your way to the bottom with boards on your feet? One truth finally stuck in my brain, thanks to a caring and patient ski instructor: don’t think about the whole mountain. All you are to think about is this piece right in front of you. With her help and the great grace of Almighty God, I made it down several mountains over the course of several ski trips. There were more than a few falls along the way and one even required the help of the Ski Patrol (they really didn’t have to say “We don’t get many calls for people on the Bunny Slope!”)
From my standpoint, this past year has been a mountain. Like the mile-high mountains in Colorado, there is no seeing over the next bump in the slope or what is beyond the next stand of trees and rocks. But we are skiing on down, maneuvering each piece as well as we can with that wonderful gift from God called Grace. The peaks are fearsome: COVID, a church in transition, personal relationships, grief for those who were lost during the year. The list varies with each person. Day by day, hour by hour, with each breath we take we simply have no choice but to keep on. Had we known how long the pandemic would upheave the world, we would have said, “O no…I can’t do that.”
A young Christian writer named Morgan Harper Nichols said it this way:
A year ago, you did not know today.You did not know how you’d make it here.But you made it here.By Grace, you made it here.
If we are Christians, we made it here because we know the One who sees over the bumps, around the trees and rocks, and all the way to the bottom of the mountain and beyond.
It’s called Grace: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
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| The Floridians brave the slopes |