A Petite Snaffoo in a Subway… (Another Glimpse of Love in February With Help from Tullian Tchividjian’s Book: One Way Love)
Traveling home isn’t nearly as fun as traveling to a Caribbean island. Even tho’ John and I were ready to return home, fully rested from our week in Jamaica, somehow going thru’ long lines in Customs in the Atlanta Airport loses its’ luster. We had high hopes of finding time for dinner–perish the thought we miss a meal…
Customs being on the “E” Concourse, we realized our connecting flight, conveniently was on the “A” Concourse. We wanted to eat at Friday’s, on the “B” Concourse. Riding the long escalators down to the subway, better known as the “plane train”, we noticed the red lights were already blinking, signifying we’d need to wait for the next train.
Approaching the doors, a man with a tower of boxes dared to enter, doors closing. SLAM! His boxes were pinned in-between the opening.
The plane train’s computer voice didn’t appreciate that very much and repeated over and over, “Error on the plane train”, “Error on the plane train”…
Meanwhile, the red lights continued blinking, doors now open…
Several other passengers dared to jump on…Including my husband…
Stunned, I froze.
The doors shut.
Separated by glass, Suddenly, he holds up four fingers and yells, “BEEEEEEEEEE”.…
And then…POOF! The plane train evaporated into the bowels of the Atlanta Airport’s Subway System, carrying my beloved better half with it.
All I had to do was hop on the next train, hop off at “B” and a romantic dinner to conclude our romantic trip at none other than T. G. I. Friday’s would commence.
(Bit of a stretch since TGIF is wildly busy and you nearly have to sit on your roller boards. Oh, but one can pretend.)
Quickly arriving at Concourse B, thankfully there was John, looking a tad sheepish. He reported an elderly man next to him on the train said rather softly (after witnessing our debacle), “Betcha that won’t buy you many brownie points!!!”
We have howled ourselves silly over this little subway snaffoo. Sometimes travel exhaustion is a good thing for one’s sense of humor. And, truth be told, the plane train was going one way, in the right direction, to “BEEEEEEE”. No big deal. Grace was easy on this one.
May I recommend a mind-blowing book on grace by Tullian Tchividjian called One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World?
Anybody else feel like they inhabit an Exhausted World??? Tullian had me from the book cover. In case you don’t know, Tullian happens to be one of Ruth and Billy Graham’s grandchildren. (His Father, Stephan Tchividjian, passed away in 2010. His Mother is Gigi Graham Tchividjian, one of the Graham’s children and author of many books.) Tullian’s the Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. www.crpc.org
Tullian’s testimony is jaw-dropping wild. Don’t miss it! Grab a Kleenex or two because the grace his Father extends to him will melt your heart.
Tullian offers several definitions of grace:
“Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. It reflects a decision on the part of the giver, the one who loves, In relation to the receiver, the one who is loved, That negates any qualifications the receiver may personally hold…. Grace is one-way love.”
Follow Tullian’s spot-on observation:
“Grace doesn’t make demands. It just gives. And from our vantage point, it always gives to the wrong person…Jesus is always giving to the wrong people—prostitutes, tax collectors, half-breeds…. It defies logic. It doesn’t keep score. Grace is unconditional acceptance given to an undeserving person by an unobligated giver. IT IS ONE-WAY LOVE.”
Just take an inventory of your own life. While you may not be a prostitute or a tax collector, if you’ve received grace from God, you know it’s not only a gift, it’s literally amazing grace.
Tullian recounts how the Lord continued to come after him. I call this relentless pursuit, also known as amazing grace.
In my own life, I lose it every time I realize how many years, and thru’ how many people the Lord placed in my path, before I recognized it to be from Him…His relentless pursuit.
Look at this:
“One way to summarize God’s message to the worn out and weary is like this:
God’s demand: ‘be righteous’
God’s diagnosis: ‘no one is righteous’
God’s deliverance: ‘Jesus is our righteousness.’
Once this good news grips your heart, it changes EVERYTHING.”
More good news!!! Grace = Freedom:
“Grace frees you from having to be perfect.
It frees you from having to hold it all together.” How many of us out there are trying to hold it all together???!!! Doesn’t that spell RELIEF?
Relief is also spelled out in Romans 5:8…
So, the “us”? That would be YOU and ME. Tullian closes one of many favorite chapters with, “What are you going to do now that you don’t have to do anything? My suspicion is that once you realize that you don’t have to do anything for God, you may find you want to do everything for Him.” Beautiful…
You may recall from a recent post I wrote about the Graham family (Click on…….Practical Insight for 2015 from Anne Graham Lotz, Inspired by her Dear Mother Ruth), how much I adore Ruth. Her humorous actions are found in Tullian’s book as well. Don’t miss the earring story. Do absorb Ruth’s doling out of grace. Oh my.
“The law says, Do, and life you’ll win;
But grace says, Live, for all is done;
The former cannot ease my grief,
The latter yields me full relief.” (Sonnet by Ralph Erskine)
‘Til next time!
This post is dedicated, oh you guessed it, to my sweet, hilarious, handsome husband. Oh that we can laugh at ourselves now. Thanks for the fab trip to Jamaica, Mon. Love you.
(Next week, look for a fun interview with author Jan Watson! And, another BOOK GIVEAWAY!!!)