Hi everybody!

Now, I'm going to pick up from my last blog post, where I described looking back at where we have been, where God has brought us from, from brokenness to wholeness, and how looking back can remind us of the awesomeness of God.

We have to CONSTANTLY REMIND OURSELVES of these things. That we do not deserve ANYTHING...but gain EVERYTHING through Christ.

Recently I have been trying to greet people with GRACE and PEACE.

What if EVERYTHING we did, we started by remembering GRACE & PEACE (again, paraphrasing from Rob)

Grace which is charisse in Greek. Grace can be translated joy, favor, and acceptance. Grace is a favor, a gift that is given with no expectation, NO NEED of returning the favor.

THAT is what we received in CHRIST. So, if HE has shown GRACE to US

shouldn't we extend it to others, as often as we can? It's THAT GOOD guys.

PEACE is well, peace. Rob talks about what peace means as it was written in the Scriptures. Peace (shalom, eirene) = harmony or every kind of good.

GRACE & PEACE

So, greeting somebody, reminding somebody else (or ourselves) with GRACE & PEACE is reminding them of favor done to them that DOES NOT HAVE TO BE REPAID and that there is HARMONY, EVERY KIND OF GOOD present in the world.

Of course, it is VERY easy to be skeptical.

When your siblings hurt you,

When your kids get on your nerves,

Every time that someone cuts you off in traffic or stabs you in the back,

Every time you lose something that was very dear to you,

it's hard to see the grace and peace in the world.

I'm sure that Paul knows that. He STILL encouraged people and built them up, and spread the GOODNESS of GOD with GRACE & PEACE while he was in prison, persecuted, awaiting emminent death because of what he believed in.

Why can't we spread grace and peace LIKE THAT? How can we be like JESUS who loved us with GRACE and PEACE, forgiving the very men who drove in the nails, while he was hanging on the cross.

Even in comparison to our world today, these guys had it pretty bad.

What would our world look like if every time somebody wronged us, or we got really stressed out in a particular situation we could say, or we could have someone REMIND US, "HEY! Let me- yes, I interrupt. Grace and peace, dude."

Or better yet, we ourselves could approach life with the attitude of "YES! I may be mad, broken, hurt, but GRACE AND PEACE TO ALL THAT!" And by the way, grace and peace ( I agree with Rob) DOES NOT MEAN WIMPY! It is simply CHOOSING to HAVE the grace and peace that God extends to us, and by taking HOLD OF IT, we can extend it to others.

So now, GRACE & PEACE be with ya'll! Let us be looking to the future with an attitude of Grace&Peace.