Except it isn’t a picture at all.  You are there, in person, taking in the scene.  You look all around, burning the image of a new “happy place” into your memory.  Then you take out your phone and take a picture.  You can hardly wait to share this gorgeous vista with your family and close friends.  But you’ll be disappointed.

 You show your pic to a friend and they come back with “that’s nice” or “what a pretty spot”.  You want them to have the breathtaking experience you had, so you point out how the sunlight on the water gives it a silver shimmer.  “Yeah that’s cool” they say.

Then it hits you.  The little picture they are seeing is “nice”, even “pretty”.  But you had to be there in person to be left breathless.

I used to own a motorcycle.  I remember the first time I rode it through the countryside and how much more connected to my surroundings I felt, compared to how it felt to drive the same miles in a car.  Riding through the country on a motorcycle was like actually being there.  You saw the images all around you, even passing fast below you.  You experienced the wind in your face and even the smells.  Covering the same miles in a car was as if you watched the trip on TV.

Sometimes when I reflect on how I’ve experienced God over the course of my life, I feel as though I spent many years looking at other peoples pictures.  My journey involved driving past amazingly beautiful landscapes in a car with a roof, a floor, windows, air conditioning and blind spots.

But thankfully, I emerged from the trees to experience something that took, and continues to take my breath away.  I can’t completely explain how I went from “that’s nice” to awestruck and breathless.  But let’s explore that trail together for a moment to see where it takes us.

Have you ever been in a hopeless situation?  Maybe something related to a relationship, a work situation or a health issue?  You’ve run through every scenario and potential outcome in your mind and the way you see it playing out, the result of every single scenario is awful.

Then you take the situation, relationship or issue to God.  Maybe a little late but you’ve explored every avenue and exhausted your resources.  You have no other options, so you try God.  And God shows up, subtly, not as a stranger at the door or a bright light in your car.  But maybe someone enters the equation unexpectedly with some advice or help you needed.  Maybe a crazy turn of events opens an option that would have been impossible before.  Or a person that was out to get you suddenly accepts a new job and exits the situation. 

You realize that God had you all along.  His plan was working and the result was better than any outcome you could dream up.  Of course it’s easy to see grace in that.  

But sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.

When we were in Texas, one of our Branch Managers named VW Latimer was diagnosed with cancer.  He had been in Arlington, Texas for more than 25 years and his customers respected him.  After a long battle, VW passed away.  I was in the Arlington branch a few weeks later and had a conversation with an old cowboy contractor that was in to pick up supplies.  I mentioned how we would miss VW.  The old contractor got a solemn look on his face and summed up his feelings (and mine) in a single sentence.  In true cowboy terms he said “with all the people who need killing in this world, why VW?”   

Suppose your good friend is diagnosed with cancer.  The tumor is inoperable.  According to the doctors, the outcome is not in question.  The only question is how long?  And the answer will be in months, not years.  When we hear about those situations, we look for answers.  Why this person?  They’re making a positive contribution in this messed up world.  He lives a healthy lifestyle.  He takes care of others.  There are plenty of people out there that take and never give.  People who abuse their body and take advantage of everyone they can.  In cowboy terms, there are plenty of people “who need killing”.  My friend is not one of them.  Where is grace in that?

In the months to follow, thousands of prayers are prayed.  Hands are held.  Tears are shed.  Hugs are given.  Meals are prepared and delivered.  Words of hope and encouragement are offered.  Notes are written.  Sometimes miraculous healing comes and it all seems to make sense again.  But sometimes the outcome doesn’t go as we had hoped.  We are left with questions.  Where is the grace in that?

But there is grace in that too.  There is grace in the prayers, tears, hugs, meals and support.  There is grace in the unexpected peace that flows over the family in their loss.  None of that makes us like or understand the outcome.  But at least it signals to us that something is going on.  Something more than the pain and loss.  The best prayer we can muster in those moments might be “God I don’t understand but I know you love me and I trust you”.

Oh there it is!  “I trust you.”  Trust is the fuse that ignites grace.  

I don’t understand it.  I don’t like it.  But because it is You, because you chose to allow it, I will accept it.  And with your help, I will even embrace it.  Because I put my trust in You.

This is not a new concept.  Look at Malachi chapter 2.  “You have wearied the Lord with your words.  ‘How have we wearied him?’  you ask.

By saying, ‘All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’”

I have said many times that I don’t believe God is offended by our honest questions.  When we are growing in our faith, things happen that make us wonder.  Bad things happen to good people.  Evil people prosper.  Our sense of fairness is challenged and we ask “why God?”

It is fair to explore those questions.  But when we’ve walked with God for a while and seen him redeem circumstances and situations again and again.  When we get a glimpse of His love for us, there comes a point in which we should no longer question God’s heart.  Side note: redeeming circumstances may not equal stopping, reversing or changing them.  Redemption may only come after the awful event.  Redemption and grace may come as an epilogue to terrible.  An epilogue that starts with words like “and yet she continued to…” or “but still they battled on…”.

A level of trust must develop where, no matter the flow of events, no matter the obvious injustice; we trust the heart of God.  He does not approve of injustice and he has not forgotten to show up.

What does any of this have to do with grace?  If grace is the unmerited favor of God manifested as salvation and blessing, then God does positive things for us and we enjoy it.  End of story.

But consider the possibility that grace is more than a gift.  A gift, yes but also a torch that is being passed to us. 

For grace to make a difference in our life, we have to allow it to shape us into the image of God.  For grace to change the world, we have to allow it to flow through us and out to others.  We have to offer it up to others.  And the group we most need to extend grace to?  “All the people in this world that need killing!”  People who don’t deserve it.  People who may not return it to us.

But if we show grace to those people, they’ll take advantage of us.  We can’t show weakness or they will hurt us.  Do you think that Jesus was surprised when, after all of the ways he extended grace to “those people”, the people who “needed killing”, in other words us… do you think he was surprised when we killed Him?  I don’t think so.

Jesus’ death was the ultimate act of grace.  But it was also a torch, handed to us with an unspoken message that screams ‘you saw what I did; now it’s your turn’.  It doesn’t seem fair and it’s not easy.  Offering grace to people who are constantly looking for a weakness to exploit?  It looks like a suicide mission.  But grace isn’t the offspring of weakness or fear.  Grace is ignited by trust.  Trust placed in God. 

So there’s our mission.  It’s not easy but it is fairly simple.  We walk as close to God as we can with a commitment to trust Him no matter what.  That will allow us to witness the most breathtaking vistas in the universe.  Scenes involving restoration of relationships, reversal of direction, resuscitation of the dying and redemption for those that need killing.