Surprised by Grace

I got up around 6:30 today to eat breakfast with some older guys from church. It was a lively breakfast; we discussed cataract surgery, the cute lady that works at the jewelry store across the street, and how airlines should charge passengers by their weight. All the guys have great personalities and are men worth looking up to. I am looking forward to spending more early morning breakfasts with them. After breakfast Jason and I went and helped Laura, the new children's minister (she was the intern last 2 summers) move from Searcy. I'm looking forward to getting to know her, she is a sweet young woman who has a heart for kids and it is obvious the youth groups loves her. Having worked up an appetite, Jason and I went to wendy's for lunch which was delicious. After we got to the church office he asked me to plan the devo for tonight's wednesday night class. Fortunately he has a format he typically uses so I just had to plug in the new material I came up with. I chose to talk about Luke 17:11-19 where Jesus heals ten lepers but only one samaritan comes back to thank him. I focused on how Jesus sees beyond the man's status as a leper and samaritan and heals him. We talked about the transformative thankfulness the man who was cleansed exhibited and how we so often, like the other 9, expect God to save us as if we are entitled to grace. In a world that expects grace may we continually be surprised by it.