08/12/2024
Being Lucky, Being Touched by Grace
What a wonderful time of worship and refreshment we had together yesterday (Sunday). Our Fall Kick Off has become one of those moments in the life of our church that you just don’t want to miss. No, we didn’t have the big tent this year (financial restraints and parking lot concerns held us back), but we did have tents out back and the Lord provided a perfect afternoon to share a meal outside and inside.
On Sunday we talked about luck and how in some instances God’s grace can feel a lot like very good luck. We are beyond fortunate in being loved for who we are and not what we have done or not done to meet the standards a good and loving God lays out for us. Being a child of God and knowing we are loved because of who we are because of that relationship is overwhelming. Joy and gratitude for His grace or a celebration of how lucky we are—either way—is part and parcel of the good news Jesus came to share.
In my weekly dialog with ChatGPT I asked who were some real- life lucky people. You heard about Frane Selak—the Luckiest, Unlucky Person in the World—yesterday, but you might be interested who else made the list:
- Tsutomu Yamaguchi - Survived Two Atomic Bombs
Details: Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip on August 6, 1945, when the first atomic bomb was dropped. He survived and returned to his hometown of Nagasaki, where the second bomb was dropped three days later. Despite suffering severe burns and radiation sickness, Yamaguchi lived to be 93 years old. - Joan R. Ginther - Lottery Winner
Details: Joan Ginther, a Texas woman, won the lottery four times between 1993 and 2010. Her total winnings amounted to over $20 million. Statisticians estimated the odds of winning four times as one in 18 septillion. - Juliane Koepcke - Sole Survivor of a Plane Crash
Details: On December 24, 1971, Juliane Koepcke was the sole survivor of LANSA Flight 508, which crashed in the Peruvian rainforest. She fell 10,000 feet while still strapped to her seat and survived the fall. She then trekked through the jungle for 11 days until she was rescued. - Bill Morgan - Survived a Near-Death Experience and Won the Lottery
Details: Australian truck driver Bill Morgan was declared clinically dead for 14 minutes after a severe heart attack. Miraculously, he revived and fully recovered. To celebrate his new lease on life, he bought a scratch-off lottery ticket and won a car worth $17,000. When a TV crew asked him to reenact the win for a news segment, he bought another ticket and won $250,000. - Harrison Okene - Survived Underwater for Three Days
Details: Nigerian cook Harrison Okene was trapped underwater for nearly three days after his tugboat capsized and sank. He survived in an air pocket 100 feet underwater in pitch darkness before being rescued by divers.
You don’t need artificial intelligence to identify real-life grace filled people. If you love God, follow Jesus, and lean into the Holy Spirit then all you need to do is look in the mirror. How lucky are we to have Lord and Savior who is slow to anger, quick to forgive, and steadfast in his loving-kindness.
Archived Posts
One More Piece of Unsolicited Advice
I had one too many examples yesterday. Here’s the "Ask Pastor Tim" scenario that didn’t make the cut for Sunday’s sermon: (read more)
Not If, But When, the Crisis Comes
One of the best Bible commentators alive today is N.T. Wright or Tom Wright. When reflecting on the parable of the wise and foolish maidens, he wrote this:...
What I wanted to say
but ran out of time this Sunday
Here is the benediction I was going to use before discovering the excellent MLK Jr. video.
The Storm that Comes To Us as Helplessness
I want to share with you a small portion of my conversation with Artificial Intelligence online. Some of you know, I use Chat-GPT as a thoughtful sounding board for the questions and insights I’m working with on whatever scriptures I’m studying each week. What follows is an example of those discussions...
One Final Scene About Scrooge
There was one more scene in Dickens’s novel that reveals something of what has happened to Scrooge over the years. I did not have time to share it on Sunday, but I believe it reveals a great deal about the regrets in Scrooge’s life....
What Jacob Marley Would Do,
If He Could Do It…
I thought about using the following for a benediction—since Jacob Marley was warning Scrooge about the danger of loving money and what it could buy. Ends up with the Cantata and everything else going on, I didn’t have the time. So here is what you might have heard if the sermon itself was 5 minutes shorter!
A Confirming Word on Old King Herod
I just want to echo what Rick said in his fine sermon yesterday (Nov. 23). Herod was a ruthless tyrant and skilled politician. When the Magi don’t report back to him, he decides to kill all the male children of Bethlehem under the age of 2. That’s one paranoid dude.