He then rewinds…thank you Lord for DVR’s…the X-Factor. Now, I love singing shows…I mean I
l-o-v-e them!!! I missed Simon Cowell last season on American Idol, so to have him back…and it be on a singing show is just perfect. I watch as the story of a young man…Chris Rene…how he just got out of rehab and has been clean for 70 days. He tells his story of his childhood and how he had a great life growing up…and then taking his first drink at the age of 12 and the drugs that followed. I could hear the regret in his voice…but also the hope. Immediately you are sucked right in as he begins to sing about his life…the choices he has made…his recovery. The judges were blown away…people were on their feet…and Chris Rene was in tears.
I watched it as the judges put him through on the show…as they challenged him to stay clean…and he walked off the stage a different person. He was overwhelmed. I look at Ric and said…”that could have so been you…not the singing and rapping part(anyone that knows Ric is aware of this), but the addiction…the rehab”. He quietly shook his head and just simply said “but for the Grace of God”.
You see, my husband is a youth pastor. He is the Godliest man I know…by far. He has stood the test of time. I have watched as pastor after pastor has fallen around us…and he has stood firm…because of the Grace of God. Ric grew up in a good home….but made some poor choices growing up. He got involved in alcohol at a young age (7th grade)…got arrested several times… cost his family a lot of heart ache, tears, and money. He was kicked off of two college football teams…wasted opportunities…was on the path that Chris Rene was on. He drank…a lot. He was never heavy into drugs, but did dabble in it. That could have been my husband. He could have continued down that path of destruction…continuing living in rebellion…but for the grace of God!
You see, God interrupted my husband’s life…Ric wasn’t looking for God…seeking Him out. No, God came and invaded Ric’s life and he is changed forever. Ric is changed...he is a different man because of the grace of God. He extended His hand of mercy…took away the addiction...the shame…the sin…and he healed him…forever. Ric stands today, a man…radically changed. He has been transformed…I wrote about that a little bit yesterday…and now uses his life to minister to others…because of the grace of God. That kind of story gets me every time…every time!
I thought about all of this this morning as I was drinking my coffee…so many hurting people out there. So many people enslaved to sin…to addiction. What am I doing about it…what are we doing about? Yesterday Facebook changed…50% of the updates I saw were people fussing about that…it was on the news people! When are we gonna get in an uproar over the sin that is running rampant in the world…the babies that are killed everyday…the people that have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I’m not saying it’s bad to be upset over Facebook changing, but in the big scheme of things there are far more important things that should ruffle my feathers.
I will walk today mindful of His grace…mindful of hurting people…mindful of those in need…and I can only hope that I do something about it. But for the Grace of God…I would be lost and undone. Grateful that I am not!
“For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”
1 Corinthians 15:9,10
Here is the video of Chris's story...it's poor quality but you can still hear his story!
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