The Cost

Just bow your head and accept the free gift of eternal life from Jesus. How many times have you heard that statement or heard it alluded to that way? I was listening to a religious show one day and the speaker talked about the cost of forgiveness and I thought to myself, "What... I just bow my head and pray for forgiveness." That’s it simple, costs me nothing. I just don’t understand why others can’t do that, it is simple, and… it’s painless.


That is when I thought about… LUNCH.

I thought about a two piece meal from KFC. It is very simple and easy. I walk up to the counter, tell the guy I want a two piece meal, hand him four dollars, he hands me my food. The cost is not that expensive and I walk away, satisfied.

But in reality… he did actually have to tell the guy in back who slide it down the little silver slide, then he brought it over to me, I gave the guy four dollars, he hands me my food. The cost is not that expensive and I walk away satisfied.

But in reality… the guy I gave the order to, let the cook know what I wanted, he dropped two pieces of chicken in the oil, cooked them to perfection, put them in a box, set the box on the little silver slide, it goes to the guy I ordered from, he took it from the little silver slide, brought it over to me, I gave the guy four dollars, he hands me my food. The cost is not that expensive and I walk away satisfied.

But in reality… in the back of the restaurant a guy took the chicken out of a box, washed the chicken, rolled it in a secret formula coating, then the cook takes two pieces of chicken, puts them in the oil, cooks them to perfection, puts them in a box, sets the box on the little silver slide, it goes to the guy I ordered from, he took it from the little silver slide, brought it over to me, I gave the guy four dollars, he hands me my food. The cost is not that expensive and I walk away satisfied.

But in reality…  there was actually a guy who, unloaded boxes of chicken from a truck, put them into a cooler, then a guy goes to the back, opens the box, takes the pieces of chicken out of the box, washes the chicken, rolls them in a secret formula coating, then the cook takes two pieces of chicken, puts them in the oil, cooks them to perfection, puts them in a box, sets the box on the little silver slide, it goes to the guy I ordered from, he took it from the little silver slide, brought it over to me, I gave the guy four dollars, he hands me my food. The cost is not that expensive and I walk away satisfied.

But in reality… there was a truck driver who went to a distribution point, picked up the chicken, drove the boxes of chicken from the distribution point to the store, a guy unloaded boxes of chicken from a truck, put them into the cooler, then a guy goes to the back, opens the box, takes the pieces of chicken out of the box, washes the chicken, rolls them in a secret formula coating, then the cook takes two pieces of chicken, puts them in the oil, cooks them to perfection, puts them in a box, sets the box on the little silver slide, it goes to the guy I ordered from, he took it from the little silver slide, brought it over to me, I gave the guy four dollars, he hands me my food. The cost is not that expensive and I walk away satisfied.

But in reality… there was a chicken farm, that raised the chickens, loaded them onto a truck, sent them to a processing plant, who sent them to the distribution point, where a truck driver picked up the boxes of chicken, drove the boxes of chicken from the distribution point to the store, a guy unloaded boxes of chicken from a truck, put them into the cooler, then a guy goes to the back, opens the box, takes the pieces of chicken out o the box, washes the chicken, rolls them in a secret formula coating, then the cook takes two pieces of chicken, puts them in the oil, cooks them to perfection, puts them in a box, sets the box on the little silver slide, it goes to the guy I ordered from, he took it from the little silver slide, brought it over to me, I gave the guy four dollars, he hands me my food. The cost is not that expensive and I walk away satisfied.

But in reality... there was a chicken that DIED… so I could give the guy four dollars, he hands me my chicken cooked to perfection, the cost is not that expensive and I walk away satisfied.

The cost is not too expensive for me but for the chicken... DEATH.

This is the part we forget. This is what Jesus did. This is the cost for Jesus.

On Easter we celebrated His resurrection from the dead and it should be celebrated but… We should not forget what lead up to that.

He knew what was to happen, yet He still did it for you and me so we could quickly say, God I am sorry I messed up, please forgive me… Amen

Microwave forgiveness, painless, easy… That is what we like…

I’ll have the two piece meal.

Learning About Grace from Beau

This is Beau. Beau has taught me more about grace that I ever learned at church.


I am a dog person. When we moved to Germany we decided that due to our schedules we should not get a dog. I held strong for twelve straight years. My daughter moved back to Germany to finish school and her twenty first birthday was coming up. We really wanted to get her something special. Ideas, ideas, no real ideas what should we get her so we asked her what she would like. She said she wanted a dog.


A crack formed in my resolve but only a crack… I said, “You can look but you know we can’t have a dog.”


Have you asked the Landlord? No, so ask him… He said, "YES" Crack…


We looked at different dogs. We looked at bloodhounds and akitas and Chihuahuas and assorted squeaky dogs. No from me on the Chihuahuas, no from her on the Akita, no on squeaky dogs and we can’t get a dog on the bloodhound. CRACK…


CRASH...


As you can see by the picture I lost my resolve and the bloodhound won.


His name is “Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside”. Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside was a character from “Auntie Mame” Beau for short and Rufus when he is a dufus.


We got Beau after major paperwork and red tape to import a dog into Germany. He came into our normal smelling home and things would never be the same.


The first battle was paper training this puppy. I suspected the dog was part camel… That is the only explanation of how much water came out of him when he peed on the carpet.


The second problem was he would eat anything. This is where Beau has been a living lesson on “Grace”.


Beau has more toys than most children. Three fourths are chewy toys. Beau is not satisfied with chewing on his toys. He likes chewing, no… eating everything. He has a special place in his heart for cell phones. My wife’s pretty pink “contract” cell phone really tasted good. You can't just replace a contract phone you have to buy a new one… While we are buying a new one maybe we should upgrade to a blackberry. We did and it stayed safely in my wife’s purse except Beau loves to sniff through purses and being a bloodhound can naturally track down something good to eat, the Blackberry. We caught him before he did too much damage but now he has a taste for Blackberries. He found my daughters Blackberry on the dining room table and ate it. At this point many people would have said, "Enough! He is outta here!" I am not sure why I didn’t say that... (Yes I am… I love this stupid dog but don’t tell anybody.) We now secure things that he might eat. He still loves digging through purses. My wife was on the Mission’s committee at our church and had three hundred Euro from a fund raiser in her purse to be turned in the following Sunday. That is about five hundred dollars. He got into her purse and ate stamps and the envelope that had the Mission money in it. I am ready to spend the next week digging through dog poop looking for undigested Euro.



At this point most normal people would have sent him to doggy heaven. I did not because well you saw the above admission, I love this stupid dog. Luckily the money fell out of the purse and under a table so he was saved.



A few nights later the family was watching a movie from our bed, my wife and daughter fell asleep during the movie so they just laid their glasses on the night stand beside the bed. An hour later my wife woke up to Beau crunching his bone but it has a strange sound. She turned the light on to see both pairs of glasses in pieces and him chewing on them.



When is enough, enough? As I am asking myself that question I wonder how much do I allow this dog to mess up? How much will I allow this dog to cost me?



Then it occurs to me, “Wonder if God ever asks that question about me?” How much will I allow him to mess up? How much will I allow him to cost me? Why have I not taken him out?



Then the answer comes…



He has allowed me to mess up for over 51 years so far. He has allowed me to cost Him, His Son’s life. Why has He not taken me out…? This is the crazy part... It is because He loves a Dufus like “ME”!



I have heard this all my life in church but I learned this real lesson from Beau. The reality of GRACE is not to give me what I deserve which is death but to give me grace because He loves me. He loves me so much that Jesus died for me... That is the reality of John 3:16 as demonstrated in a way that even a dufus like me could get it. Demonstrated by a dog in a real life parable.



Beau thanks for the lesson and… “PUT DOWN THAT IPHONE!!!”