GRACE
Lou Johnson, a 1965 World Series hero for the Los Angeles Dodgers, tried for 30 years to recover the championship ring he lost to drug dealers in 1971. Drug and alcohol abuse cost him everything from that magical season, including his uniform, glove, and the bat he used to hit the winning home run in the deciding game.
When Dodger president, Bob Graziano, learned that Johnson's World Series ring was about to be auctioned on the Internet, he immediately wrote a check for $3,457 and bought the ring before any bids were posted. He did for Johnson what the former Dodger outfielder had been unable to do for himself.
Johnson, 66, who has been drug free for years and a Dodger community relations employee, wept when given the gold ring. He said, "It felt like a piece of me had been reborn."
Countless Christians can testify to a spiritual rebirth as a result of the price that Jesus paid on the cross in their place. He did for them what they could not do for themselves.
Preaching Today
GRACE
The parents of Matthew Shepard, the young gay man who was murdered in Wyoming in 1998, rejoiced over the guilty verdict reached by a Laramie jury in November 1999. The judge told a packed courtroom that the jury's verdict "showed true courage" and sent a message that violence is not the solution to differing views on sexual orientation.
Courtroom observers were not prepared for what Dennis and Judy Shepard did next. After waiting 13 months for a guilty verdict for their son's killers, Matthew Shepard's parents asked the judge to spare the lives of Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson by giving them life sentences rather than the death penalty.
According to attorney Cal Rerucha, who prosecuted the case, "They (the Shepards) could look into the eyes of the man who took their son and give him mercy."
Preaching Today
GRACE
Long-time Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight was recently fired for apparently violating a zero-tolerance policy placed on him several months ago. Knight's volatile temper has made for a stormy coaching career, bringing repeated accusations of verbally and physically abusing players.
As I followed the media report of this sad story, a thought struck me: I'm sure glad God doesn't place a zero-tolerance policy on us! His amazing grace allows us to start over at any time.
Preaching Today
GRACE
The Wisconsin State Journal recently surveyed vice presidents and personnel directors of the nation's largest corporations for their most unusual experiences interviewing prospective employees. Their stories included:
A job applicant who challenged the interviewer to arm wrestle.
A job candidate who said he had never finished high school because he had been kidnapped and kept in a closet in Mexico.
A balding candidate who excused himself, then returned wearing a full hairpiece.
A candidate who wore earphones to the interview and, when asked to remove them, explained that she could listen to the interviewer and the music at the same time.
A candidate who said she didn't have time for lunch, then started to eat a hamburger and fries in the interviewer's office.
An applicant who interrupted the questioning to phone her therapist for advice.
A candidate who dozed off during the interview.
A candidate who muttered, "Would it be a problem if I'm angry most of the time?"
These people sound pretty incompetent, don't they? Yet it is not a stretch to say this is the same sort of incompetence we all bring to God when we want to find his approval.
Preaching Today