Grace

"Where have you been," I've been asked a few times recently. It's been a while since I did some public reflecting on what God is doing at Cornerstone and in me. The thing for me is that life has sandwiched me (and my family) between my father's cancer and Stephanie's dad's surgery earlier this week. We keep saying to ourselves - "Thank God we're here and not 3 hours north!" By the grace of God we are here. It's the best decision we've made in at least a while and perhaps in our lives (besides getting married). About 5 years ago we were praying and talking about the timing of a move from Findlay to near Cincinnati knowing that our parents were here and our sisters (just one each) were in Colorado and in Portland, OR.

Grace. It's what we experienced when we not only were privileged to move closer to care for family perhaps seen even more when we were able to come to Cornerstone. We moved closer to family we knew and found family we didn't know about.

Grace. It's what we've experienced in these past few weeks as my dad's condition has been labeled terminal, probably before Thanksgiving. The Cornerstone Staff is incredible! Between balancing their own lives they have provided prayer, covering ministry items, food and, well, grace. The sandwich creates pressure that doesn't always allow for the my best thinking. They give me grace.

Grace. It's what we've been shown by our small group. You all are the best! We all have kids and yet they have adopted ours with offers of rides and questions of: "How are they?"

Grace. It's what is coming when some men gather next Saturday to install a new fence and spread some dirt and mulch at the parsonage. I love working outdoors but they want me to have the time to spend with my dad. That's grace.

At Cornerstone we're working our way through the book of Galatians for 6 weeks, a book about grace. Grace is about concentrating more on the inside than the outside, the eternal rather than the external, the giving of gifts without strings.

I hope you'll check out the sermon notes on the website, especially the Going Deeper portions and dive deep into the grace of God.