Grace – What’s So Amazing About It?

Grace nurtures hope. This past week has been one of the most difficult weeks in Texas. Never in the history of tracking weather, has major flooding from heavy rain occurred in Houston, Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio – at the same time. Raging rivers have destroyed communities and shattered lives.

The most tragic of these is the loss of life due to the Blanco River rising so quickly that a vacation home was literally swept of its piers before the occupants had a chance to escape. Of the 8 people in the home, 5 have been found, 3 remain missing. Of the 5 found, only one has survived. Jonathan McComb was found 12 miles down river from where this house once stood.

You can see this is not a small cabin by the river. All that remains are the concrete piers you that supported the deck. As this house floated down the river, Laura McComb called her sister to say the house was floating down the river, and basically said good-bye just before the house smashed into a bridge sending the occupants flying.

The McComb family is from Corpus Christi and are members of First Baptist Church. I cannot imaging the heart aches the community and church are experiencing when tragedy like this happens. I do know the Christian community shares the hurt whether we personally know the victim(s) or not. Several of my Facebook friends have shared prayer needs for the victims and their families. While I may be in Virginia, Facebook and the internet has given me a connection to this family in Texas

My friend Karen posted this on Facebook today.

We waited 20 months for a Pastor. While I loved Joe, we needed a full-time Pastor. At times discouraged with the time it took, but God in his infinite wisdom and knowledge knew what we needed. He has never failed us.
It was well worth the wait! So deeply thankful for Brian Hill (the new pastor). You stepped into our lives in God’s perfect timing. God placed Jonathan McComb on the search committee and you got to know him and Laura and the kids. Now, your compassion is helping us all walk this journey. Thank you and God Bless you!

This is just one of countless examples of how Grace nurtures Hope. The Apostle Paul wrote about hope –

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7 (NIV)

Hope is the one thing that keeps the light on in our soul when our circumstances tell us otherwise. Hope is putting a positive spin on the situation no matter how bleak it may be. Without Jesus in our hearts, that is impossible to do.

When tragedy strikes, we have two choices. We can let the tragedy dictate our perspective or we can hold on the Rock of Jesus and trust Him to bring us through the tragedy. And we can only do that if we know Jesus personally, just like a friend. Jesus calls you His friend (John 15:15). Can you call Him your friend? When tragedy happens, you need a friend like Jesus.

Do you know Jesus in your heart? If you do, then you have the grace that nurtures hope.

If you don’t know Jesus in your heart, then perhaps now is the time to do this.