Brett needed just a few more items to finish the jib he started building a few days ago.  We decided Lowes would be the perfect place to pick up the needed items.  Brett and our Chinese student went to hunt for the needed items while Aspen and I wandered off to peruse the greenery.  I picked up a plant on sale to replace one that had recently died.

Aspen spied an outdoor two seater swing and convinced me to swing with her.  We swang and swang and swang some more.  Aspen shared her wisdom and said, “Isn’t it relaxing to swing and waste all your problems?”  I laughed and agreed with her.  I expected a text from Brett any moment telling me they were finished and ready to go, but the text never came.  I finally convinced Aspen we should go find Daddy.

We wandered down to the other end of the store, checking each aisle we passed.  Finally we found him trying to find just the right screws to hold the jib onto the tripod.  We waited for him, but Aspen finally gave up and we wandered off to look at seeds, books and magazines.  Aspen picked up a children’s book with a small built-in keyboard and I picked up a book about outdoor landscaping.  We sat down in a prearranged patio display and perused our books while waiting for Brett.

I watched a petite woman come in the front doors pushing a large cart.  She stopped by the large bags of pellet fuel and started to put them onto her cart.  Several people passed by, but no one offered to help her.  Then I saw two tall women approach the woman.  The older woman said, “Why hon, would you look at that poor woman, give her some help.”  The younger of the two women stepped over and offered to help her move the bags onto her cart.  She lifted a few onto the cart for her and the other woman told her she didn’t need any more.  The helpful woman asked if she was sure and the petite woman replied that she was just getting a few to try them out.  The two women, satisfied that they had helped someone out, continued to push their cart through the store.  They hadn’t gone far when the petite woman started lifting more bags onto the cart.  She had the cart about half full when a male store clerk walked up and asked her if she needed any help.  She insisted that she didn’t and continued to load more bags onto her cart.

It seemed ridiculous to me that she insisted on lifting the heavy bags herself when she had been offered help twice.  But, it doesn’t make any more sense for me to insist on earning my salvation rather than accepting the free grace of God.  When I insist on trying to save myself I am telling God that I don’t believe He can save me.  I am telling Him that I believe I am  as powerful as He is, after all that is the only way I can save myself.  But, that is a lie.  Jeremiah 10:6 says “LORD, there is no one like you! For You are great, and Your name is full of power.”   And Hebrews 9:27-28, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  John 3:16