Rescue

Mid November, 40 degrees
Saturday, 4:30 pm
The last errand after a day full of errands
Milk, toilet paper, movie rental and we’re homeward bound.
Walking out of the grocery store bags in hand, keys? Where are the car keys?

Oh no, they’re still in the ignition…

All day long I’d been sending my daughter back to the car to lock the door when we’d stopped. I wish I hadn't sent her back this time...

She sang Christmas carols as we walked home, skipping and swinging the plastic bag. I was too busy being angry at being so stupid. Seriously I left the keys in the ignition!?! It doesn’t get much more stupid than something like that and now I had to walk home, get the spare key, ride the bike back to the car, shove the bike into the car and then I could drive home. The afternoon had been overcast and it would be dark in less than an hour so now I’ll be riding a bike in the cold and the dark. So stupid…! There was no doubt that this was all my doing, all my fault, my bed to lie in, my really not comfortable shoes to walk home in…

A mile later a familiar voice interrupted both the singing and the stewing, “Hey, you need a ride?”

We’d been rescued!
Our very own knight (well family of knights) in their shinning blue van had come to our aid!

A ride home, a ride back to the car and it didn’t matter how dark or cold it was because there was no one riding around on a bike!

Effervescent thanks and such relief!
Chivalry wins out over stupidity!
Rescue over failure.
Mercy over mistakes...

When I got up this morning I had no idea I’d need to be rescued before the day was over.
I didn’t know I’d make such a stupid mistake. And it’s a mistake I’ve made several times before – hadn’t I learned any better by now?

The fact that I’d done this before and still did it again didn’t matter. What mattered is that I needed help and there was nothing I could do to help myself.

The cross still stands for you believer who at the end of your day find you’ve made the same mistake, committed the same sin, or have failed yet again. The arms that spread as wide as the beams of the cross to show how much God loves you still are open to you.
Redemption from sin and forgiveness for failure are still available, even if this is not your first time flat on your face. He stands ready to rescue, to forgive, to restore.

Should we stop trying to live right lives then since there is always forgiveness to avail ourselves of? Is it easier “to ask forgiveness instead of permission”?

That’s such an old question I’ll let the apostle Paul answer, “Shall we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? Of course not!” Romans 6:1

But when I inevitably fall there is rescue available. There is grace on my behalf, If I confess my sin, He is still faithful and just to forgive.(1 John 1:9).

I have driven hundreds of miles, maybe even thousands without locking my keys in the car, but when I did, and when you do, there is mercy.

The cross still stands. God still loves, still forgives. The blood that was shed for your redemption still flows to cover your sin. The grace that saved is the same grace that restores. Even if you knew better, even if you’ve made that mistake before, or if you’ve walked circumspectly for years and now have stumbled, God still reaches down a hand of rescue; just humbly and gratefully take it.