Surprise

Surprise

ser-prahyz

To strike or occur to with a sudden feeling of wonder or astonishment, as through unexpectedness.

Tonight I ran a 5K (3.1 mile) tempo run at Millard West. It was cold and windy, but no problem, I had new racing shoes! The new GEL-Ohana Racers came on Friday and I had to try these bad boys out.

I was going to start off a little slower than my anticipated time because of the wind. The first 400 meters was fast and almost effortless. I kept feeling stronger as the run progressed and beat my previous best time by well over a minute. I was surprised! I am a lot faster and stronger than I thought I would be in mid-December.

This morning I was surprised as well. We have had a few down Sundays at The Water's Edge. I don't know why. This morning we had a huge morning. It was one of our three largest Sundays in our brief three month history. We had an incredible worship experience and I could feel that people were experiencing the forgivness that I was talking about. We ran out of room, food, beverages, and bulletins. The people also surprised Amber and me with a baby shower during worship. We are blessed to be surrounded by such a loving group of people during this time in our lives.

Grace is the suprise of Good News that comes as a gift to us when we least expect it. It is grace when a runner runs much faster than he or she thought he or she would be able to run. It is grace when a middle school cafeteria fills up with people on a Sunday morning and people experience forgiveness. It is grace when a pregnant woman and her husband are showered with gifts of love, some of those gifts coming from people we don't even know. It is grace when God sends His Son to show us how to live and how to love. Such is the gift of Christmas.