Growing up, one of the computer games I liked to play—but never got very good at—was “Flight Simulator.” In most versions of the game, you could choose between a prop plane and a Lear jet, and you could choose any of 180 airports around the country to take off from or to attempt a landing at.
Only after acquiring landing skills after many hours of practice, could a player avoid crashing the plane and land safely. It was all very realistic. You could crash into the Empire State Building. Your plane could break apart in midair because you broke the sound barrier. You could nose-dive into Lake Michigan going five hundred miles per hour.
The greatest thing about “Flight Simulator,” though, was that the game always restored you. No matter what happened, you could start all over again. Whenever you crashed and burned, fell apart, or splashed into the ocean, the game always put you back together and placed you back on the runway, ready to take off again.
That’s the way it is with God. He’s absolutely faithful to forgive us and to restore us when we mess up and to get us back into action. With Christ we are never out of the game.
In his short story The Capitol of the World, Ernest Hemingway tells the story of a Spanish father and his teenage son. The relationship between this father and son became strained and eventually shattered. When the rebellious son—whose name was Paco (a common Spanish name)—ran away from home, his father began a long and arduous search to find him. As a last resort, the exhausted father placed an ad in a Madrid newspaper, hoping that his son would see the ad and respond to it. The ad read,
Dear Paco,
Please meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon. All is forgiven.
Love,
Father
As Hemingway tells the story, the next day at noon, in front of the newspaper office, there were 800 Pacos, all seeking forgiveness from their fathers.
That story illustrates three very important facts:
1. Forgiveness is something just about everyone is looking for.
2. The sincere offer of grace attracts people.
3. Places to find grace and forgiveness are rare.
God wants you and me, our families, and our churches all to be the place where the Pacos living in our community can come and find the grace and forgiveness that they so desperately long for.
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 