Several weeks ago I drove to Lubbock to meet with a group of our youth who were on a mission trip to help ferry them around in the van. We spent a good part of the day at South Plains Food Bvank helping sort food and prepare it to be put into packages for recipients. We all found out about plain old-fashioned work. It also made us aware of how fortunate we were to have the food we need.

Another feature of the day that made it special was that another youth group showed up about the same time to work also. They were from Lubbock's St. Luke's UMC (corner of 45th and Memphis). It was not long before the obvious happened. Everyone would have to knock off and go eat eventually, why not do it together. So our intern Wade Freeman and their director Cheryl Loveland worked it out and we met at Rosa's. Our group got there a little after their's did. Cheryl came up to me in line and handed me her church credit card and said, "Here, we want to pay for your group's meals." I just looked at her for a moment, thinking really hard what to say. I knew Wade already had a wad of bills in his hands prepared to pay for our group's meals. But it seemed to be such a spontaneous act of generosity and camaraderie on her part, I knew there was only one thing to do - accept the offer. So, I smiled really big and said "Thank you, very much."

It was simply one of those times when to say "No" or "You shouldn't have" or "We wouldn't dream of accepting" or even "Let us take care of the tip" would not have been appropriate. Simply, "Thank you, very much." You do realize that what she did that day looks a lot like grace? What do we say to grace? "Thank you, very much."

Grace and Peace,

Associate Pastor