GRACE PAiNTS.

Eddie is a man's man. He is a true blue construction dude. He has what I would call a gentle, yet dignified mullet that sometimes wishes it was a rat-tail. Eddie has a gut that proves his wife can cook. A funny thing about Eddie is that, if he wore a pair of Umbros, you would likely consider his voice feminine. But because he is a good ol' boy, it is just kind of high-pitched.

The best part about Eddie though is his outrageous joy and love for Jesus. He's always happy. He's always rejoicing. He told me that he and some others left his Free Will Baptist Church about a year ago because of some tough issues. They have started meeting and fellowshipping together on Sunday mornings. I'm pretty darn sure that Eddie and I aren't on the same page on some of the finer points of theology. But I've never really thought about it. His glad concern for knowing Jesus and wanting others to know Him far outweighs what he thinks about predestination and the millennium. I tell you all this about Eddie to say this....

Grace paints with broad strokes.

We often think that grace must look a whole lot like us because we do Christianity the right way [though we'd never say that]. When in reality, there is a great beauty in the diversity of grace's ripple effects. How dare those of the pew-sitting and organ-only flavor accuse our Pentecostal brethren of forgetting to take their ADD pill when they were given their grace pill. How dare those who flaunt their "perfect doctrine" look down their noses at those who only submit to 37 of their 39 articles of faith.

We are the body. They will know we are His by our love for one another. Thank you Lord for my friend and yours, Steady Eddie.