Embracing Grace: Finding Strength in Life's Storms

so as I was in my home you know in that rainy day that strong day I started hearing a noise you know like dropping into the floor and I told my son can you hear that noise noise what is that noise is that a mouse or something he's like I go look around so he saw like okay that there was a drop on the ceiling of water I go wow okay cool you know um my wife said didn't you fix that leak before and I go I go I thought I did you know but we haven't had any strong storms you know that can uh test my the work that I did so as I had this very big storm now I realized that only on big storms you know that's when you really can see where the imperfections that you probably work on or the imperfection that was the house was built on no matter if it's a new home or if it's an old home remember don't get me wrong because I do landscaping I go everywhere around you know it's just about and I see very new h Homes cover up their you know their roofs with tarps and already like lacking on imperfections you know so they have leaks also you know I compared this big storms with our daily lives too in our spiritual lives sometimes we can get away with small problems but sometimes and we can get away with not even telling God about it but sometimes on a big test you know we see like we're we thought I was strong enough in this situations and I'm not [00:37:28]

I can only imagine that that father while he was going about his day would look to the side and look at that Horizon maybe while he's speaking with one of his servants he's talking to them but his heart is dealing with a different issue and he begins to just wand back looking at the Horizon maybe he's go to bed and he's getting himself together and he's watching the sun set but as the Sun hits the ground he begins to reflect upon the last moments that he saw his son the thing about it is this is that sometimes when you when you were dealing with a pain in your heart you can't help but look back at the moment that that pain just set in I think for the father was when he saw his son leaving and the last glimpse of him faded over that Horizon [01:10:20]

he saw something peing above the Horizon and I imagine that the father stood there for a while just to see what it was was it was it a cow was it a worker who was it and as he saw the silhouette begin to move towards him and begin to step away from that horizon line that he to see that the person was a little bit dis shoveled uh his his clothes weren't quite nice he could tell that there was certain things about him that looked like his hair was just messed up and his and his demeanor was kind of downtrodden and he looked at him and everything about the young man as he was walking towards him looked wrong but there was something about him that looked familiar everything looked not like one of his servants they were dressed well they had shoes on their feet but the person that was coming up looked more like a beggar but something about him caught his eye something that took him back a few years decades even the person that was walking towards him was walking like his son and for any parent in this room you know what it was like when you saw your kid walk for the first time you know what it's like to see your son or your daughter take those first steps and they might change through life but there's something about their the way they walk that kind of sticks in your brain and he saw his son walking towards him it seemed undeniable he couldn't see the face of his son he couldn't see the the the the exact the the exact eyes or or or the ears but he saw the silhouette but the way that it moved let him know that that was his son and he begins to move towards him and the Bible says that he begins to not just move towards him but he begins to run [01:12:14]

he begins to run and if you want to know something in time and day if you are a patriarch and you were a man of of dignity and you had servants and money you wore a nice suit if you will I'll hear what I'm saying and he had his nice robe but in order to run in the robe you have to pick your robe up and you have to begin to move and I'm going to let you know this right now if that was his son as the Bible says it is and it was it means that when he was running he wasn't running pretty he wasn't running like this excuse me that's a truck he was running that means he picked up his his robe and he began to take it like he was like he was like he was in the Olympics why because what his heart desired was coming back to him and he began to run to him and the Bible says he grabbed his son and he Embraces him and he puts his head in his neck and and I can only imagine his son weeping on his shoulder pulls his son back to see him the boy must have been rehearsing this in his mind he must have been rehearsing in his mind because he says these simple words he says I have sinned against you and Heaven in your sight I am no more worthy to be called your son I'm not worthy I'm not worthy but this moment right here tells us who the father is [01:14:24]

his words are to a servant bring me my best the best robe we have bring me the ring bring me a ring bring me a pair of shoes for his feet the father does not address his son's words all he simply says is I'm not listening to you right now you are my son and you know what you're going to look like it bring me a robe so you can have some honor bring me a ring so they know you're my son and you have some Authority in this house and bring him some shoes so he can understand he belongs to this family give him some dignity that's what the father does the father doesn't do the stuff that we would do and feel right about it a matter of fact what the father does does then looks like what he does like what he does for us today and that is forgive and move on and it seems scandalous it would be scandalous it seems like there somebody would say that's unfair he has to prove himself he has to show himself and a lot of people say that's unfair and you know what people did think it was unfair even in the story how do we know because his brother that was at the house said Daddy how could you it's not right I heard you cut that calf open for him the one that I fed dad you never had a party for me that you never did anything for me not like this and I've have been nothing like my brother I've been good I've been faithful I've been dependable I've done all the things you wanted me to do and you treat me like this I've done right he's done wrong how would you treat me in a way that seems unfair [01:21:13]

the father says my son was lost he was dead but now he's found and he's alive church family I don't know about you but I want to be like the father because I already know I've been like the son and for everyone in this room I have one question for you when did when did the Father restor the Son did he restore the sun after the party did he restore the sun after the son did some kind of penance and act right when when did he restore him does anybody know somebody said when he's coming he said on the way I want to tell you what I think I think he restored him when he saw the him on the horizon as soon as the son said I'm sorry Father I'm with you he had already knew what he was going to do with his son he saw them on the horizon it wasn't a six-step [01:23:01]