It’s All About Grace

It’s All About Grace
by Rev. Graham Long, former CEO and pastor of Wayside Chapel

The odd thing about this place is that heartrending agony can sometimes mingle with humor and surprise and all kinds of other things.

At around 8 pm last night as I was leaving Wayside, there was a woman at the back desk seeking to get some warm track pants for the night. She was an unusual size and she was telling our staff to look harder to find pants that would be suitable for her. The staff found a pair and as she took them, instead of saying, “thank you”, she said, “You people need to use your eyes!”

It seemed such a silly thing to say that I added, “That’s what I’m talking about!” At this, the lady went into a spin of surprise and yelled at top note, “The Lord is on my side!” I think the staff and volunteers knew that I wasn’t the Lord and that I was on their side too.

She walked away with warm new pants, not happy about the gift of the clothing but because she thought the Lord had backed her up in criticism of our staff and volunteers. I guess none of us invented ourselves.

It’s not easy to be grateful, is it? I once arranged for a landlord to return two years worth of rent to some tenants so as to enable them to get out of the rental market and buy a home of their own. When we made this gift, the young couple asked where the interest on their money had gone.

We know ourselves as the product of the love or otherwise, of others. We don’t breathe by our own design and yet instead of a deep and profound wonder at the gift, we’re often upset because the trains are late or our feet hurt.

In stark contrast however, the greatest stories that I have seen in recent years, have come because people have started to recognize “gift” everywhere.

A dear friend, who I met here as a homeless man, says to me often, “It’s all about grace”.

I couldn’t agree more.

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