Good morning,

Today I want to encourage you with this truth: God is a God of second chances, of third chances, of fourth chances and of four thousand six hundred and fifty three chances! Consider these encouraging truths:

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

Micah 7:18

Some people just seem to naturally get along with each other. That was not the case for my dad and me. As I became a teenager my dad and I just clashed more and more. I know I am responsible for a lot of the stress in our relationship. When my dad told me to do something, my three siblings would usually obey, but I would ask, “Why?” At other times I didn’t think that my dad was being fair and I let him know in no uncertain terms what he had done wrong. There was just a lot of friction in our relationship.

Many years have passed since those days. A few years ago my dad and I had a good honest talk and admitted to each other our shortcomings. (My admission took longer than my dad’s.) But the event that changed how I saw my dad happened many years earlier. I was probably around nineteen years old at the time and I was at work. My phone rang and when I answered it, my sister greeted me with the words “Don’t worry.” So I was instantly worried … and she spoke words I will never forget. “Dad’s had a heart attack.” My mind was spinning as I tried to comprehend what I had just heard. You see, that call came when my dad and I had been arguing a lot. As I drove to the hospital that day I just kept praying, “God, please don’t let my dad die, not like this, and not now.” As I arrived at the hospital and saw my dad lying in that hospital bed with all kinds of machines hooked up to him, I prayed again, “God, please don’t let my dad die.” All of the arguments and disagreements that had seemed so huge in the days and weeks before just didn’t seem to matter at all now.

God gave my dad a second chance after that heart attack. God gave our relationship a second chance. You see, in God’s infinite wisdom, my dad’s heart attack came when I was running far from God. I hadn’t prayed much at all for a long time until that day. It was a big wake up call for me. I realized my dad wouldn’t live forever and neither would I. God extended grace and mercy to my father that day. God extended grace and mercy to me that day. God gave my relationship with my earthly father a second chance that day and my relationship with my heavenly father another chance that day.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Psalm 23:6

God is a pursing God. I am so thankful that when I fail Him He doesn’t move away, but steps in to our relationship with His mercy and Grace. Thank you, Lord, for second chances.

Glyn