Grace
"Good. I'm glad you're sitting by me. Sometimes I throw up." Not exactly what you would like to hear from the airline passenger in the next seat. Before I had time to store my bag in the overhead compartment, I knew his name, age, and itinerary. "I'm Billy Jack. I'm fourteen, and I'm going home to see my daddy." I started to tell him my name, but he spoke first.
"I need someone to look after me. I get confused a lot."
He told me about the special school he attended and the medication he took. "Can you remind me to take my pill in a few minutes?" Before we buckled up, he stopped the airline attendant. "Don't forget about me." he told her, "I get confused."
Once we were airborne, Billy Jack ordered a soft drink and dipped his pretzel in it. He kept glancing at me as I drank and asked me if he could drink what I didn't. He spilled some of his soda, and apologized. "No problem," I said, wiping it up.
Billy Jack showed me his cassette player and asked if I'd like to listen to one of his tapes. "I brought my favorites," he said handing me the sound tracks from Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and The Lion King.
When he started playing with his Nintendo Game Boy, I tried to doze off. That's when he started making noises with his mouth, imitating a trumpet. "I can sound like the ocean, too," he bragged swishing his spit back and forth in his cheeks. (Didn't sound like the ocean, but I didn't tell him.)
Billy Jack was a little boy in a big body. "Can clouds hit the ground?" he asked me. I started to answer, but he looked back out the window like he'd never asked. Unashamed of his needs, he didn't let a flight attendant pass without a reminder: "Don't forget to look after me." I honestly can't think of one time Billy Jack didn't remind the crew that he needed attention. The rest of us didn't. We never asked for help. We were grownups. Sophisticated. Self-reliant. Seasoned travelers. Most of us didn't even listen to the emergency landing instructions. (Billy Jack asked me to explain them to him.)
Midway through the writing of this book I remembered Billy Jack. He would have understood the idea of grace. He knew what it was like to place himself in the care of some one else. It occurred to me that he was the safest person on the flight. Had the plane encountered trouble, he would have received primary assistance. The flight attendants would have bypassed me and gone to him. Why? He had placed himself in the care of some one stronger.
Have you? One thing's for sure: you cannot save yourself. The river is too strong, the distance too great. God has sent his firstborn Son to carry you home. Are you firmly in the grip of His grace? (excerpt from In the Grip of Grace)
Our prayer for you this Christmas that you would know the incredible truth that the same Babe who was in the manger is the King who really cares for you. He will never forget, forsake, or relinquish His pursuit of you.
