Some thoughts about Mel.

I really hate to see an actor that I really like hit the skids, and right now, I hate to see what has happened recently to Mel Gibson. To me, he will always be "Mad Max" more than "Braveheart" or the director of "The Passion of the Christ." I am sure that many will look at his alcoholism and his anti-semitic tirade and say "and this man claims to be a Christian? what a hypocrite!"

The past month, Pastor Jim has been teaching about God's Grace. There have been a few things that have come to mind today, things that I have jotted down in my notebook.

• God does not require a person to do XY or Z. Zero, nada, nothing. Is that not a relief? God's Grace is a free gift, that only needs to be accepted (okay, so, that is the only thing that you have to do).
• There is nothing that I can do that will cause God to love me any less than He does right now. So, when I mess up and swear at someone because I am mad, it doesn't dull the love God has for me.
• Conversely, there is nothing that I can do that will make God love me any more.
• Finally, and this is the hardest for me, there is no sin so awful that God can not forgive. This goes down paths that I can not even fathom, because I can imagine all sorts of evilness. But we all come to God in the same manner: a sinner. If there was something that he could not forgive, then where is the hope?

There is a perception that because a person is a Christian it means that they will never sin (or enjoy the effects of sin). Unfortunately, this is not true. Personally, I struggle with this in several areas. In Romans 6, Paul tells the church that they need to remember the image of the Baptism: that is, they died with Christ in baptism, and raised to walk a new life. Remembering this should help us to stand strong and make choices that do not yield our bodies to wickedness, but we still struggle, and we still fall. And through it all, God's Grace will cover me. And Mel.