I’d been wanting to write for the People of the Second Chance “Never Beyond” poster series on grace, but I was waiting for the right figure’s inspiration. Casey Anthony, Mike Tyson, and Darth Vader are salient examples of second-chance needers, but I was looking for someone I could relate to a little more. Maybe a Hester Prynne type– someone who wasn’t readily acceptable in church circles but who hadn’t really hurt anyone with their most recognizable brand of sin. And then these words hit me hard and deep:
We all haunt someone’s grace limit.
Who could put up your poster and be reminded to give radical grace?
And I realized that the poster I’d been waiting for was this:
I don’t need a relatable figure.
I am the most audacious sinner I know.
I have slept with your husband and called it “acceptable” because you hadn’t yet met.
I have led you on and called it “justified” because I liked how it made me feel.
I have begrudged you a happy relationship and called it “understandable” because mine was so badly broken.
I have tempted you a hundred ways in your mind and called it “innocent” because we never touched.
And I am audacious to ask it, but I am asking you for grace.
I am asking to eat with your community group.
I am asking to sit beside you at Bible study.
I am asking to teach your children.
I am asking to lead your worship service.
And I am still an audacious sinner in need of Audacious Grace.
_____
Where have you been given audacious grace?
Where have you been reluctant to give it?
The audacity!
You and I are so lucky God had the audacity to make us worthy.
This is beautiful and raw and honest and I love it.
Grateful for our audacious God.
All I can say to this is … Wow!
Thank you.
Oh friend, I am so with you.
My methods might not be the same, but my sins sure are. Jealousy, temptation, teasing, infidelity – check, check, check AND check.
So thankful for grace. From those I love, from those I’ve never met and from my Abba Father.
Thanks for reminding me I’m not alone in this. That is grace, too.
AWESOME post!
We all need to remember the fact that we are the biggest sinners we know. Only by grace are we saved, and in that, only by grace can anyone expect to be saved.
You’re so right– God’s grace is my only hope.
Too good. Too freaking good. So well done.
Thanks, friend.
totally agree. SO good.
Ashley, thank you for your part in this incredible series. It is much needed.
beautiful perspective. thank you.
Thank you; it doesn’t feel so beautiful from where I sit. Except for when it really, really does.
Wow. This is compelling.
“I am the most audacious sinner I know.” — That is what we all need to say. Grace isn’t amazing unless we realize we need it!
The apostle Paul arrived at this very same conclusion. He started by saying he was the “least of the Apostles” (1 Cor. 15:9 – 55AD), then said he was the, “least of all the saints” (Ephesians 3:8 – 62AD), and finally concluded he as the “chief of all sinners.” (1 Tim 1:15 – 64AD). What an amazing descent that we all need to take.
I think the farther we get on that descent, the more amazing grace appears.
“I am asking to teach your children.”
Let me have some, then I’ll get back to you. But in the meantime, as for Bible study, pull up a chair. I’ll bring the snacks. You’re broken and wounded and aching? Sit beside me; I have some stories too. Let’s ache our way there together. (But you bring the coffee, because there will need to be a lot of coffee.)
I’ll even bring my French press. A Bible study full of aching sinners is just the place for finest coffee.
Agree. Totally well stated…. I am with you here. Thankful for Grace..
I too am comforted that I’m not alone in this…thank you for posting..
Sinners together, saints together. All grace.
great post Tamara! powerful!
Thanks.
Wow.
This is undoubtedly the best post I’ve read in this entire series.
And beyond these few words, I’m speechless.
Thanks for sharing this raw truth.
You’re so gracious to say so; thank you.
Only God can give us the ability to administer audacious grace. My first marriage ended in divorce for many reasons but ultimately due to my husband’s affair with my best friend. Some time later, as I surrendered my life to Christ, I asked to be able to share my new knowledge with just one person……..yep……you guessed it, the former best friend. She is now a sister in Christ and God made something beautiful from ashes. Could I do this on my own? Not on your life! Whoever believes that God does not have a sense of irony and humor is sadly mistaken!
Thank you for sharing– beauty from ashes indeed.
Beautiful post! So very good, Tamara. Thank you!
Thanks, Angela.
The poster I see my face on each day is in the mirror … and it has scared me many times — it has saddened me — it has made me feel like the biggest loser and screw-up. And yet God and His forgiveness was there. Sometimes I don’t liKe what I see in the mirror, but more often than not, I do.
Thanks for sharing “your poster”
So glad you’ve seen God when you’ve looked at your poster.
This is fantastic, truly well written and I appreciate your honesty. Thank you so much for sharing!
You’re welcome, and thank you!
I believe this hit me at the heart more than the other well known posters! Thanks for being you an being real!
Then it was worth the risk. I almost didn’t post it.
Thank you for encouragement.
I grew up with the “sex, drugs and rock & roll” generation, and too many of us believed the lie that the “sex, drugs and rock & roll” was actually what growing up and being “free” was all about. But, the opposite was actually true — so many of us were slaves and we didn’t have a clue….
I needed and still need that grace too.
Excellent post.
Reminds me of yet another song by my favorite English atheist singer, Frank Turner. He has a line, “After all/ who’d have thought/ something as simple as rock and roll would save us all,” and I think every time how grateful I am that much as I love rock and roll, it’s not what will save me.
Yep. I’m glad I didn’t completely buy into that lie either…..
As you noticed with the Turner song, that sort of thought, that music, freedom of expression and “free love” (borrowing the 60′s/70′s term) would “save” us was and is really pervasive in rock & roll (which I also love)…. But most people never notice – “it’s just music!”
I’ll never say that “rock & roll is evil” or anything like that, but some of the best “preachers” of secular/worldly thought are the musicians/songwriters.
I saw that clip of Turner singing “there ain’t no God” (a prophetic double negative if you ask me) and I was totally blown away — he’s a “worship leader” using his gifts on the anti-God side of the fence.
“There but for the grace of God go I…..”
This post is absolutely stunning. Its brevity accents the power of the message. Thank you.
Thanks so much. It was just all I could say.
Well, Tamara, I guess you could have slept with my husband before I met him. He certainly got around for awhile there. But grace roped him in too. I say “too” meaning to mean I got around for awhile, not to point the finger at you. Anyhow, come on down to Austin and you can eat at my table and lead my Bible study from my favorite chair. Hippy, rock-n-roll, atheist place that this is, grace has moved in anyway.
“Grace has moved in anyway.” Audacious.
Yeah, you have to have some audacious grace to survive around these parts. I have to have audacious grace to survive being me. You had the same idea I had. The first week – when we did Casey Anthony – I put my face in a red box. AFTER I admitted to abusing three different children. That was not fun, but when you feel the Spirit pushing you, it is best to obey. And because of it, several people came over to the blog and loved on me. Sure is scary putting it out there, isn’t it? So stop on by when you get to Texas. We will share all of our audacious grace with you.
Amazing.
This is one of the best posts I’ve ever read. It certainly makes one take a look in the mirror. Your hook is amazing! I’m the one who has slept with your husband…got my attention! and held it. This was beautiful. Thank you for reminding me to give and receive audacious grace.
Thank you for reading the post after I said that in the hook. Even that was a step taken in grace.
After my divorce from my first wife, I became the poster child for wild and reckless. I never wondered about what the results of my sin would bring. Until I finally left it behind asked God to forgive me for it I am glad he forgives.
Then when I started to date again the first person judged me and could not see her self with such a sinner, even tho my sin is in the past. We parted ways, I was back to feeling like a disgrace, until I met my current Girlfriend who accepted me for who i was, my past did not matter to her, she wanted to share the future. That is the grace I received. Thanks for reminding me how great God and Gwynnes grace is for me.
Rock on
Tim
Thank you for sharing. You are blessed!
Tamara:
I’m going to be honest. I’m the Jewish girl in the room. You know that. And we have many, many tenets that we are supposed to live by. And some of them seem obvious. So they are easy. But some of them — like the dietary restrictions (against your beloved bacon) or the requirement to visit a mikva (a place where women cleanse themselves in a public bath-house after reciting prayers — seem forced. Jews can’t even decide on what one is “supposed to do” so there is great variation. We are all over the place on the spectrum.
That said, your post makes me think about my behavior. I like to be the life of the party — to sparkle and flirt a bit. And my husband feels as long as I am going home with him, he wins. But what about the other guy’s wife? *yikes*
You make me think, as always.
So I might not have accepted Christ as my Savior, but His teachings are poignant. And i will carry your words, inspired by Him, with me. Can you imagine? Could you have converted this audacious sinner?
Oh, my dear friend. No, I never could have converted any audacious sinner; you can see I am too great a sinner myself. I am just sitting here, heart full, blessed that you glimpse my Savior.
You should work on being more transparent.
Lump in my throat. The rest of the world will read that comment as inappropriate sarcasm; I’ll take it for the grace I know it is. Thank you, friend.
If I ever see you in person, I’m giving you a fist bump for this post.
The guy across from me at Starbucks is looking at me funny because I am grinning. Thank you.
Really, Tamara, this is beautiful. I know just how you feel. Pretty much anytime I hear people talk about their sins I think, “man, mine are so much worse.”. Audacious grace indeed.
Thank you, Anna, so much. It’s one thing for people who will never actually meet me to agree rhetorically to give me grace, and I do appreciate it; but I really do lead your worship, so I am asking something even bigger of you. Thank you for giving me real life grace.
Awesome post, Tamara. Thank you for writing this.
Thank you for reading it.
Wow! I’ve done two of the POTSC posters now, and I’ve never thought of a poster with my face on it! What an image! Thank you for sharing this. It really makes me think. If anything needs a second chance, is myself.
Andrew
It’s humbling when you see your own face on a guilty-red poster. But it’s truth, and it’s good.
me too, friend. at the foot of the cross all of our sins look the same–it’s only pride that suggests otherwise. this post is gospel, and you, sister, are a minister of grace. xo
Humbled. Blessed.
Poetry.
Thank you, dear friend.
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Some serious words for thought today… at a much needed time. Thanks for stuff to think about
I’m glad it finds you where you are.
Come eat with me. Teach my children. Teach ME. Thank you for your vulnerability. I am too familiar with Hester. I have poured through the comments- only after reading the post twice. I am glad you have Carter- I have a friend like that too. I am glad you can see how your words are being used to touch Renee and others- myself included.
-Eugenia
Thank you for grace.
oh golly, so many places. (i feel dishonest not going into more details, but it is not quite the time.)
… actually though, this post reminded me a bit of the book _take this bread_ by sara miles? have you read it? it’s about a lesbian who starts a food pantry at a church and all the grace she finds there, especially in the sinners, and in finding grace for herself as a sinner, too.
Sounds like a book I would like– thanks for the recommendation.
And please– I’m not entitled to hear anyone’s answers to those questions; I’m just glad that people are taking time to think about them.
Wow. You slammed it with this post. Wow! Triple Wow!
Thanks, Rob.
A very honest post.
Thanks. Sometimes that’s all I’ve got.
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We’ve all been there, just some of us are willing to tell our story. Wish the church culture would be a little more willing to be so open! I think we are all audacious sinners, and we are all capable of being wounded healers. The healing part comes in accepting one another.
“Wounded healers”– I like that.
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