G. Allen Mercer's Blog, page 3
June 18, 2014
Leading People To God is Exhausting
I should qualify that title; leading people to God is exhausting, in a great and filling kind of way. You see, my wife and I have been on a staff for a Cursillo weekend.
Cursillo? What’s Cursillo, you might ask? Well, Cursillo is a ministry of the Episcopal Church that started in the Catholic Church of Spain. It’s a three-day, intensive process of talks designed to help participants find how they fit into God’s plan.
As staff members, there was a great deal of prep work before, during and after our 29 participants arrived. Let’s just say, I am glad that I took Monday off in an attempt to recharge and re-enter the real world.
But, with all of the grumbling about being tired, I would not trade the opportunity to help others discover God’s love and His grace. To watch the physical and emotional change take place at my table during the weekend was a blessing, and something that I will always cherish.
But, what I didn’t expect was the physical and emotional transformation in me. Sure, I was sleep deprived and ate too much junk food, but that wasn’t the agent of change. It was God. It was His grace, and it was His love, all of which flowed through me to my ‘pilgrims.’ But the transformation happened, when my pilgrims turned around and gave it right back to me. That’s pretty cool!
For three days, I operated at a level of excitement and enthusiasm that I didn’t think sustainable; as did the rest of the staff. I know that God was fueling our actions and our intentions. He had designed the days, scheduled the outcomes and needed us as His instruments of change. We were, quite simply, paintbrushes, wielded by an artisan, to color the canvas of our pilgrims’ souls. It was out honor to serve Him in this manner.
But, should it take an over the top weekend filled with singing, talks and M&Ms to bring someone to God? For some, yes, but for most, I don’t think so. This really brings me to the point I want to make. As a modern society, why isn’t God more prevalent in our lives?
I don’t think that it is by design, or is it?
So many distractions compete for our attention. Just think of how many devices we look at in a week, a day, an hour, and even in a minute. Do we really need to ‘know’ something about something every minute of the day? I’m just asking…
But it’s not just the computers, smart phones, and tablets; it’s the billboards, the magazines, the radio and the television. With all of these other ‘things’ slicing into our pie of time, where does that leave time for our families, our faith and even ourselves?
I am not advocating a ‘stay at home mom/dad’ boycott, or to tell your boss to go pound sand. But, perhaps, it is time to shed an activity for the kids and put away the work cell phone on the weekend. The kids will be fine with (only) three activities after school, and the crisis emails can wait.
Instead, take some time for you. Sit quietly. Perhaps read a book, or pray. You could also write down your feelings, ideas or sketch something in pencil. You’ll be amazed at what creative things pop into your head when you start to unplug and unschedule for a few minutes.
Once you have successfully carved away more time for you. I want you to close your eyes, breath deeply and listen. And then do it again. You see, in that quiet time between the rustle of the leaves and the chirp of a bird, or among the background sounds of your neighborhood street, you might also find that God is also there. He has always been there. He has been patiently waiting for you.
So, perhaps it does take an exhausting mountain top experience of a weekend to find God. Or, perhaps it doesn’t. Either way you go, He is still on the path with you, waiting to walk with you in the quiet moments…the loud moments…the sad moments…the silly moments…the scary moments…and the joyful moments.
Leading people to God is…awesome.
G. Allen Mercer is an author with a ‘heart on fire’ to write about God’s grace in an inspirational fiction genre. Learn more at:
Buy the book at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IDL4KQ8
April 23, 2014
Giving Grace 1,000 Pieces at a Time
I gave away nearly 1,000 copies of my book, Underlying Grace over Easter. If you got one, please share it forward and gift a copy to a few friends. It is only $0.99 at Amazon. This book will ask you to rethink what you are doing in life…shouldn’t everyone ask this question? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IDL4KQ8
April 3, 2014
Do Social Norms Allow Us To Serve Others?
I travel quite a bit for my work. As a self proclaimed student of humanity, I get the opportunity to observe how we interact with one another during my travels. Most of the time I witness kindness, politeness and an honest sense of humanity.
But it is the extremes that really catch my attention again and again. For instance, why do others watch those with disabilities as if they are contagious or with a sense of pity? Why do we hide our children’s eyes when a woman is breast-feeding? Why is it so hard to acknowledge someone else with an act of kindness when they are obviously having physical difficulties?
At one gate in the Atlanta airport I witness all three of these…strange I know, but it pushed me over the edge. It also made me look at myself with the same set of questions. Did I do any of these things? Do I look at people differently because they are different? Honestly, I think I do, and it was that admission that really made me mad at myself. I’m not supposed to be like that, but I am also not perfect, and the American society has helped shape my life…so, I’m guilty.
Back to our gate at the Atlanta airport…
Social norms have taught me that we should feel sorry for those with afflictions. Social norms have taught me that it is not polite to (even look in the direction) of a breast-feeding mother. Social norms have taught a crowd of travelers to pay more attention to the service dog than the wounded veteran…and it was at this point in the observation that I realized that I was actually waiting on someone else to do something once the disable veteran was allowed to board the plane. Duh…like the Matthew West song, Do Something, says, ‘if not us then who?’
So, as nearly 100 of us ignored the breast-feeding mom and looked anywhere but at the child with Down’s syndrome, we all instead focused on the cute Golden Labrador of the Vietnam era Veteran…ignoring the fact that his right leg did not move with fluidity and that it was incredibly hard for him to walk.
When he approached the gate agent, she told him that he would be in the last row of the plane. So, he would have to walk the jet way, and the length of the MD88 to sit in the back of the bus. Really? And that is when I couldn’t take it anymore. I walked past the breastfeeding mother, begging her pardon as I passed; smiled at the beautiful child that everyone else seemed to have pity for and interrupted the gate agent by sticking my boarding pass in her face.
“I am suppose to sit in First Class,” I said, but she was still saying something to the Veteran as he took a few challenging steps toward the jet bridge. She would deal with an arrogant first class flyer in a minute; effectively ignoring me.
“Sir, can you wait a minute,” I asked the Vet with a considerable amount of sternness, which seemed to also capture the attention of the gate agent. The social norm followers behind me went quiet. Someone was acting outside of the norm! Oh my…I must watch!
“I am suppose to sit in First Class,” I began again, “but I would like for this gentlemen to take my seat,” I told her…I did not ask. “I don’t care where you sit me on the plane, but I would like for this gentleman and his dog to sit up front.”
The Vet did not loose a beat, but swung his leg around to take a few steps towards me. He stuck his hand out. “You don’t have to do that, sir,” he said.
“Yea, I do,” I said, shaking his hand. “I don’t get to say thank you enough, and I thank you for your service to others.”
He did protest one more time. I waived him off again, and he simply said, “Thank you, sir,” and hoped that God would bless my family.
I say all this for a reason, and it is NOT to make me feel good. It is to throw a rock at the clear glass of social norms, especially when they stop people from acting like people. I am looking to make a crack in the glass. Who put that there anyway?
Babies drink mother’s milk, children are born with all types of afflictions and people get hurt protecting us. Take an interest in the people that are around you; they just might be different than you. They all have stories. They all have lives. They are all children of God, and you might find yourself swept up in someone else’s, Underlying Grace.
So, I dare you. Pick up your proverbial rock and see what you can break.
Peace,
Allen
March 26, 2014
Universal Languages of Love and Laughter
While on a business trip, I had the opportunity to have dinner with family. My cousin Kelly is about seven years younger than I am, and I have always felt that we had a big brother/little sister (albeit from afar) relationship. Kelly was born deaf, but never let that stop her in her dreams. She is a graphics artist for a wheelchair company by day and an artist and digital marketing expert at night.
While at dinner, we filled several sheets of notepaper with scribbles, and passed them back and forth. My father and uncle were also at the table and most likely had flash backs to when we were younger.
It really did not occur to me, until I sat down to write tonight, that Kelly does not hear my voice…and in fact, she has never heard my voice. From my earliest memory of her being born (we are about seven years apart), I always seemed to find a way to talk with her, and she with me.
This started me thinking about how often we choose not to understand someone else, instead of trying to find a common language.
I will never know what it is like not to hear, and do not pretend to understand this aspect of my cousin’s life, but I can relate…just a little. Several years ago, my wife introduced me to mission with my first trip to Honduras.
Although I took Spanish in high school and college, I did not speak it well enough to do anything but ask for the bathroom, beer and water. I also did not understand it when spoken in rapid succession by the Hondurans. This can be very frustrating.
So, it was at this point, where I was exasperated with not being able to communicate, that I broke down to hand signals. Like a wild man, I flung descriptive gestures towards whom I was trying to talk to. Sometimes this worked, and most times it did not.
Finally, I realized that it was up to me to step out on the limb of faith…and just try to speak…regardless of how I felt, or what I thought the other person felt. I know that I got most of the words wrong, but at least I tried.
Today, I am more confident in what I am saying, and comfortable in the fact that I will still get words wrong…the other people don’t mind, they actually appreciate me trying.
I will admit that I have never been bashful in front of people, (my family will attest to this fact), but, you just have to believe that you will be okay and put yourself out there.
Finding a common language can be a challenging task, but if you fall back on the universal languages of love and laughter, I don’t see how you can go wrong.
Let’s all keep talking; you might find that it is your sign of Underlying Grace.
Peace,
Allen
March 12, 2014
Paperback of Underlying Grace is here!
Paperback of Underlying Grace is here!
“God’s grace is a present that can be opened more than one day a year!” The paperback is now out!
March 6, 2014
Underlying Grace – the beginning
Welcome to Underlying Grace, a blog from the author of the book series, Underlying Grace. You can find more at http://www.GAllenMercer.com or http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IDL4KQ8 or http://www.facebook.com/GAllenMercer (please give me your ‘like’)
This site is about Grace, Books, Fiction and Action. As the book will ‘officialy’ launch at the end of March, consider this a teaser…with more to come!
Peace,
Allen
