Grace is a gift we continually need, through our entire lives of faith. It goes beyond just the moment of realization how far we might be from God and his grace filled forgiveness of our rebellion. We need his grace daily and find his gift never runs out.

As Mill Creek begins to gather together again in worship and life, we do so in a challenging time. People are hurting, confused, frustrated and angry. They need hope. But most importantly, they need grace. It's grace that changes everything.

After eleven weeks apart Mill Creek finally is able to gather together again. In the midst of some very trying and difficult times in our world, we have a great opportunity to bring hope and love to hurting people. We probably don't have to go far or do much, just remember the greatest rule.

While we might not be able to parse the reasons for our pain and suffering, we know that Christ is with us and working to redeem our broken creation, broken hearts, and broken world. Maybe just knowing the end of the story can give us the hope we need to make it through the hard times.

There can be great inspiration in life watching the underdog persevering and showing steadfast determination to achieve their goals. When life is difficult and too hard to handle on our own, how do we keep our focus on the right things? How do we stay in the fight?

Jesus went through pain and suffering and we see him wrestling with this in the garden of Gethsemane. In our suffering, we can take heart that Christ loves us and that suffering is part of what it looks like to commune with him. Like Jesus did, take people with you into your pain. Turn your pain and hardship into honest prayers.

We’ve all heard the saying “God will only give you what you can handle.” This isn’t always true, however. Sometimes we experience moments that we can’t handle. Life isn't fair and bad things happen to good people. The problem of pain comes from humankind’s fall into sin. But, from the beginning, God’s heart has always been to redeem and rescue.