BRACKETS

Another beautiful day here in Spain! I woke up for the sunrise and it was cool to see because I could also see the moon. Such a comforting thought to know that I'm looking up at the same moon as people back at home... makes 6 hours (now 5 until March 29 thank you daylight savings time!) and an ocean seem like not so far away at all :) I could see bits and pieces of the sun through clouds and finally it burst into the sky with what looked like a crown of glowing clouds above it. Pretty!

This weekend I read "What's So Amazing About Grace?" and it was a really powerful book. I think I am going to reread it in a few days. Simply an incredible reminder about the beauty of grace and how grace is the one thing that sets Christianity apart from any other religion. There are some good quotes from there and I'll put those up soon. One idea it mentioned was that every year, Fortune magazine lists the 500 richest people in the world. What if one year they listed the 500 poorest? Would that get people's attention?

The author, Yancey, talked a lot about how far grace extends and this, of course, brought up Hitler. When I visited Berlin, I went on a WW2 tour that included standing over the site of Hitler's bunker aka grave. I like to think I am a person who does not hate. But I tell you, the feeling I felt standing in that spot weree the strongest feelings of hate I have ever experienced. Having to suppress the desire to spit on someone's resting place is something I'd never had to do before and have not had to do since. The truth is though... Hitler was one of the lost just as I am. Grace is given to him just as it is given to me. The apostle Paul - a terrorist against Christ - was saved by grace and grace alone and he lets you know it time and time again in his letters. Grace. Such a beautiful, beautiful gift. Something that goes against every single notion that exists in this world. What's so amazing about it? Absolutely everything.

In honor of tonight's space shuttle launch (7:40pm EST), here's a video! I apologize for some of the language but HOLY SMOKES this is a video of someone on an Air Canada flight seeing a space shuttle take off!!!!! AHH!!! COOL!!!