Grace and Peace

Paul loves to open his letters with "grace and peace". I love this - why, you may ask? Because I forget. I forget that my friends love me, that my elders love me, that my family loves me, and sometimes that Jesus loves me. I tend to forget conversations, feelings, and even whole events are sometimes erased. And so I need someone to remind me. And that is what Paul does; he writes to those churches: "Hey, remember me? I love you, still, even though I'm far away from you and even though you keep messing up, even when we've been over this before. And not only me, but the Lord loves you like nothing else. Here, let me show you again how much He loves you." And then you get the letter to the Ephesians with the great love of predestination and election, or Philippians, detailing Paul's love for those people.

So, remind me, and I hope that I help to remind you.