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Dr. Craig Barnes, who retired a few years ago as president of Princeton Theological Seminary, says he will never forget the time he was called to a hospital emergency room.
His good friend Duane Barney had suffered a heart attack.
Barnes sat down beside Duane’s wife, Virginia. After consoling her, they prayed together. They waited to hear some news, any news, from the doctors who were taking care of Duane.
They talked to each other. They made phone calls to family members who lived out of town. They sat quietly. They prayed some more.
Then they simply waited.
After a while, Virginia absentmindedly picked up Duane’s DayTimer. The ambulance driver had found it and given it to her.
In his book Hustling God, Barnes recalls that as she began to thumb through the pages, “a gentle smile emerged on her tear-streaked face.”
On every page, she found a list. Underneath the record of each full day of appointments, Duane had hand-written a summary of those things for which he was particularly thankful that day.
At the top of every list was the name Virginia.
Barnes writes, “Duane did not survive that heart attack. But Virginia did. Knowing that she was so dearly loved made all the difference at the end of Duane’s life.”
If someone sat down with your digital calendar or appointment book, what would they discover?
Would they see a life crammed full of commitments, meetings, and activities, all carefully slotted into half-hour increments for maximum efficiency?
Or would there be evidence that you, like Duane, find time every day to express gratitude?
It makes a difference whether we think love is a prize we have to earn by working very hard, or a gift we get to receive just because someone already loves us deeply.
God loves you like that.
As Barnes points out, every morning we awaken to a world we did not create, just so we can receive, yet again, a salvation we did not earn.
What makes God’s grace so amazing?
Your name has always been in his DayTimer.