Thank you, Mr.Henry.

There are many things in this life that I have to do.

Like, I have to clean. I have to do the never-ending laundry.  I have to keep my mouth shut [sometimes]. I have to go to the grocery store.

Oh yes. That list of have-to’s isn’t always like eating a piece of pie. [ok, it’s NOTHING like eating a piece of pie…mercy.]

But then, there are things that I GET to do.

I get to lead the most amazing egroup of 20-something’s that has ever existed. I get to stay at home with all of my girl’s. I get to be married to the most talented [and handy] man in the world.

But there’s something I get to do almost every other weekend that is simply…amazing.

I get to be the first one at Elevation Church to escort in our first-time guests.

We call them VIP’s because they are in fact THE most important people that enter the doors of our church.

I’ve had all kinds of interesting experiences.

Like one time I walked a sweet lil old southern woman all the way to the sanctuary doors and asked her if she had any other questions about the church.

“Not about the church, honey. But I need to know something…. Do you have a bump-it in your hair? “

Oh Yes she did. [And no, I don’t]

There are always lots of questions to answer, nerves to calm, and hearts to look at and love.

And that’s exactly what my heart did when I met a man named Mr.Henry this weekend.

Love.

His smile lit up the parking lot as he hobbled to the door with his cane. His navy blue pin-stripe suit with a little American flag pin tucked into the collar whispered the thought to me that he might be a VIP.

So I approached him and said, “Hey there! Is this your first time to Elevation Church?”

He smiled and said, “Well yes it is.”

His eyes told a story of the depths he had been through in life. There was a deep genuine spirit on him when he told me that he just needed to come and see what our church was all about.

I escorted Mr. Henry all the way to his seat. Made sure he had a really good one. Told him I would be waiting for him right outside after the service.

There was something about Mr.Henry.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but I knew that my spirit was being drawn towards his.

While he was in the service, I went about my VIP business. But I couldn’t stop thinking about him. His suit. His smile. His eyes that told such a deep story.

What was his story? I needed to find out.

As the doors opened after the service to let the people out, I selfishly stood to the side and let the other VIP team members handle the swarm of first-time guests. I carefully kept my eyes open for Mr.Henry, in the blue pin-stripe suit with the American flag pin.

He came walking out. Smile just as big as when I had left him.

Eagerly I questioned Mr.Henry about the service.

What did you think?

Did you like it?

How was the music?

But then he said something that made me stop in my train of thoughtful questions.

He said, “Listen. That preacher knows what he’s talking about. We need to always think the best of people. I don’t like all this talk about bashing each other and being negative. God’s with us. ALL of us.”

Mr. Henry was putting out to me his brief thoughts the sermon series our church has been doing called: Honorology.

I think as a culture we have learned to love better. We’ve learned to sacrifice and give to the least of these, as we should.

But we have come to a desperate place in our generation of a need to learn to show honor to each other. Problem seems to be that honor is lost because there are to many people thinking to highly of themselves. Confidence does not lack and a culture of cynicism has been created.

I’ve been thinking today about how exactly this is lived out and why Mr. Henry touched my heart so much. Maybe it is because he is a man who has come before me, he had something to offer me that the 30 years of my life have not yet shown me.

Truth- Impossible standards keep everyone miserable.

Truth- To God the highest standard is this: GRACE.

And what better way could there be to show someone honor by allowing them to experience the same grace we have been given?

There are no levels to Christianity.

We will all make mistakes. I am no better than you, you are no better than me.

Thank you, Mr. Henry for showing me this very simple truth in a very unlikely way.

Lesson learned.

Honor=Love=Grace