Sometimes Rabbit Trails are a Good Thing

I was teaching Old Testament class recently and we were reviewing the fall of Jericho and Achan's sin when I went on a massive rabbit trail. 

I shared with the kids how Joel 2:32--"Those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved"--gave a rebellious soul like mine hope.

And we talked about how Romans 8 helped me understand grace. 

In Romans chapter 8, we went from "there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" to "nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus" 



We talked about how if God justifies us, who can accuse us? (you may want to read that twice)

We discussed that nothing--not hard times, not sad times, not nakedness, not attacks, not danger, not violence, not ANYTHING can separate us from God's love. 

As things progressed, I realized this was not an optional rabbit trail--God wanted someone to hear this one. So I shared this fact with the kids, "I don't know if it's all of you or one of you that needs to hear this, but someone needs to hear this."

We hopped down the rabbit trail of grace for awhile and then class resumed as normal.

After class, one of the students came up to me and said, "Coach?" (what they call me)
"Yeah?" I replied.
"I think I was the one who needed to hear that." 

I wanted to pick her up and hug her and swing her around the room and cry, "Don't ever forget you are a forgiven child of the most high God! Don't ever forget you are not condemned! Don't ever forget He loves you!" 

That's what I wanted to do. 

Instead, I smiled, gave her knuckles, and said, "God is mighty, little sister!"  

But my heart said, "Don't ever forget."