Everyone needs a grant, at least once in awhile. This is especially true when exhaustion, hunger, and unfamiliarity combine. It is in those moments that one’s behavior, thought process, and priorities take on dimensions that would otherwise not be recognized by anyone.
Take the other night for example. The three of us were tired after a twenty hour day that started around four a.m. Our eating patterns were off with lunch theoretically addressed by some very unusual airplane food on the short flight from London to Vienna. I was the only one who had walked the old streets of Vienna, but I do not think that made me any more rationale. My driving would seem to confirm that fact with normal conversation on how to drive taking on totally different parameters! Just to make things fun the first restaurant we attempted to experience was backlogged and did not have the courage or honesty to be honest on the wait. Forty-five minutes into the experience we cut our losses and went to a strange but wonderfully good pizza shop on the corner.
The good news is that nobody let the evening ruin the weekend. It would have been easy for Whitney to remember her irrational parents insisting she dress in something warmer. It would have been natural for each to remember the words said in haste by the others, harboring just a little resentment and need for revenge. It could have turned into a disaster looking to get worse, but it did not.
“Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full.” (Proverbs 19.18)
In the end God gave each of us a great weekend experience. Whitney took on the role of navigator, perfectly understanding and supporting the strange combination of Vienna street maps and my driving style. Cherry and I mused over what we stop and enjoy the next trip to the City when the girls are in college. We enjoyed family, understood grace a bit better, and found ourselves laughing and walking along the road; God’s grant.
