HIS GRACE STILL AMAZES ME

My grandpa has always been my hero. He was special. Though he couldn’t see, I never thought of him as blind. Instead, I remember him being filled with light and laughter. His godliness—and a good laugh—drew people to him like lemonade on a hot summer day.

I remember when I was about five or six years old, my twin brother and I loved playing jokes on our grandfather? We’d welcome him into our house with open arms and happy hearts. The minute he’d walk in the front door, we’d verbally direct him to a “comfortable” chair. We’d excitedly chime, “Here, Grandpa, this way … over here … a little further. Okay, Grandpa, you can sit down now.”

With a broad, knowing smile he’d ask, “Here? Is the chair right behind me?”

“Yes, Grandpa,” we’d giggle. “Go ahead. Sit down.”

Inevitably, he’d lean backward and plop on the floor just as we’d planned and we’d all collapse in laughter. I can’t remember when we first started playing that game, but I now understand that Grandpa knew all along what we were up to. He indulged our young hearts with twinkling blue eyes and easy laughter. His rich faith in the Lord allowed him to enjoy the funnier side of blindness. I want to do the same.

During the last days of his life, my grandpa continued to love the Lord, especially in song. Amazing Grace was his favorite. When he sang, “I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see,” he made a believer out of me.

The grace of God and the grace displayed by my grandfather are both truly amazing to me. I know that in his final moments, he must have seen some things none of us could see as his faith was being made sight.

I pray that you, too, know that amazing grace. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).