That All the World May Know

This morning at about 8:45 the phone rang. And in the midst of the Disney Channel blaring, the constant dialogue that is kids (during cartoons, people)! Why do we even watch them? I ask. And being elbow deep in breakfast dishes and soapy water, I decided to let my answering machine take a message. I don't know what I would do without that thing. Thank you, technology, for helping this scatter-brained mom of 3 when I'm too busy juggling all that that entails. It was a fellow preschool mom asking if I would be interested in car pooling to our field trip. I was flattered that this woman with whom I am only minimally acquainted would ask me.
I enjoyed getting to visit with her a little more about this and that. Kids make great conversations pieces, people. And then on the way home the conversation turned from "religious" education to church. I know a good deal about Mormonism from books written by people who left and became Christians, and from Bible studies that my dad has taught. Yes, it's only the tip of the iceberg. My brain can't possibly retain that much information. Those Mormons have been quite busy with lots of, um, missions of various kinds.
I told her that we are members of a PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) church; and then she asked THE question. "I'm not really sure what the PCA is all about," said she. Oh, boy. I explained that I was raised in a PCA home; my dad is a pastor, etc., etc. But I knew that I wanted to move past religion in the 3 minutes that I had before getting to her house. (No pressure, Elizabeth). I decided to touch on 2 of the 5 points of Calvinism: predestination and irresistible grace. And of course, it's only after the fact, that I can come up with the phrase "once saved, always saved," when describing irresistible grace. When I was explaining predestination to this friend, I told her how we believe that we are chosen before the beginning of time... She interrupted me and added, "To do our work on earth well." Or something to that effect. I told her that we are to do that, but that we are chosen before the beginning of time by God, to be His. *Blank stare.* I wanted so much more time with her to be able to tell her why belonging to Jesus is actually so freeing because, "It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves. It is the gift of God; not by works, lest any man should boast. " Ephesians 2:8-9
I want her eyes to be opened to that freedom. To know that our good works are the result, the fruit, of having a personal relationship with God. With intimately knowing Jesus.
And it humbles me to know that God chose me to be His for no other reason than because He is good. He extended that mercy to me, and someday all the world WILL know.