Just one dust-bunny away from being swept away

Two weeks ago Dave's coaching friends with the Toronto Blue Jays were fired. Even his boss, the head of minor league operations and another whom Dave really respects, was let go. Phone calls started early Wednesday afternoon, and when I got home from school, Dave was still talking to his buddies. Apparently the Jays were "cleaning house." I told Dave he was just one dust-bunny away from being wiped away.

He appreciated my support.

The coaches were given no explanation -- just that it was "time for a change" -- whatever that means. As we sat in the kitchen, trying to figure out why his friends had been targeted, our phone rang. Dave and I stared at each other, neither wanting to answer. Without call-waiting, we had no idea who was on the other end. I held my breath as Dave picked up the receiver.

"Dust bunny, dust bunny, dust bunny" kept running through my head.

Who knew we could be so grateful for a telemarketer's call! Seconds after Dave hung up, the phone rang again. Another false alarm. Just a student asking about an assignment.

My husband knows first-hand how it feels to get that "thanks for all you've done and have a nice life" call. In professional baseball, he has been the recipient of the house-cleaning message more than once, so he understands the sense of rejection his colleagues are feeling. It is not a fun place to be.

Whenever acceptance and rejection are based on performance, then many are going to feel the sting of rejection. Parents sometimes discipline based on it. Bosses sometimes reward based on it. Marriages and friendships are sometimes destroyed based on it. Sadly, in this world, we are, for the most part, judged based on things like performance.

I am so grateful that God does not judge us in the same way. Although God is a God of justice, He affords us the opportunity to enter into a relationship with Him that is based on grace rather than on our own performance. Because of that grace, with Him there are no hoops to jump through and no fear that He will "let us go" because He has decided to go a different direction and choose others in our place.

Grace...God's grace...isn't it amazing!!!