Early in my career, I jumped at a chance to ride along with an older patrol deputy. One night, however, I picked the wrong deputy. This guy was angry, at the boss and the world. He expressed his anger in a most terrifying way.

Alabama Highway 216 is a two-lane road that runs from the city limits to the county line. It’s full of hills and curves. One is even named “Deadman’s Curve.” That night, he drove up and down Highway 216 at 115 mph for eight solid hours. He only drove 115 mph because the car wouldn’t go 116 mph. He began at the city limits and sped the entire way to the county line. Then he turned around and sped back the way he came. I wondered if I would live to see the beginning of my career. 

Thankfully we survived. By the end of the shift, however, I exited the car looking like a white-haired Charlton Heston coming down the mountain with the Ten Commandments. I was a wreck, and I vowed to never ride with this guy again. 

Years passed and the guy mellowed a bit. We became friends. Toward the end of his career, his health began to fail. One day after he retired, a pastor visited him. He came to talk to my friend about his soul.

Like many of us, my friend assumed eternal life was based on a merit system. He thought living a “mostly good” life got you in. (And vice versa) When the pastor explained the truth, it finally clicked. For the first time, my friend understood. It’s not about merit, it’s about grace.

Grace is getting the good that you don’t deserve and not getting the bad that you do. The pastor explained that Jesus died to pay for our sins and rose to give us eternal life. Jesus took the bad and gave us the good. Believe that and you will be saved, the pastor said. 

My friend got it. He didn’t know it was that simple. Who could turn down an offer like that? My friend died soon after. I can only imagine what he is experiencing now. The Bible says “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” All because he took the Lord at His word. “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die;”  (John 11:25)