Ten years ago I ran a private health club. I learned a lot as we served the upper class and occasionally the lower class via an inner city ministry the club partnered with. On one particular day, God used a series of events to teach me firsthand when grace begins. It’s a day I will never forget.
The morning started out by training a very wealthy family. As I was working with the son, I overheard a conversation his mother was having with other members. The discussion was about fundraising efforts of their school. One of the ladies of the group was on the school board. She commented about how surprised she was to learn that the lower income families in their school donated more to fundraisers than the wealthiest families. Right after she was done sharing this comment, the mother of the boy I was training said, “That is not surprising to me; that is why we have more money because we use it more wisely.” The comment brought laughter from the group. It saddened me because I knew some of the school’s fundraising efforts helped support the same inner city kids we worked with.
As I finished training the son I began to work with his mother. It was obvious that her conscience was convicted as she began to justify her actions by sharing how much money they donated to other agencies that year. She said she felt compelled to give because they made their fortune by purchasing run-down apartments and then rented them out for an inflated price to lower income individuals. She said that by giving back it helped her to sleep at night.
Next I began to train the husband and father of the family who we will call “Karl.” Karl continued to share with me how they amassed their wealth and how he was frustrated with poor people as they were lazy and irresponsible. He felt that everyone could accumulate wealth if they worked harder and managed their finances better.
The final individual I trained that session was a boy named Trevon. Trevon came to our club via the inner city ministry we partnered with. That day he didn’t have a ride home so I offered. However, there was a problem. He had no home. His mom lived in a crack house and he never knew his father. He slept on couches of friends and distant relatives. He didn’t want to go to the crack house as his mom’s boyfriend often beat him so I dropped him off at a friend’s place. He was hoping he could get some sleep there so he was ready for his exam the next day. I never met a more respectful or hard working kid in my life. After learning more of Trevon’s family story, he became one of my heroes. The generational pain and trials passed down to them were so immense.
God broke my pride while I was driving home that night. I couldn’t fathom being Trevon and everything he had to overcome. A verse came to mind, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:8-10.) Then I heard, “My grace begins in advance–at birth Andy. I placed you where I did for a reason and a purpose.”
God then reminded me that Karl was adopted as a baby by a very wealthy Christian family. We trained them as well years prior and they asked me to begin praying for Karl. As I continued to reflect on the day, I wondered how different Karl’s life would be if instead he had been adopted into Trevon’s family? What if I had been born into a different family? This experience was extremely humbling and I pray will always keep things in proper perspective for me and my family. Andy Anderson, Youth Ministry Director