I will never forget the Arizona Quake and the way God used a junior high youth to teach me about His grace. . .
       
Things were going well at this year’s Arizona Quake until I found out that some windows had been broken in the pool earlier that afternoon.  So, I did what I had to do. I made an announcement that the pool would be closed until I found out who broke the windows. 
       
Before I could even get off stage, two youth and their leader were on the side waiting to meet me and tell me that they broke one of the windows by accident with a ball they were playing with.  So together we figured out which window it was and made the appropriate arrangements with the hotel.
       
But there were still two windows that were broken, so we kept waiting for someone to confess. 
       
As I was walking around the hotel, hoping that someone would come up to me and confess, I was approached by Meredith, a junior high youth.  She said that if no one confessed, she would take the blame.
       
“What do you mean?” I asked.  “Did you break the window?” 
 
“No,” she answered. 
 
“Do you know who did it and you are just covering up for them?” I questioned.
 
“No,” she replied.  “I just know that a lot of people want to swim, so I will take the blame if no one confesses.”
       
The more I thought about her gesture, the more I realized that Meredith’s action is a reflection of how Jesus is to each one of us.  He comes up to us and says, “I will take the blame for your sins even though I didn’t commit them [not that breaking a window is a sin—but please go with it; it is an analogy].  I want you to be able to have the abundant life, and I know that someone must pay for it.  I volunteer to be that person.”
       
So thank you, Meredith, for allowing God to use you in such a powerful way to show me, and all the participants at the Quake, about how amazing His grace is.
 
P.S. We also found out that we did not break the other windows.  They were already broken (but unnoticed by the hotel until the other one was broken).  Once we figured this out, we opened the pool.
 
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