Coach Knight had barely escaped being fired several months before, but the president of the university determined to allow him one last chance. A zero tolerance policy was instituted, and was conveyed, not only to the coach, but to the media as well. After several additional incidents occurred, the president contacted Coach Knight by phone, and informed him of his dismissal. The incidents and the firing were announced to the public at a press conference.

During a television interview a few days later, the coach stated, "Nobody ever explained to me what zero tolerance meant." He went on to say, "I don't think I had a chance to abide by the rules." And while he wanted to coach again "in the worst way", he was then without a job. [He has since been coaching at Texas Tech.]

Regardless of our feelings towards Coach Knight, his story can certainly help us gain some insight into the marvellous grace of our magnificent God.

Imagine standing before God if there were a zero tolerance policy in effect. One slip-up, one sin, and we are doomed, that is, fired from the family of God, ousted from God's heaven, eliminated from eternity with God. But this is not the case for the followers of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:8-10 – For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)

When we stand before God, we will not face a zero tolerance judge. And while we fall short of abiding by all of God's rules, we will face a God who grants us grace through our faith in Jesus Christ. Praise be to God!

Prayer: Our Father, thank You for Your grace, Your marvellous grace, that is greater than all our sins. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

Today's verse has caused me some difficulties lately. Now don't get me wrong, I haven't been having any uncontrolled swearing binges, or anything like that, but something happened recently that makes me feel like I need to be very careful.

It all started when my wife and I agreed to watch our two-year-old granddaughter, Grace, for two days. Now before I go any further, I need to tell you that Grandma and Grandpa have different ideas on what "watching grandchildren" entails. Grandma believes that grandparents must either continually be reading to them or getting down on the floor and playing with them — basically devoting 100 percent of your time to them — just trying to make them happy. Meanwhile, I believe that it's the grandparent's role to impart wisdom and wax philosophic so that the grandchildren can grow up to be God-fearing and law-abiding citizens.

Obviously, our two-year-old granddaughter enjoyed Grandma's approach much better than mine. Grace loved the book reading and the playing. When I would impart wisdom from time to time, my "impartation" of that wisdom seemed to fall on deaf ears. Grace would just look at me, shake her head in disbelief, and go back to her playing.

Now, Grace loves pizza, so for lunch on day two of her visit, we went to the local pizza buffet. After our drinks had arrived and we had had our prayer, my wife went to get some food for her and Grace. So that left Grace and me alone together — another opportunity to wax philosophic. But Grace was much more interested in trying to see where Grandma was — and what Grandma was doing. And while she wasn't about to cry, I could sense that something was bothering her. Finally, I asked, "What is up with you, Grace?"

Immediately, she turned and looked at me, got a big grin on her face, and loudly said, "Whatsuppp?" So, as the grandfather, and wanting to impart something of importance, I looked back at her, and replied just as loudly, "Whatsuppp?" And then for the rest of the day, Grace and I had a wonderful time exchanging "Whatsuppp?" "What are you doing?" and my favourite, "How ya' doin'?" A great time was had by both grandfather and granddaughter.

Now, as you may have guessed, Grandma wasn't any too pleased — but she waited until Grace went to bed that night, and then she asked me, "Is that how you want to be remembered by your granddaughter?" Oh, I hate it when she's right, and she was certainly right about this! If something happened to me, would Grace's only memory of her Grandpa be that the two of us used to exchange tag lines from beer commercials?

I certainly did have a problem with what was coming out of my mouth.

From now on, when it comes to imparting wisdom and waxing philosophic for my grandchildren, I think the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 will be a tremendous guide. And while Paul was writing to the "brothers", I have taken the liberty of replacing the word "brothers" with "grandchildren".

1 Corinthians 2:1-2 – When I came to you, grandchildren, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (NIV)

Prayer: Our heavenly Father, we get so involved in the things of this world. Help us, once again, to fix our eyes solely on Jesus. In Jesus' name. Amen.

I really don't like cemeteries. It's not that I'm afraid of them, but they give me a kind of eerie feeling. So it was with a little reluctance that I allowed my wife to talk me into buying some flowers to place on my mother's grave for Easter. But I finally agreed, and on Good Friday we bought the flowers and went to her gravesite.

We weren't at the cemetery very long — maybe five minutes — ten at the most. But it was really strange. In that short time, so many memories came rushing back.

There were memories of those happy days at home growing up, those while visiting relatives, or those vacationing with mom and dad — especially those days before mom's body became crippled with Parkinson's disease. And there were memories of those caring and loving times that can only be appreciated by family members — especially those times before Alzheimer's crippled mom's memory and her personality. Memories. Wonderful memories!

And then on Easter Sunday, during our worship service, we went to the Lord's Table — also known as the Table of Remembrance. We weren't there very long — maybe five minutes — ten at the most. But we were asked to use our memories. We were asked to remember our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ — to remember His death until He comes again. Christ's death was the sacrifice for our sins. Let's remember His death, and let's celebrate His resurrection! Memories. Wonderful memories!

Prayer: Our loving Father, we are so grateful for the love of our earthly families, but greater far is the love of our heavenly family. Thank You for loving us so much as to send Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Maybe some or all of the Kursk crew could have been saved if rescuers had been summoned at the right time. But rescuers were summoned too late.

"Too late." What empty words to us and to the families of those who were lost! It just shows that mankind doesn't really understand much about when the "right time" is.

Romans 5:6,8 – You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (NIV)

Prayer: Almighty God, Creator, Sustainer, our heavenly Father, we mourn for those who died and for their loved ones. But even in our grief, we celebrate Your gift to us, though we were powerless and ungodly — You gave us the gift of Your Son, Jesus, who died at just the right time for our sins. Thank You for this wonderful gift of grace. We ask everything in the name of Jesus. Amen.

I had seen her many times before. My daily walk took me right past her house. Sometimes I would see her sitting on the porch watching as her husband worked in the yard. Other times, she would be taking a walk — but she would never venture very far from her home. The way she carried her arm across the front of her frail body gave me the impression that this elderly woman might have suffered a stroke sometime in her past.

But today was different. As I approached her house, she was coming down the driveway as fast as her condition would allow. As she neared, she was stammering over and over, "Fire, fire! Please help!" "Fire, fire! Please help!"

I was startled and confused, but there was no one else around. I knew I had to do something, but what? I certainly didn't know how to fight a fire. Immediately I thought of running to her neighbour's house to call 911, but I could tell by the look on the woman's face and by her gestures that she wanted me to go into her house. While reluctant, I figured that if the smoke wasn't bad and her phone was still working, I could make the call from her house. She pointed towards the back door, and after rushing to get there, I paused and looked carefully for any smoke. I didn't see or smell any at all. By then the lady had caught up with me and motioned for me to go in.

She pointed down the hallway. Continually looking and smelling for smoke, I followed her directions towards a small bathroom. There still was no smoke, but as I entered the bathroom, I heard the sound of water running — and soon I saw that the sink was full of water, overflowing onto the floor. In fact the floor was already covered with water.

Seeing that the water was running into the sink at full force — I assumed that the faucet must have been broken and couldn't be turned off. Nevertheless, I turned the faucet to the "off" position and was surprised to see that the water stopped immediately. Next, after noticing that a rubber stopper was covering the drain, I reached down into the water, removed the stopper, and the water began to disappear down the drain. Problem solved!

Her voice stammering, the woman thanked me profusely and said that everything would be all right now. I asked about cleaning up the water from the floor, but in a faltering voice she told me her husband would soon be home, and he would help her clean it up.

As I was leaving, she continued to thank me over and over again, stammering with each, "Thank you". But when I got to the back door, I felt obliged to warn her of the dangers of crying "Wolf", or in this case, the dangers of crying "Fire!"

So I said, "Ma'am, you really shouldn't be running out of the house yelling 'Fire' when there is no fire. That could have caused a serious problem."

Then she sort of cocked her head to the side and looked me straight in the eye. I'll never forget what she said. "Young man," (Oh, I liked that — no one's called me a "young man" for a long time.) But without any stammering, in a clear, unmistakable voice, she said, "Young man, would you have even stopped to help if I had come running out of the house yelling, 'Water, water!'? I had to get your attention!"

Prayer: Our Father, while we are mere sinners, you sent Your Son, Jesus Christ to die for our sins. Thank You for getting our attention. We are undeserving but so very grateful. Help us to pay attention and not drift away. We pray all things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. (NIV)

It seems that the older I get, the more funerals I attend. And while all of them are different to some extent, they all seem to have one thing in common: sometime prior to or during the service, the organist will play the hymn, Beyond the Sunset. The words and the music to this beautiful hymn were written by Virgil and Blanche Kerr Brock.

Beyond the sunset, O blissful morning,
When with our Saviour, heaven is begun;
Earth's toiling ended, O glorious dawning,
Beyond the sunset, when day is done.

Beyond the sunset, O glad reunion,
With our dear loved ones who've gone before;
In that fair homeland we'll know no parting,
Beyond the sunset, forevermore.

As a young boy I remember meeting the Brocks at my grandparents' house on two occasions. They were wonderful people, and they devoted themselves to serving their Lord as evangelists in music. Much of their lives was spent on the road, away from family and friends.

Mr. and Mrs. Brock have each taken their own journey "beyond the sunset", as they passed away many years ago. But they have left behind a legacy that will always keep their names and the Christian lives they lived indelibly written on my heart and mind — and not only on mine, but also on the hearts and minds of thousands of others.

As I grow older, I wonder more and more about the legacy I'll leave behind. Will I be remembered as one who served the Lord with all his heart, mind and soul? Will I be recalled as who was generous? … who was kind? … who was loving? … who was filled with the fruit of the Spirit? Will I be remembered through the Christian lives of my children? Or will I be forgotten soon after I am gone?

I guess the legacy that I leave behind is strictly up to me. What about your legacy?

Prayer: Our loving Father, we are so grateful for music that soothes our souls, but we are so very anxious for that new song that we will sing in Your presence for eternity. Fit us to sing, and enable our lives to inspire others to sing to you too. In Jesus' name. Amen.

As I was cleaning my car the other day, I noticed that the expiration date on the coupon had already passed, so I started to throw the coupon away, but as I began to fold it up, the news article on the opposite side caught my attention. It was only a partial news item (the coupon was quite a bit smaller than the article), but the first paragraph of the article told the whole story. It went like this:

"The artist formerly known as an unpronounceable symbol is holding a week-long party to celebrate his switch back to the name Prince."

I just couldn't believe it. He was holding a celebration for the mere changing of his name, and a week-long celebration at that. What a publicity stunt! What a poor excuse for throwing a party!

And then I began to wonder: Shouldn't we hold a celebration when someone takes the name "Christian?" When someone accepts Christ as their personal Saviour, shouldn't we throw a party and celebrate? When a sinner repents and turns their life over to Jesus Christ, shouldn't we be prepared for an eternal celebration?

Acts 4:10,12 – It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you completely healed. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. (NIV)

Luke 15:10 – In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (NIV)

Prayer: Our heavenly Father, thank You for the sacrificial gift of Your Son, Jesus Christ. We proudly take His name upon us, and we look forward to the eternal celebration that has been prepared for us. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.