As part of my job, I’m currently in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. For many reasons, I have a deep affection for this Commonwealth of Kentucky. I love its hills, many of its writers, where I spent some years in seminary for one of my graduate degrees, and for many of the people I’ve known and continue to know here. There are more reasons, but those are some of them.

Today en route to the Lexington region, I stopped for a quick lunch of fried chicken (it’s KY, after all), and as I waited for my order to be processed, I gazed around at the words and images on the restaurant’s interior. I was shaken by the one pictured above.

Why? For me, it’s theological. That word grace is weighty. In Greek, it’s χάρις. That’s karis in English transliteration. In the original, it means “divine favor.” Let that sink in–to be favored by God. To be shown favor by the Divine. Unmerited favor. Undeserved mercy. It’s God’s love in spite of our sinfulness. It’s 2 Corinthians 5:21, in other words: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

What struck me was the battle I was in while at the fried chicken place. The boy who worked the front cash register was impish, rude, and seemingly uninterested in my spending my money there, or in any way offering me customer-friendly service. He was curt, petulant, and cocky.

And yet there was that plaque on the wall. How ironic. Why this test, Lord? I thought. But I was friendly and respectful towards the young man in spite of his treatment of me. I paid, got my meal, ate, cleaned up afterwards, and exited. I walked back to my car and drove on towards the Lexington area.

Grace. Grace. Grace.

It’s easy to pass the language courses for some. To learn the case endings and nuances and tenses, etc. That’s just part of learning any language. But to live out grace in daily life–that’s much harder. That tests one’s mettle. That’s where we make our theology visible. That’s where we see that what’s down in the well comes up in the bucket.

Grace, grace, grace.