Sunday, October 07, 2007

Grace and the Photo Lab

We started a couple new things at church today including a 5-week course in order to join the church and a new sermon series to explore the fruits of the Spirit.

The elements of the discussion in the membership class were focussed on Grace. It got me thinking of an analogy that ties in to my work.

As some of you know, I run the photo department in a pharmacy and for some reason I have a hard problem with accepting people wanting to go through their pictures before paying for them. Obviously the plan they have is to see what pictures they do not like and to try not to pay for them. You see, they bought their film, took the pictures and brought them to me to process. I then use the eqipment my employer bought and the products needed to process and print the film to process this roll for this guest. Now, in what way does it make sense for the guest to NOT be responsible for paying for all of the prints? They are the ones who aimed the camera at the floor, or shot the picture without a flash, or shot the picture with their finger over the lens....

There is an expectation that if you shoot a blurry or otherwise crappy picture then you do not have to pay for it. How is this possible?

If I were to go to an art supply store and buy some paint, brushes and a canvas, then go home and paint a picture tat I don't like because I suck at painting, should I be allowed to take all the material back to the store for a refund?

So here's the positive analogy. We were discussing grace and how to explain it to people and this is what I thought about today.

Imagine your life is a large role of pictures. When you die you are to be judged. The pictures of the times you messed up in life. When you slighted another person, dishonored your family, sinned in any way. Jesus is the guy at the photo counter. He not only will not charge you for those pictures, but he will pay for them himself. In doing so, you have an album of nothing but shots you can be proud of. He takes responsibility for your mistakes and you get the benefit.

This is Grace.

The only hitch is, it does not come entirely free. Sure there is no charge, but the cost of receiving grace is the submission to God and the request of his Son to take responsibility for your lousy photos. He will do it without reseration, but only if you ask.

This is Grace at the photo counter.

12 comments:

Radiant Friends said...

Neat post Michael!!
This is much more in character of the man I know!
Happy Belated Anniversary! Can't believe it has been 6 years! God certainly has blessed you with Amy.
April

Sallie said...

Michael --

This is an awesome post and I am going to send people from my blog over to it!

God bless!
Sallie

djmom1 said...

that was very good, Michael. Mom

Angel Fernandez Clark said...

I enjoyed reading this and the analogy was nice as well. I wonder if my photo album of life will include digital photos or black and whites?

Donna said...

Sounds like I am definately going to be getting a "refund" on some of my pics in Heaven. Hoping that from now on I only take the good shots :)

Amy said...

This is a cool post!

I don't know if this will make a difference, but I like to look at my pics before buying them only because I can't wait to see them.

BTW, Happy 6th Anniversary! I think you have a terrific wife who loves you so very much. It's obvious in her posts. You must be a pretty special fellow!

Sallie said...

I linked to you here:
http://www.angelfire.com/sc/anderklan/blahblahblog/index.blog/1294294/go-see-michaels-post/

Sallie

Special K said...

Wow - cool word picture.

It was great seeing you last Friday. The whole evening was very enjoyable.

jenn said...

What a great post. You have a wonderful way with words

Rebecca said...

That was an excellent analogy!

Although, I have been to places to develop my film where they have a policy not to charge for the bad pictures you don't want. It's one of the ways a photo developer can stand out from the competition and provide valuable customer support.

Hey, I finally posted the results of the TT13 Favorite Q's from a couple weeks back - if you want to take a look! :-)

Patti said...

Great story. I love the analogy and will definitely remember it! :)

retrodaddy said...

Excellent analogy. Well done.

Sooooo, uhhhhh, does that mean pics of me the night before your wedding have been discarded?