For the past hour I’ve been listening to my wife teach math to one of her students online. 

She’s using terms and phrases I no longer comprehend. I did once. Made it through Calculus in college. But absence makes the heart forgetful.

It’s sort of like listening to a foreign language where I never learned all the vocabulary. “¿Dónde está el baño?” is all I’ve got.

God-talk and Christianity discussions work the same way for a number of people I’ve run into.

They only know God as some “out there” concept. Formal and impersonal.
Or as a self-defined heart-based idea. Warm and fuzzy.

They learned of him in a rules-based religion. Do this. Don’t do that.

Or experienced such an abundance of church-hurt that her soul shuts down whenever anything even remotely sounds churchy.

In his search for love and acceptance, he creates a minimal-laws, all-loving god. DIY feels safer. Less complicated.

He could use an expert in grace. She could use an everyday friend who knows an everyday Jesus.

Someone who appreciates grace only works when earning or deserving or claiming are not options.

Someone in tune with their own brokenness. Someone intimately aware of their own failings.

 Someone ok with a demanding God who met His own demands by sending His Son. For them.

Someone more in love with their neighbor than himself. Willing to listen. Really listen. Without discounting. Or forcing. Or prematurely correcting.

Perhaps she needs an expert in grace. Perhaps she needs you. You know Jesus.