Lucy and Linus were walking down the street when Lucy spied something on the sidewalk.

"Look Linus, there's a butterfly! -- a Monarch. Did you know they fly all the way up from South America? Isn't that amazing?"

Linus takes a closer look and says, "Lucy, that's not a Monarch butterfly. That's a potato chip."

"Wow!" says Lucy. "How did that potato chip get all the way here from South America?"

My first sermon in the series was on Paul's experience in II Corinthians 12 in which God tells him "My grace is sufficient."

My second sermon told the story of Julian of Norwich, who, in 1373, was told in a remarkable experience when she was near death that "All shall be well."

My third sermon recounted an experience of my own. Before entering ministry I worked with youth in church. The group I was with in 1980 continually raised the question of suffering: "If God is good -- why do we suffer?" I had struggled for an answer.

Finally, when I got home after another Sunday evening meeting in which the old question was raised, I took the question directly to God.

Usually, when we pray, we must know on faith that God hears and answers. But on this occasion -- like Paul -- like Julian -- I got an answer -- not in words, but in understanding. It was as though I was allowed to stick my head into heaven for just a minute, and directly confront the glory of God.

I was shown that suffering comes with the freedom God give us to choose or reject the way of love. "Love is not love, if it is not chosen."

I was overwhelmed -- shaken, in a wonderful way. Someday I'll try to share the experience with you more fully. For now -- just join me in the marvel: I asked God a question, and I was granted an immediate reply -- an encounter with God's love that stands behind much of my preaching.

This experience was, I believe, for the purpose of my ministry -- and I was not yet a minister. In looking at the experience again for my sermon, my heart was filled anew with the wonder and beauty of God's amazing grace.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving.