The Color of Redemption by Lynn Cornell

Author:Lynn Cornell [Cornell, Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: prejudice, racism, social issues, african american fiction, Christian fiction, civil rights movement, family issues, jim crow, the church and civil rights
Publisher: Dove Christian Publishers
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Alicia shifted her eyes back and forth, huffing and puffing. Jerry held out his hand. “Come back inside. Get out of this heat.”

She walked past Jerry with pursed lips. Jerry chuckled and escorted her back into the café. People looked away as if they didn’t notice her, but they did. They scowled and covered their noses. She tensed up, but Jerry placed his hand on her back and guided her into the booth. Alicia fidgeted with a fork and feverishly scratched her chin.

He sat and peered at her. “Alicia, the Lord loves you …”

Alicia perked up and gawked as the waitress set her plate in front of her. She immediately devoured the large Texas-style burger. Jerry extended his hand to pray, but she was too busy chomping away at her burger. He prayed anyway.

After nearly all the burger had been eaten, her eyes came up from the plate. She looked up at the King James Bible and the other tracts and pamphlets. “You saved?”

“Why do you ask that?” She nodded toward the Bible with her mouth full of food. This was the open door he’d hoped for. “Yes, I am. How about you? Are you saved?”

She chuckled. “Do I look like I’m saved? God don’t want nothing to do with me.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I done things you wouldn’t believe. Trust me.”

“I’ve done things you wouldn’t believe, Alicia. We’ve all done things that are unacceptable to God. We are all sinners before him.”

“Not like me,” she said, shoving several fries into her mouth.

Jerry preached the Gospel as if he’d been standing before a packed stadium. Alicia stopped chewing and fixed her stare on him. Jerry didn’t know how to read her face. Did she reject the Gospel, or was her heart open? He prayed that God would soften her heart.

Alicia shook her head. “How can God forgive someone like me? I’ve done so many terrible things and hurt so many people.”

“Grace, Alicia. Grace is God giving you mercy and favor simply because He loves you. It’s hard to explain, because, 349 in our minds, we receive good based on how good we think we are, how much we think we deserved it, or how many good deeds we think we’ve done to earn favor. But you can’t do enough good to earn God’s grace. To receive favor from someone simply because they want to do good to you doesn’t compute to our minds. God doesn’t give grace because we deserve it. If that were the case, not one single person would be saved.”

“Then why does He give us grace?”

“Because God loves you.”

“Plenty of men have told me they loved me.”

“But none of those men have ever laid their lives down for you, have they?”

She shrugged. “Never. I was just a place for them to stick… anyway, no.”

“God proved He loved you by giving His Son to die on the cross for you. Think about this, Alicia. God gave the most valuable thing He could give for you—His Son. He could give no greater gift.

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