05/31/2026
Tim's Takes: When Grace Hits Like a Tsunami
Last fall, I watched Dr. Charles Swindoll talk about legacy. Not success. Not accomplishments. Not buildings or books. Grace.
And something in me shifted. I realized I didn’t just want to preach grace. I didn’t just want to define grace. I wanted to live grace — to make it the cornerstone of my existence and the legacy I leave behind.
So I asked the question every Christian thinks they already know the answer to: What is grace, really? Not the churchy version. Not the cliché version. Not the “I learned this in Sunday School” version. I wanted a definition big enough to match what God had actually done in my life.
And as I looked back, I realized something: Grace has never been small. Never polite. Never predictable. It wasn’t a drizzle. It wasn’t a sprinkle. It wasn’t a mist.
It was forceful. Overwhelming. Relentless. It was a tsunami.
Because grace isn’t God patting you on the head. Grace is God pulling you out of the grave.
Here are the lenses that helped me see it clearly:
-Grace is God doing for you what you could never do for yourself.
-Grace is God’s empowering presence in you.
-Grace is God’s life replacing your selfeffort.
-Grace is resurrection life in you right now.
-Grace is the abundance of God poured into the emptiness of man.
-Grace is God giving Himself to you again and again.
-Grace is the power of God working in you, through you, and for you.
-Grace is an ongoing gift that overwhelms, empowers, and transforms.
These didn’t come from a textbook. They came from an awakening.
Because when I look at my life, here’s the truth: Grace didn’t trickle in. It crashed in. It swallowed me whole. It rebuilt me from the inside out.
A tsunami starts deep — far beneath the surface — with a force you can’t see but absolutely
cannot stop. That’s what God’s grace has been for me. Not a sprinkle. Not a drizzle. Not a polite church word.
A tsunami.
