Daily Encouragement For February 29:

The boy stood in front of the principal with his back arched, head cocked back and hands clenched defiantly. "Go ahead, give it to me!"

The principal looked down at the young rebel. "How many times have you been in here?"

The child turn his nose up and rebelliously replied, "Apparently not enough!"

The principal gave the boy a strange look. "And you have been punished each time have you not?" 

"Yeah, I been punished, if that's what you want to call it." He threw out his small chest, "Go ahead I can take whatever you dish out. I always have!"

"And no thought of your punishment enters your head the next time you decide to break the rules does it?"

"Nope, I do whatever I want to do., whenever I want to do it and ain't nothin you people gonna do to
stop me either!"

The principal looked over at the teacher who stood nearby. "What did he do this time?"

"He was fighting, he took Tommy and shoved his face into the sandbox."

The principal turned to look at the boy, "Why? What did little Tommy do to you?"

"Nothin, I didn't like the way he was lookin at me, just like I don't like the way your lookin at me! And if I thought I could do it, I'd shove your face into something too!"

The teacher stiffened up and started to rise, but a quick look from the principal stopped him. He studied the child for a moment and then quietly said, "Today my young student, is the day you will learn about grace."

"Grace? Isn't that what you old people do before you sit down to eat? I don't need none of your stinkin grace!"

"Oh but you do." The principal studied the young mans face and whispered. "Oh yes, you truly do, we all need grace at times."

The boy continued to glare as the principal continued, "Grace, in it's short definition means unmerited favor. You cannot earn grace, it is a gift, it is given to you and is always freely given. It means that you will not be getting what you so richly deserve today."

The boy looked puzzled. "You're not gonna whup me? You just gonna let me walk away?"

The principal looked down at the unyielding child. "Yes, I am going to let you walk away."

The boy studied the face of the principal, "No punishment at all? Even though I socked Tommy and shoved his face into the sandbox? You're just gonna let me get away with what I have done?"

"Oh, there has to be punishment. What you did was wrong and there are always consequences to our actions. There will be a punishment. Grace is not an excuse for doing wrong."

"I knew it," Shouted the boy as he held out his hands. "Lets get on with it, get this over with!"

The principal nodded toward the teacher. "Bring me the belt." The teacher presented the belt to the principal. He carefully folded it in two and then handed it back to the teacher. He looked at the child and
said. "I want you to count the blows every time."

The principal slid out from behind his desk and walked over to stand directly in front of the young man. He gently reached out and folded the child's outstretched, expectant hands together and then turned to face the teacher with his own hands outstretched.

One quiet word came forth from his mouth. "Begin." The belt whipped down on the outstretched hands of the principal.

Crack! The young man jumped ten feet in the air. Shock registered across his face, "One" he whispered. Crack! "Two." His voice raised. Crack! "Three..."

He couldn't believe this. Crack! "Four." Big tears welled up in the eyes of the boy. "OK stop! That's enough. Stop!" Crack! Came the belt down on the callused hands of the principal.

Crack! The child flinched with each blow, tears streaming down his face. Crack! Crack! "No please", the former boy begged, "Stop, I did it, I'm the one who deserves it. Stop! Please. Stop..." Still the blows came, Crack! Crack! One after another.

Finally it was over, the principal stood with sweat glistening across his forehead and beads trickling down his face. Slowly he knelt down. He studied the young man for a second and then his swollen hands reached out to cradle the face of the weeping child.

"Grace...my child. We do not deserve it, but it is given freely to all, when we understand that others pay the price for what we have done wrong we learn to repent of our actions."

None of us deserve eternity in Heaven, but by the Grace of God He sent His one and only begotten Son to die for the sins of the world that we may be reconciled with God because of our sin. God loves you and 
will forgive your every sin and save your soul, but you must admit your sin and ask for it.

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” - Romans 5:8-10.