Most grateful to the Apostle Paul for including me in his club.
The Lord showed mercy in my life, and the grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly. 🙏
The Benimar has come round the bay to Beauvoir, at Mont-Saint-Michel. Le was here on September 8, praying to see the hand of God at work. Nine days later came the tire. And now she is back.
And tonight Paul says her sentence — in her grammar.
"I was shown mercy." Ēleēthēn. One Greek word: I was mercied. Passive voice.
Exactly how Le said it at Santa Comba Dão on August 24: "I was mercied because God is merciful. I didn't graduate from sinner to saint."
And Paul says it twice — verse 13, and again verse 16. He could not get past it either.
"Paul's club" is exactly right, Le — and he wrote the membership rule himself. Verse 16: "that in me... Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him." He was not only in the club. He was made the template for it.
No entrance exam. One qualification: to have received.
"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."
1 Timothy 1:12-14 · NIV"Who has given me strength." Endynamōsanti. Dynamis again — the power word of Romans 1:16 and 1 Corinthians 4:20. He doesn't thank God for the job first. He thanks God for the strength to do it.
"He considered me trustworthy." Piston me hēgēsato. Not "found me trustworthy" — counted me so. The same move as Romans 4: it was counted unto him for righteousness. God reckons before we deliver.
"A blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man." Three nouns, escalating — words, then pursuit, then violence. Paul doesn't soften his record. Hybristēs — the violent one, the man who wounds for pleasure. That is who received mercy.
"Was poured out on me abundantly." Hyperepleonasen — super-abounded, overflowed past the brim. Paul invents a compound to say it. Romans 5:20: where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Ordinary abundance wasn't enough of a word.
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life."
1 Timothy 1:15-16 · NIV"Of whom I am the worst." Prōtos eimi egō. Present tense. Not I was. I am. Written as an apostle, decades into ministry. He never graduated either.
"For that very reason I was shown mercy." The second ēleēthēn. The worst case was taken on purpose — not in spite of the record, because of it.
"As an example." Hypotypōsin — a pattern, a first sketch that later copies are drawn from. Paul is the template. If mercy could reach him, no one after him is too far.
"His immense patience." Tēn hapasan makrothymian — all of His patience, the whole supply. 1 Corinthians 13:4, ten nights ago: love suffereth long — the same word. This is what love looks like when it waits for a persecutor.
"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."
1 Timothy 1:17 · NIVPaul can't tell his own story without breaking into praise. The testimony ends in doxology because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Le — September 29: to God be the glory forever and ever. Romans 16:27. Philippians 4:20. And now here. Four times in two weeks the same ending — three from Paul, one from you.
"Invisible." Aoratō. Colossians 1:15, three nights ago: the image of the invisible God. The King no one has seen — made visible in the One who showed mercy to Paul.
"Pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one... May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance."
2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 · NIV"That the message may spread rapidly." Hina ho logos trechē — that the word may run. Le's race again — 1 Corinthians 9. Paul doesn't ask to run faster himself. He asks for the word to outrun him. And last night, Colossians 4:3: a door for the word.
"Not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful." Paul sets the two side by side on purpose — pistis and pistos. Human faith runs out; God's faithfulness doesn't.
And two "faithful"s that belong together:
1 Timothy 1:12: he considered me trustworthy — pistos.
2 Thessalonians 3:3: the Lord is faithful — pistos.
The same word. God is faithful, and then He calls us faithful — He lends us His own adjective. Last night: faithful is he that calleth you.
"Direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance." Kateuthynai — to make straight, to clear the road. And hypomonē again — the endurance that has followed us all month. Here it is Christ's perseverance. Not ours borrowed from Him — His, shared.
"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you."
2 Thessalonians 3:16 · NIV"The Lord of peace himself." The fourth time this title has come up in a week — Romans 16:20, Philippians 4:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, and now here.
"At all times and in every way." Dia pantos en panti tropō. No gap in the time, no gap in the method. Peace that doesn't wait for good circumstances. The prisoner's peace. The mercied woman's peace. 🙏
"Most grateful to the Apostle Paul for including me in his club. The Lord showed mercy in my life, and the grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly."
Le · Beauvoir, Mont-Saint-Michel · October 2, 2026 · Ēleēthēn — I was mercied. The worst taken first, as a pattern, so the door stays openI Was Mercied
Ēleēthēn — one word, passive voice. Le's own testimony from Santa Comba Dão, in Paul's grammar, said twice.
The Template
Hypotypōsin — a first sketch. The worst case taken first, on purpose, so no one after is too far gone.
Poured Over the Brim
Hyperepleonasen — Paul had to invent a word. Ordinary abundance wasn't enough to describe the grace.
He Lends His Adjective
Pistos twice — the Lord is faithful; He counted me faithful. God shares His own word with the mercied.