As you can tell from yesterday's post, my current work in progress is a science fiction work. I'm not one of those unpublished, aspiring authors who will claim that my book has multiple genres, or try to just explain the theme without the characters or plot. I decided from the get go that this work would be a work of science fiction with all the literary devices of allusion, symbolism and metaphors that I could throw at it and still make a believable, readable, good story. Time will tell if I accomplished all that, but aim for the moon and if you miss you still hit a star--eventually. Just about anyone who has read any of my previous posts can figure out what I have hidden in the literary fiction I am writing, there is very much a God centered theme to the story, but there are also allusions to the works of C.S. Lewis and Jorge Luis Borges. If you would expect a more logical grouping of authors you haven't read many of my posts. This post is a segue from yesterday's exert in that after clearly demonstrating a science fiction theme my title today comes from one of the masters of science fiction. TANSTAFL means "There Ain't No Such Things As a Free Lunch." Well, in my typical Hole on the End of the Bible Belt fashion, TANSTAFFG--There Ain't No Such Thing As a Fall From Grace.

Generally speaking when we say someone has fallen from grace they are a public figure who has had a sin revealed that has taken them down a peg or two from the pedestal they were once placed upon. Several televangelists spring to mind quickly, one of the most recent heavy-fallers was Joe Paterno. Joe went from a man of unquestionable integrity and example of what to do, how to act, and how to treat others, to a disgraced, unemployed senior citizen. Did he deserve what he got? Ask any of the molested kids that Sandusky met after Joe neglected to report and follow through, but that's not my point.

Joe Paterno did not fall from grace. Joe fell from the pedestal that man put him on. He failed to live up to his own high standards and paid the price. Joe Paterno is still eligible to cash in his chips and obtain the Grace God gave him. Like Joe Paterno, we don't deserve Grace either. But by its definition, Grace isn't given to those who deserve it or earn it. Grace is given to those who ask for it.

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