ApprehendingGrace.com

Goodness! It’s been almost two weeks and I haven’t written a blog. I don’t think I’ve ever been silent for so long…well not silent, just not blogging. I’m sure those around me sometimes wish I were silent, but…

A family reunion, my sister visiting from Texas, preaching, working…all contributed to being a bit overwhelmed for the past two weeks. But the family reunion and sister’s visit has me thinking quite a bit about family. I’m sure I’ll be blogging about them in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I’m working on a blog based on 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 18. I hope to have it up later today. Stay tuned!

If you’re reading through the Bible with us, you might find the following blogs by a friend who is also blogging as he reads. You’ll find that he’s much better at writing short blogs than I am. 🙂

 Click to read his blog on…

The Tower of Babel (Genesis 10)

The Beautitudes (Matthew 5) 

If you’d like to share your thoughts on a passage, e-mail me at sandy@ApprehendingGrace.com. Who knows, there might be a spot for you here.

Hi Folks,

After getting my feet wet on with a Yahoo 360° blog, I felt ready to move to something else. Yahoo provides a great service, but it seems more oriented to “family news” than I want this blog to be.

The purpose of my blog is to encourage and edify the Body of Christ as I grow in Christ. So this is part journal, part teaching, part sharing my passion for Christ. With the personal desire that (1) you, the reader are blessed and motivated to pursue God more fully; and (2) I, the writer, grow in Christ as I write and prepare to write regularly.

But first, I needed a name for the blog. Sandy’s Blog sounded too egotistical to me. I pretty much assume you don’t really care what I have to say. Hopefully, you care what the Holy Spirit might say through me. So Sandy’s Blog was out.

The Evolution of a Name
(Yes, I believe in evolution…the kind that’s otherwise know as progressive revelation — or hearing from God progressively instead of having Him dump the whole answer in your lap (or mind or spirit) all at once.)

One of my favorite verses is Jonah 2:8 — “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” It might sound like a negative verse to you, but it motivates me not to cling to those idols because I want all the grace God has for me.

So I began thinking…what’s the opposite of the word “forfeit?” And the King James version (yes, I’m old enough to have done most of my Scripture memorization in KJV) of Philippians 3:12 came to mind: Paul wants to apprehend that for which Christ apprended him.

The light bulb went off. I don’t want to forfeit grace, I want to apprehend it. Newer translations of the Bible say “take hold.” I don’t want to give up grace God has for me without a fight, I want to take hold of it.

So I looked up the word in Strong’s Greek Dictionary. And I found that the word in Philippians that is translated “apprehend” or “take hold of” was a key word in one of the first sermons I preached.

Well, that’s enough connections for me. “Apprehending Grace” it is.

I hope you’ll visit often and add your comments so that we can apprehend God’s grace together.

Grace & peace,
Sandy