I can’t help it. I’ve just got to start my blog with a word about grace—because everything, as far as I’m concerned, begins with grace. John’s Gospel begins with a powerful word of grace, too. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not one thing came into being. Jn 1:3 and From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. Jn 1:16 I call what John said in vs. 1:16, “grace2” (grace squared—exponential grace). Anyone who knows me knows that grace means everything to me. Grace is the only way that I know Jesus Christ as the Lord of my life. Grace is the only way that I am able to do anything that serves God’s purpose and desire for my life. It is only by grace that I serve Christ and not myself or anyone else. I would not expect that many (if any at all) of you would have a problem with what I’ve said. Where I begin to get the puzzled looks and some pushback is when I claim that I didn’t do anything to receive this thing I’m calling grace. Usually the pushback comes in the form of a statement or question that goes something like this, “You have to accept grace, don’t you?” or, “You have to believe to benefit from grace, don’t you?” ...